Hiii --Yaaa!

  Sam and I have known we were going to be moving over to the United Kingdom since the first weekend of December 2011 and we have been looking forward to our move since then. However, there were a few big events that stood in between Assignment Night and our move. The first one being our wedding in January, the second one moving to Altus, OK for five months so that Sam could complete the training for his plane and the third event was Sam’s survival training in Washington. Oh my! So much to occupy our time until the move in September. Once Sam came back from survival training we began to feel like our long awaited move was real. We waited nine months to make this move and by the time September rolled around we were ready!

        Everything seemed to fall into place when it came to setting up our plane tickets, getting our car shipped, taking care of the dog, and setting up our movers. We were even able to take some leave and visit our family and friends one last time before leaving. Moving week was absolutely crazy! They came to pack up our house on Monday, they took our household goods on Tuesday, Wednesday we had off, Thursday they came to take stuff into storage for us, people came to clean our carpets, we had our final house inspection, and we took off for Dallas, TX. Friday we spent four hours getting our car shipped off then hung out in our apartment size hotel room in Dallas, and Saturday we left for London! We went to the airport at 11am to get Hercules onto his 2pm flight, but when we got there they said he was scheduled on the wrong plane and there was a flight leaving at noon that he couldn’t get onto and another one didn’t leave until the next day. I was panicking for fifteen minutes and also asking how in the world he couldn’t be on the flight that THEY CONFIRMED; they should be glad that they were working with my level headed husband more than me. Everything worked out and they got him on a flight Saturday night, but he had to stay overnight in Washington DC so I couldn’t pick him up in London until Monday. Also, they charge $600 for a dog to stay overnight while flying, but since they screwed up we got to wave the fee. We waited with Hercules until 2:00pm and then the lady working behind the counter gave us a ride to the terminal, how nice! We had our last American meal at TGIFridays in the terminal and then got on our flight. It was a long 9 hour flight but I got through it by sprawling my legs onto Sam to sleep and watching Breaking Bad. It was kind of cool because they periodically track your flying progress on the map! We arrived in London at 2:30 am central time, 8:30 am London time. Our sponsor’s, The Scotts, were there waiting for us when we walked out with our luggage! They weren’t holding a sign that said Holbrook, like they do in the movies, which I was sad about, but I guess American’s stick out! They are really nice and helpful. We waited for Rachel to arrive and then Sam headed to Mildenhall and I left with Rachel.

The boys playing in our Enid house

Bye to all our house hold goods

Our set up after the movers left

(Confession: Every time I get onto an airplane I look around at my fellow passengers and think you may become lifelong friends of mine in the event of a crisis that brings us together, or you may be the people I die with if this plane crashes, or we will forever remain strangers. Thankfully, everyone on American Airlines Flight 26 remained strangers to me)

Poor Hercules had to spend the night in DC... he had no idea what was coming

Waiting at our gate

Our Airplane (aeroplane if your British)

Excited to be on the plane for our move!

Prepared for England with British Pounds

        I got to experience the tube right away, which is a subway, and see a little bit of the London streets as we walked to Rachel’s flat. She lives back a little ways from the busy streets and it is very peaceful on her street. I got a tour of their flat, which is very nice and of course cutely decorated and then Rachel and Josh headed off for their Sunday plans of Oktoberfest in London. I opted to stay at their flat, shower, eat, and take a nap. Sam did the same thing, after lunch with our sponsors, at our temporary lodging in Mildenhall. Rachel and Josh came back around 5:30 and we headed out to a pub for dinner. I tried my first British “beer” which was apple cider, it was delicious, and Rachel and I split a roast. Apparently, in England on Sunday’s the pubs only serve a select menu, or they just have a roast, which is different. We went to bed early that night and I actually slept pretty well!

My Apple Cider

Lovely Sister-in-law can you tell I have been up for over 24 hours?

(Confession: For the first day every time a British person spoke it made me giggle)

      Rachel and I left on Monday morning around 8am to go pick Hercules up from the airport. We had an hour and a half tube ride (the exact same one as the day before) to the airport. Once we got to the airport we took a bus to the air cargo section, which the only thing my paperwork said for directions was “United Air Cargo”. We got off the bus at British Airways. We decided to walk to British Airways to find out where United was located. The place we were walking to was through a parking lot, but there was an attendant who was letting cars in and out of the parking lot. So we walked up to the little window to talk with the Asian gentleman, oh and I might mention that it was drizzling. He was very confused and didn’t speak very good English, but after a few minutes we made it through and walked into the British Airway’s building. We bounced around about three different people until we finally found someone who could tell us where United Air Cargo was located. United was, according to the British folks, about a twenty-five minute walk away. Luckily, they have no idea how to measure time and it was probably only a five minute walk to United Air Cargo. Once we got there it was a little bit after eleven. We went inside and they had no idea where Hercules was, so after about five minutes someone was finally able to tell us that he was at the animal quarantine building  (which just so happened to be across the street from where we had just come from). Again, they said it would be a fifteen minute walk in the rain that turned from a drizzle to real rain. Luckily, there was a Good Samaritan woman who saw us standing outside and offered to take us because she was driving “right past” (confession: I really love British accents). She said she normally didn’t pick up strangers and we informed her we normally didn’t get into cars with strangers, but we were very thankful! Once we got to the quarantine building I had to pay around $630 in UK fees for Hercules and they said he had cleared customs and would be ready in fifteen minutes. About forty-five minutes later they were walking out with him on a leash, FINALLY!!!!!!! They did tell me that his kennel was too small, they took pictures of it, and said the airline shouldn’t have let him fly in that small of a kennel, poor Hercules!

We started our trek back to Rachel’s house around noon. By this time the rain was pretty heavy and the wind had picked up. Rachel was carrying the kennel and I had Hercules as we had about a ten minute walk to the bus station. The wind kept blowing my umbrella back and Rachel had to keep stopping to help me, it probably was quite the hilarious sight for people driving by!

Reunited!

(Confession: In my head I was saying… “I hate England, and Sam is probably in a nice dry, warm place playing games on his phone or reading…while I am miserable”)

Sam has become attached to Hercules

        We made it onto the bus, got back to the airport and jumped on the tube. It was a bit stressful to be holding Hercules when the tube got busy, or to stand up with him, but we finally found seats! Approximately, seven stops prior to the one we needed to get off at and change tubes a heavily intoxicated man with a lazy eye stumbled on. Rachel goes, wow he is drunk. I am not sure what languages he spoke, but his teeth were very British and you couldn’t understand a thing he was saying. Anyway, he sat down on someone’s yellow suitcase and was asking questions. There was a nice couple that were answering his questions and I was glad about that because I was not about to talk to him. He kept trying to pet Hercules and the dog kept pulling as far away as possible. The lady who owned the luggage he was sitting on came over and asked him to move, that was pretty funny, but the only seat available was next to Rachel. Luckily, he continued to talk to the nice couple across from us and they were speaking in some other language. Rachel decided that this would be the perfect time to tell me a story about the time she was on a bus and this weird guy sat next to her and kept trying to touch her leg (I believe that story is in the blog about her trip to Springfield if you want to check it out). Once she finished her story the couple occupying the drunken guy had to get off, so his attention went to us. We continued to keep a pretend conversation going but it wasn’t working. He kept trying to pet the uninterested dog and then he started saying something about him and his brother. All I know is he started to reach across Rachel to pet Hercules and then he started to touch my face and I got up, Rachel said okay, yeah we are going to go now. Rachel told me that the guy was saying something about his brother being black and he was white, like Hercules is black and I am white. It really is quite a funny story looking back on it, but not at the time.

Since I had no pictures of our friend on the tube here is a picture of Sam trying out a British hat

      The tube had a mechanical issue, so we had to wait about five minutes before finally making it to our connection point. Then we had to wait for two stops before we got to the station closest to Rachel’s. I quickly ran inside a store to get a sandwich as it was close to 2:15pm by this time, we made it to Rachel’s dropped the kennel off, got my bag, used the toilet and took off for the train station because I had a train to catch at 2:58pm. We rode the bus, but it didn’t go all the way to the train station because of construction, so we had to walk about a block. We finally got to the train station at 2:53 and we still had to print off my ticket. Rachel got it printed and we sprinted across the station. Rachel was still holding one of my bags so after I got through the turn style I had to grab it real quick from her and then run to the train. I yelled thank you at her and literally threw Hercules into the train car and then I jumped in after him. Right after I got in the doors closed and Rachel and I were both sighing in relief that I made it! However, I was sitting in first class and concerned I would get charged, so at the next stop I shyly asked the workers “Um, I don’t have a first class ticket and I don’t know what to do…do I have to get off and back on?” I probably sounded like a scared little kid, but they were nice and said you can just walk between the cars; you don’t have to get off! So I learned a lot about public transportation during my first day in England, especially how to walk between train cars! The train ride was beautiful, Sam and our sponsor’s wife were supposed to pick us up at the train station in Cambridge. I was so relieved that I made the train, because I wasn’t sure how I would get in touch with them if I had missed it! When I got there I didn’t see them so I tried to call Sam and couldn’t get through. I received a text message from him saying they would be there in thirty minutes, when I read this, well let’s just say it was icing on the cake to what felt like my worse day ever in England. I was not in a very good mood or happy about standing in the rain with Hercules waiting for half an hour, but what can you do. They got there and we took Hercules to our temporary lodging house and then we went to dinner at a pub in Bury St. Edmunds and our sponsors wife showed us their house and some of the area’s around Mildenhall, it was fun and very sweet of her. We got back to our temporary lodging somewhere between 10 and 10:30. So to recap: my first day started at 8am and lasted until approx. 10pm, it was full of rain, public transportation, and rushing around, and it was exhausting. I could never thank Rachel enough, because the only thing that would’ve been worse would be trying to do it completely on my own without someone who knows the area helping me!

Hercules has been on every form of transportation known to man (except a ship). He has been in a car, on a plane, rode the tube/subway, bus, and train

         On Tuesday our day started at 7:45am. We had welcome “briefings” (fancy AF term for meetings) and every office from the base sent a representative to talk to us. We had a lunch break at noon but the meetings lasted until 3:00pm, and I honestly can’t remember what we did the rest of the day, but I know we were busy. Tuesday night I was awake until 3am, my body was tired but my mind was still stuck in Oklahoma time. Hercules also needed to go out at 2:30, because he had diarrhea, and he woke me up again at 5:30 to go out. Sam slept through all of this, so I guess I now know that I will be the only one getting up for crying babies in the future. We had an appointment at 10am to set up our bank accounts and then our sponsor, Leslie, picked us up and we went to get a rental car. We also went to Sam’s squad building and met some of the guys he will be working with and we had lunch at the cutest little tea room in Chippeneham. We got home around 3:30 and poor Hercules had explosive diarrhea all over the place, so I had quite the mess to clean up! I was also pretty worried about him so I called our vet in Springfield, and she said that the stress from the flight was catching up with his body and to put him on a bland diet of boiled chicken and rice (he ate more home cooked meals than us). I miss our Springfield vet, they are amazing! The squadron commanders wife and her four children came by with a goodie bag to welcome us, which was super sweet and I enjoyed meeting her! Usually the commander comes too, but he is currently deployed. Thursday we had more briefings starting at 7:45 and our big hour and a half briefing about driving in England. We also took our written driving exam, which I passed with 100% and Sam passed with a 97%. Now, we have licenses to drive on the wrong side of the road and get gas on base. Thursday afternoon Sam went back for the afternoon briefings and I stayed home with Hercules and called letting agents. On Friday we went and looked at three houses. The first one is called Kennedy Cottage and it is in a village named Hengrave. We fell in love with this place, though it was a little smaller than the other houses, it is the perfect English cottage. It was built in the 1600’s by a Catholic family. The cottage is on the property of a mansion and the cottage is old servant quarters that were converted into little houses. There is an orchard on the property and there used to be a monastery in one part. Anyway, Sam could tell you more because he reads more than me, but the property recently sold for 2.5 million pounds (which would be around 4 million US dollars) and the mansion part is used for weddings today. Anyway, we fell in love but it was the first place we saw so we didn’t want to sign any paperwork right away. The other two houses we saw on Friday weren’t anything too special. Friday night the squadron had a “hale and farewell” party to welcome all the new comers and say goodbye to those leaving. They had chili and lots of yummy desserts, it was a fun party and I really enjoyed meeting people from the squad and their wives. After the dinner we headed to London to see Rachel, which was a bit of a scary drive at night!

Peanut Butter filled brownies I made

Carrot Cake I baked

(Confession: the more time I am out around British people the more everything in my head sounds British. When I said my prayers one night to myself, it came out in a British accent. In fact you should be reading this blog with and an accent, because that’s what it sounds like as I type in my head)

       Rachel had made a delicious apple pie that we indulged in once we arrived at her Flat. We enjoyed visiting and Friday night was the first time that Sam had really gotten to see Rachel since we got here. She had a nice day planned for us on Saturday, but since we didn’t get to her place until around 9pm we were up talking until almost 1! We headed out to Buckingham Palace first think Saturday morning, it was really neat to see the guards and outside of the palace. Sadly the Queen wasn’t there, but sometime I want to go inside, but I will save that for when our friends and family come visit! We walked to West Minster Abbey, Big Ben and Parliament. We also walked past the London eye as we made our way to the Tower of London. Oh yeah and Hercules’s got to come with us (look for his blog, coming soon) and it was a beautiful, sunny day! We had lunch at a really neat market type place ( I can’t remember the name), but there were lots of people around and you went by little booths and when you saw something you liked then you stopped to buy it! We also bought some yummy desserts! We continued on our walk, over the London Bridge and the Tower Bridge to the Tower of London, it was really neat to see the battle ships and sights around. The Tower of London was really neat, another thing I would love to go inside when we have visitors! After the Tower of London Rachel showed us her favourite (that’s how the British spell favorite) pub, but they didn’t have any outdoor seating, so we will have to go back when Herc isn’t with us. We found another pub that had outdoor seating and we sat outside to enjoy a beer (cider for me). Then we headed back to Rachel’s flat and we were able to catch my mom on Skype while we had good internet and talk with her for about an hour. Then Rachel made a delicious turkey burger dinner and we chilled out for the rest of the night. On Sunday we slept in a little bit, then went to church, and headed to Greenwich, which is a burrow of London. Greenwich was a neat area and we even saw where some of the Olympic Games were. We explored the royal observatory, which had amazing views, and then we went to Royal Naval Academy and their maritime museum. It was a fun weekend! London/England had redeemed itself in my mind and I no longer hated it!

Siblings

Buckingham Palace

Buckingham Palace

Big Ben

Big Ben and Parliament

Big Ben

London Eye

Parliament

Parliament and Big Ben

Parliament

Double Decker Bus

Statue outside Buckingham Palace

West Minster Abbey

West Minster

West Minster Abbey

(Confession: I giggle every time the tube lady announces “Cockfoster” station again in her British accent)

Battleship

Exploring

Great tour guide

At the market for lunch

Gorgeous

Sam pretending to be Abraham Lincoln

Tower Bridge

Tower Bridge...too bad the Olympic rings are gone :(

Greenwich

Greenwich

Prime Meridian, I leaned in too far

Royal Naval Academy...Sam had just hit me in the face in the process of jumping

Royal Naval Academy

Awww little Harley's! Hercules is trying to mend Rachel's hole from her dog Harley, but its not the same!

Human Statues...they are creepy

Tower of London

Tower of London

      This past week we looked at about six more houses and did a pros/cons list for our top four houses. We decided on the Kennedy Cottage so on Tuesday we went and signed an agreement along with a 200 pound “I am interested” deposit and now we are waiting for the AF to do their life safety check on the house, making sure nothing will fall on us in our sleep, or we won’t get electrocuted, that sort of thing and then we will sign the lease and hopefully get to move in this week! We also got our cell phones set up, but AT&T is stupid and my IPhone isn’t working yet. Sam finally got to play in a soccer game for intramural's with his squadron, but unfortunately it was the last game of the season. The next intramural sport is flag football, which Sam said he would play, then volleyball and then indoor soccer! It is so fun to watch him play and get to visit with the wives/get to know the people in the squad. It basically seems like the squad is one big family here! I also got to do some cooking and baking this week which was a lot of fun! This past week wasn’t as busy as our first week here, but it still feels like we have been here longer than two weeks! We are both finally caught up on our jet lag, but I came down with a cold this week so it has made me extra tired. My advice to anyone who wants to come visit, come for at least two weeks, you will need a week to adjust to the time difference and besides if you’re going to spend that much money on a plane ticket then you should have more than five days to enjoy it! This weekend Rachel came to visit us, but you can visit her blog
(http://thehouseofbaird.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/samanda-has-arrived.html) to read about our weekend, this one is already long enough! We did buy a car today for about 600 British pounds which is about 900 USD! It is not the nicest car, but it will be perfect for me because it is small and if I hit a curb (kerb if you’re British) or bush like most American’s do it won’t be the end of the world!

Our Renault

The front side

Hercule's loved Aunt Rachel's Visit

(Confession: Every time I use the toilet in public I think “hehehe I am peeing in England”)

      I feel like I have learned two big lessons (among many, many small lessons) these past few weeks. One, I hate relying on other people when I need to be somewhere, so public transportation is not the best for me. Two, if you are newly married and want the honeymoon phase of your marriage to be over quickly then move to a foreign country together. It is hard not to take frustrations out on the other person, but there is really nothing either one of you could do differently or better, you are both new to driving, the navigating is different than the states, even with a GPS, and neither one of you can answer every question because it’s all new! You always have to be ready/willing to recognize when you are being short with the other person and quick to apologize. Though moving overseas can be difficult, it is a lot of fun. Sam and I love being over here and we can’t wait to be totally settled (in November when our stuff arrives) and continue to make wonderful memories together. The best part is that we are together, just as Granny Therese (Sam’s grandma on his dad’s side who was an AF wife) told me she never got homesick being overseas because she was so happy to be with Denny. I feel the same way, I am very happy to be with Sam and just as Pastor Ryan preached at our wedding ceremony, “where you go, I will go” it is so true and we will both go happily because we have each other!

So so happy to be here together!

    Thanks for reading this super long novel of a blog, I have wanted to write one for a while, but with us being crazy busy and then getting a cold last week, well I just haven’t had time! That’s all I got for now!

Cheers! Bye!

Amanda