Yeah, remember that? Well. It is very much true. While still an exciting adventure, moving internationally is all about patience. And sometimes it runs out a bit.
But, let’s start at the beginning!
Departure
Last time this week, I was where Rene is now. Driving down the M1 in a rental car (a very snazzy red Hyundai i10 automatic…) towards Luton. Even though we said goodbye at Leeds Bradford, where I picked up the rental car, it still didn’t feel like I was going to actually move to Portugal on that day. In all honesty? It still doesn’t feel much like that. For many reasons that I’ll explain a bit later on in this blog.
The journey was exceptionally smooth. Pick up car, quick stop at Leicester Services (Rene just stopped there too, about half an hour ago..), another pee break half an hour before Luton, and then dropping off the car at the car rental place. Not even 5 minutes later the bus to the terminal showed up, and 5 minutes later I dragged my 3 bags into Departures. Lifting the big bag, I was SURE it would be over the allocated 23kg, but in the end it only was 17.8kg. I could have brought that extra sleeping bag, extra few sets of clothes.. if only! But I didn’t.
Making my way through security, also rather smoothly I sat down at the ‘Big Smoke Taproom’ for a few hours, watching sci fi, drinking two nice beers, and biding my time until the gate would be announced. Again, faaaar too smoothly, boarding went quickly, we left on time, and arrived 15 minutes early. Tail wind.
Where we should have arrived around 20.45, I was already outside with all my bags, including hold luggage, collecting my rental car.
I felt like a proper smooooooth operator. Jinx.
Setting things up
The first night I stayed in a hotel close to the airport, which was also close to a few shops that I needed to pay a visit to, begrudgingly. IKEA was on the list, a supermarket, a grocery store. And I found them all in one place in Matosinhos. Efficiency, love it. The slow walking people in IKEA? Not so much. And I forgot how the Portuguese apparently don’t walk on escalators etc. Change of pace! Wasn’t that what we were after?
After finding a pillow, a dish drying rack, cat litter, cleaning products, essentials to survive on for the first few days, and eventually my rental car back in a car park filled with similarly grey cars, I set off to our new home. This time I did activate the Via Verde (toll) box in the rental, so the journey only took around 25 minutes. The sun was out, it was a lovely 19 degrees, and even me, prolific hater of cleaning, took some joy in getting to work in our new home to be ready for arrival of our stuff later that week. Or so I thought.
After al of the cleaning, I sat down with my 89 cent pack of white wine (it was everything you expect it to be), had my low-quality half cold pizza delivered, and enjoyed the minimalist camping in our first Portuguese home for a bit. I made tea by boiling water in the wok (yes, of course I brought my tea pot and Yorkshire Tea!) in the morning and got some work done, even though it was a bit cold. I came prepared, I thought, with my warm sleeping bag, hot water bottle and skiing socks. It’s all a big adventure, innit?
What did go very smoothly too, though, is internet set-up, and our mobile phone activation. At 10.30am on Monday the engineer knocked on our door, and when he left half an hour later, I had a modem, a TV box, and internet, just in time for my big meeting of that day. That was about the final thing that went smoothly…
Miscommunication
So… our stuff. Everyone had told us it would be in the week of the 20th that our stuff would arrive. That’s the whole reason I went down to Espinho a week before Rene and Lily. So that I could clean the place and open the door when the lorry would arrive. Well, when I hadn’t heard anything about an estimated date on Tuesday yet, I started enquiring and… well, we found out that it wouldn’t until the week of the 27th, and that we’d hear more on Friday the 24th of February as that was when they’d do their planning.
Great. We had made every logistics decision based on the knowledge, or, well, assumption, that we’d have to have enough stuff for 1.5 week. After that, we’d both have access to all our clothes, comforts and what not. Luckily, I still always pack a bit extra, especially things like underwear, but my shirts are starting to smell a bit funny, I have to say…
On top of that, sleeping on an air bed on a cold floor in a cold home (yes, winter still exists in Portugal!) appeared to be a bit of a challenge. The sleeping bag wasn’t that great (anymore), and the hot water bottle didn’t keep me very warm while working. So, with the knowledge that it would be at least another week, I booked an appartment 1 block down from our house with a bed, heating and some comfortable chairs to relax on. I’m still there as I type this, and will be staying here tonight with Rene as well before we go back to camping in our new home because Lily will be arriving tomorrow morning!
Lily’s journey
So, yes, Lily was picked up yesterday. As we’ve said before, she has been the most complicated factor in all of this and continues to be so. If we had not had her in our little family, we’d have booked an appartment for next week as well. But, as we’ve already dragged her to 2 AirBnBs in the UK and have now sent her on a ‘gruelling’ trip with a bunch of strangers, we don’t want to expose her to yet another strange environment before moving into our new home.
Luckily, the pet transport folks have a continuous location sharing open with Rene. That way we know where she is at all times! About an hour ago she was closing in on the Spanish border. If all is well, at the time of writing, she’s probably already in Spain!
That means that tomorrow she’ll have to ‘camp it out’ with us. I hope she’ll not feel too bad in an environment that will be hers soon, but won’t be quite yet. With all of the strange smells and none of the familiar ones it will be a bit of a shock. This afternoon I’ll get her a new scratching post to get out her frustrations, and hopefully she won’t deflate the air mattress when joining us on the bed.
Rough few days
Now, I do not regret moving here at all! And I know it is and will continue to be the right decision and an amazing new adventure for us that we cannot wait to properly start. But the last few days have been a bit rough. It wasn’t the easiest at work unfortunately, which didn’t help. But then learning that we will have to go without out stuff for another 6 days (16 days in total)… That was a significant blow and rather panic/anxiety inducing. Being here all alone didn’t do me any favours.
Luckily, what I did bring was a few sets of running clothes. So, on Tuesday, Thursday I got out exploring our new running grounds, and wasn’t disappointed. First I travelled down South along the boulevard. It was a bank holiday and rather busy everywhere. It was more of a slalom than a run. But, once I got past the crowds into the dunes, it was lovely.
On Thursday, I battled the first half against a decent North-Western wind. I explored the dunes North of Espinho, and… well, it was glorious and gorgeous. Having grown up near and having lived near the sea for at least 23 out of almost 38 years, it really felt calming to be near the ocean again. To smell the sea, to see the crashing waves, the sand, the wavy grass of the dunes. The sun disappearing into the sea, and the clouds.. the clouds!
Moving internationally is all about patience. And, even though my patience had run out a bit, I could also run out the impatience and focus on good. I could just imagine the blanket, the wine, the two of us, friends, family. It’ll be amazing!
Reunions
Tonight I’ll be picking up Rene from the airport. But not before another trip to Matosinhos IKEA, Kiwoku (pet store) and Worten (Electronics). We’ll need a new duvet, some infrared heaters, the scratching pole I mentioned… When you don’t have your stuff, the shopping never stops.
Tomorrow our moany little fuck will be with us again. She will be keeping me awake at night on a regular basis. But… I’d rather it be her sitting on my head instead of the cold.
And on Thursday, the 2nd of March, our belongings will, if all is well, arrive. I cannot wait to sit down on our sofa, put my feet on the foot stool. I cannot wait to don my lovely blanket and have a cat plunk down before I’m even seated properly to receive all the fusses and scratches I can give her.