Tag: altrealitystories

Somehow, today I turned 40. I don’t know what I was expecting. I don’t feel 40, but what does 40 even feel like? When you’re a child, you think people who are 40 must be old and grown up. I don’t feel old or grown up.

On the other hand, I do feel like I’ve had more than my share of amazing experiences in 40 years. Sometimes though, I feel like an 18 year old who has just had an extra 22 years of life experience. Although my hair is changing from brown to gray, a few fine lines are appearing around my eyes and forehead, and my joints sometimes feel a little sore, I still don’t feel old. (Maybe the joints shouldn’t count since I had broke an elbow twice and had two knee surgeries before I was 18 – not to mention countless sprained ankles!) Maybe our spirit never feels old. Perhaps it’s just our earthly bodies that slowly wear out (not that mine feels very worn out, either).

I also never could have imagined I would spend my 40th birthday celebrating in England because I live here. It’s been a little difficult being so far away from the rest of my family. Last year, I spent my birthday hanging out with my sister and a lovely evening meal with my parents, sister, brother-in-law, and nephews. Although my husband was far away in England. This year, I’m the one far away from them but here with my husband.

I thought I wanted/needed to do something big and spectacular for my birthday, but I couldn’t figure out what. Yesterday, we went to the White Cliffs of Dover chasing the sun expecting today to be cloudy and wet.

But today ended up beautiful and sunny and I spent a blissful day in England from church to brunch to Stowe Landscape Gardens with my husband and dog, ending with a lovely meal at Jamie’s Italian. It was lovely; a great way to spend a birthday weekend. Maybe it wasn’t big and spectacular, but it was a beautiful day.

And so now I am 40. I can’t wait to see where the adventure of life takes me next!

We tend to spend a lot of our weekends exploring the countryside these days, especially if it is a sunny day. Back in Georgia, we didn’t do much walking in the country mainly because it was really hot most of the year, even in the higher elevations. In England, the main problem is rain, so if it’s a sunny day (or even a cloudy one with little chance of rain), it’s a perfect excuse to get out and do something.

We have membership in the National Trust, which allows us to visit over 500 places across the country ranging from historic chapels to country manors and coastal walks to countryside rambles. This past weekend, we drove towards the southeast coast not entirely sure where we would end up. Along the way, we decided to go to Bateman’s, the home of Rudyard Kipling. Most National Trust properties have a lot of land with walking trails, so we chose a two and half mile loop to explore. We found a range of sites from rolling hills to ancient woodland covered in bluebells.

Since we’ll be walking around a lot more, I decided it was time to buy some proper walking boots. I soon learned you also need proper walking socks. I had no idea what I wanted when I explored the shop, but I had a very knowledgeable gentleman helped me. I thought I needed an ankle high boot, but it turns out there not usually necessary for the types of walks I’ll be doing. Trying everything on and humming and hawing over it all reminded me of the first time I bought a pair of running shoes. And then found out there are running socks. And that some running socks are specific for the right and left feet! (Speaking of which, it’s been almost two years since my last pair of running shoes, so I’m overdue, and I actually have right and left footed socks these days!)

Walking through the countryside is really fun as you climb over stiles, pass through kissing gates, walk across fields of cows, horses, or sheep, and feel a million miles away from civilization. It’s definitely a great new way to pass the weekends, and it’s one of the things I’m really enjoying about England.

The overwhelming winner from Friday’s poll was to hear about differences in grocery shopping, so here are my observation based on my favorite daily grocery store in the US (Publix), and my current local grocery store (Sainsbury’s). Grocery shopping is not one of my favorite pastimes, but it’s necessary, so I go when I must. I’ve noticed this has changed a lot since moving to England. In the US, I would usually do one big grocery shop a week, and that was it. In the UK, I go a lot more often, usually two to three times a week. I have to; most meats have sell by dates only a couple of days in the future. Plus, our refrigerator is quite small, so there’s not room to stock up on a lot of goods, and my pantry is just a small kitchen cupboard. The good news is the local grocery store is less than half a mile away, and it’s easy to walk or drive to.

So what are the big differences between the US and UK? I mean, a grocery store is a grocery store. However, there are some things about UK grocery stores that I find odd/different from my prior experiences.

1. UK shopping carts come in two sizes. I usually get the smaller size. All of the carts are really hard to maneuver, as they move forward, backwards, and side-to-side at will. The thing that throws me off the most though, is that it’s missing the storage space underneath the main part of the cart. Now, I rarely used that space for storage, but I was constantly resting my foot on the bar. I miss that. (Silly; I know.)
2. The stores are either really big (think Super Target/Super Walmart scale including the range of merchandise), or medium sized. I haven’t been to a store that is similar in size to the standard US grocery store.
3. All of the cold food is together in aisles in the UK. There are some pictures in the gallery below to show what it’s like. In the US, the cold areas usually line the perimeter of the store, and aren’t all grouped together in the middle.
4. Eggs aren’t refrigerated in England, and are on a normal grocery shelf. That’s just so weird to me. In the US, eggs are refrigerated. Apparently the difference comes down to how the eggs are prepared for sale. In England, the eggs are not washed, so they retain their protective coating which allows them to stay at room temperature. In the US, regulations state that eggs must be washed before sale and the refrigerated.
5. The check-out experience is significantly different. At Publix where I primarily shopped in the US, I often had help unloading my groceries from the cart to the conveyer belt. Once they started scanning your items, there were baggers, usually teens, who would bag your groceries, and load up your cart. Then once you had payed the bill, they would push the cart to your car for you, and load the bags into your car. What amazing service! And it made a difficult task a little bit easier and enjoyable. In the UK, you have to unload your groceries yourself (which I would expect), but you also have to bag your groceries yourself! Not only that, but you have to bring your own bags. If you forget your bags, you can buy some, but they cost 5 p per bag. It’s a great way to encourage people to use reusable bags.
6. Microwave meals: in the US, we eat lots of microwavable meals at times, but ours are usually found in the frozen aisle. In the UK, most microwavable meals are found in the refrigerated section.
7. In Publix, there is a small English section on the ethnic food aisle. In the UK, there is a small US section in the ethnic food aisle. At least that’s the same. However, there isn’t anything in the US section I would actually it!

These are the main differences I noticed on my everyday shops. Another difference however, is the lack of speciality grocery stores. In the US, there are a lot of specialty grocery stores that focus on more upmarket products or organic foods like Trader Joes, Sprouts, Whole Foods Market, and Fresh Market. I haven’t seen anything like this in the UK. However, there are a couple of Whole Foods Markets in London. I’ll have to go visit one and see if it’s anything like the US stores. Watch the slide show below to see a few more differences in photos, and don’t forget the next post will be on Wednesday.

Moving can be stressful. Moving to another country can be very stressful. Moving to another country with a large dog and two cats in tow can be incredibly stressful! Getting ready for the big move to England was an adventure, and this part of the story focuses on getting my dog (Devon, golden retriever), two cats (Newton, white and brown tabby cat and Halley, tuxedo cat), and myself to England.

There are really only two options for getting to England: fly or sail. There is a ship (the Queen Mary II) that has kennels for animals while making the crossing. We considered this option, but you had to book at least a year in advance, and we just weren’t in a position to plan that far ahead. So, flying it was going to be!

But before we can book flights and even think about all of the travel arrangements, the animals need the correct paperwork, inoculations, and microchips to gain entry into England! The entire process from meeting the entry requirements to booking flights and actually traveling was a multi-step process that took several months.

1. Make sure all animals have an international standard microchip that scans properly. Devon’s had been placed by the vet, and his met the standard. The cats were adopted from a shelter, and their microchips were the US standard not the international one, so the cats each had to have a new microchip implanted.
2. Make sure everyone has an up to date rabies shot. This must happen at least 30 days before they fly. Since our cats were indoor cats, they hadn’t had one since we adopted them, and Devon was overdue for his, so this was next on the list. Items 1 and 2 were taken care of at the end of March.
3. Determine airline to use for transporting the pets. I wanted to be on the same flight as Devon, Halley, and Newton, so that limited my options flying out of Atlanta to British Airways. Thankfully, they had lots of great reviews for flying pets as air cargo.

4. 

   Measure pets to determine what size crate each one would need. It was easy for the cats as the IATA laws require cats to travel in medium sized crates even though they could get by with much smaller ones. However, this meant no need to attempt measuring the height and length of two cats! The Devon did need to be measured from floor to top of head, nose to tail, and floor to top of his legs. This was a little tricky, but not too bad. This information was used to select his crate size. The requirements are that the dog can stand up without hitting the top of the crate and turn around in the crate. Devon is a pretty large golden retriever, and he was just a little too tall to fit in a size smaller crate, so he would need the largest dog crate available.

5. Determine cost of flying pets and the booking processes. When flying a pet as cargo internationally, the fare charged is based on the volume the crate takes up and the weight. That’s why we had to determine the crate each pet needed first. I emailed the cargo division to get quotes. (It costs a lot of money to fly pets, but Devon was the most expensive!) Eventually I called to book their flights, but found out they don’t know if they will have room until two weeks before departure! So, that means waiting until you have a better idea of when you’ll be leaving!
6. Wait for your visa to live in England to arrive. This took a couple of weeks longer than I was expecting, but I finally got word my visa was approved the day after Memorial Day.
7. Arrange flights – called the airline cargo division, and was able to book the pets on the flight I was hoping to take in June. Believe or not, you don’t pay for the flight then. You pay for the flights when you drop them off, so they can weigh and measure in person before calculating your final total.
8. Book your own flight. That was probably the easiest part of the entire process.
9. Purchase crates (one each), crate mats, food and water containers, and approved crate screws for the flight. Thank you Amazon!
10. Book vet appointments for health checks and paperwork filling out.

    

11. Got to vet appointments and have USDA and EU paperwork completed. This wasn’t too difficult except that I decided I could take all three of them to the vet by myself at the same time. Somehow, I managed!
12. Book an appointment to go to the USDA office in Georgia to have paperwork checked and signed off. I booked this for the day before our flights as it was the only available slot.
13. Email paperwork to the USDA office to check to make sure there are no errors before you get there. I did this and received a reply that everything was okay.
14. Take Devon back to the vet for a tapeworm treatment that has to be given within 72 hours of the flight.
15. Do a dry run to see how you will fit three crates, three animals, three adults, two suitcases, and two carry on pieces of luggage your dad’s car.
16. Make sure your husband rents a vehicle large enough to fit the dog, cats, and crates for when he picks you up from the airport.
17. Go the USDA office to have your paperwork checked and signed off on. Wait forever as they were short staffed that week. Freak out when they tell you there is a problem with your paperwork. Panic and assume you’ll miss your flight the next day since you don’t want to fly without the pets. Calm down when they tell you it can be fixed without driving an hour and half back to the vet’s office. Call the vets to fax over the needed information. Wait some more. Finally get paperwork signed off on. (Did I mention my parents had to drive me as by this point one of our cars had already been picked up to be taken to Savannah’s port in preparation for shipping to England, and I had sold our other two cars?)
18. Finish packing and clearing out your house. Don’t forget to pack food for the dog and cats so they’ll have something familiar to eat for the first few days in a new country and some favorite toys.

19. 

    Pack up the car. We figured out that Devon’s crate would not fit in the car with everything else assembled, so we left it unassembled with top sitting in the bottom. Convince Devon that he can jump up into the SUV even though he’s only ever ridden in a car before. Fail at convincing. Try lifting an 82 pound dog into the car, and don’t get too far. Finally convince Devon he can do it with a huge push of help from my parents and me ready to sit with him in the car. Loading everything else wasn’t too bad, but it was one packed car!

20. Drive to the airport in order to drop off the animals to the air cargo hanger at least five hours before our scheduled departure time.
21. Arrive at the cargo area and assemble Devon’s crate.
22. Go into cargo area and show paperwork to the agents. Have them look through your paperwork and find a sheet that the USDA office didn’t date (even though they were checking everything), and be told by the agents that if you fly, your animals may be refused entry when you get to England or be quarantined and fined. Start to freak out. Try to verify by having them contact the Animal Reception Centre in London. The agent told me I could speak with them, so I did. Since the paper without the date was a USDA one that was not needed for entry and the EU papers were complete, find out there won’t be a problem on arrival.

23. 

    Bring the Devon, his crate, and the crated cats into the building for check in. Devon had to stand in front of his crate for a photo for the records. Get everyone weighed and checked in. Get Devon into his crate. (I thought this would be one of the most difficult steps, but he just hopped right in!) Then, watch them wheel away your precious cargo, and hope and pray they get on the plane and you reunite safely in London.

24. Head to the passenger terminal and check in to your flight. Spend as much time with your parents as you can. Finally, head through security. Be waived to the side in security to have your bag opened and checked because something set it off. Be asked why you are traveling with dog and cat food, and then explain they are flying as cargo. The TSA agent was very nice, and wished me luck on the flight.
25. Wait for board of your flight at the gate, and board at the allotted time. Find your seat in the plane and settle in for a long flight.
26. Realize that you all have been sitting on the plane for a while, but it seems like there is something causing a delay. Hear pilot come over the intercom indicating that they are having trouble closing the cargo doors, and that is the hold up.
27. Wait even longer. Worry about what is going on. Have the pilot come over the intercom again explaining that the hold up is due to the fact that a dog and two cats are traveling in the cargo hold today. As the animals are loaded last, some luggage had to be rearranged because suitcases were against the dog’s crate, and that is not allowed. Feel relieved that you know your dog and cats are on the flight, and apologize to your seat mate as you have inadvertently caused a flight delay.
28. Prepare for take off, and get ready for the eight hour flight.
29. Eight hours later, arrive in London. Disembark, go through immigration, baggage claim, and customs. Reunite with your husband.

30. 

    Head to the Animal Reception Centre. Find out that they have arrived and are doing well. Feel relieved while waiting for the paperwork to be checked.

31. Find out there is a problem with your paperwork (!) even after being checked by the vet, the USDA office, and the airline. The good news is that it can be fixed by talking to the vet, but because of the five hour time difference, the vet’s office doesn’t open for five hours, and they tell you you’ll need to wait unless you can get in touch with the vet sooner. Call the emergency vet’s office to see if they can get in touch with your vet. Have the vet text you back very quickly and give the ARC agents a number to phone. Get the missing information validated, and wait for the rest of the paperwork process.

32. 

    Finally reunite with your dog and cats! The cats were super anxious, and Devon looked jet lagged, but everyone survived the journey!

33. Load up the car which involves disassembling Devon’s crate, putting both cats in the same crate, and disassembling the other one in order to get everything to fit in the car.
34. Head to our new home.
35. Unload, relax, and start getting to know our new home.

When I was researching the process for getting pets into England, I found that there are agencies that will rent crates, take care of all of the paperwork, and help with the entire process. I thought I could handle doing it all on my own. Obviously, I did, but not without quite a bit of hassle and many very stressful moments and near panic attacks. In retrospect, it probably wouldn’t have cost that much more to use one of these companies, and if you’re contemplating a transoceanic move, you might want to consider them as an option.

The good news is that Devon, Halley, and Newton settled into their new lives here really quickly. The climate agrees with them all very much, and all three of them are super happy and content. I didn’t mention it before, but between the time I had the initial microchips and rabies shots done in March and leaving in June, Newton got really sick. He stopped eating, lost a lot of weight, and ended up with hepatic lipidosis (fatty liver disease). After spending way too much money on trying to get him better, I told him he could either give up, or start eating again (the “cure” for this disease), and come with the rest of us to England. Well, he obviously chose England, and you would never know now how close he was to dying. He loves his freedom here in England as he gets to roam outside, explore, and even catch mice! He loves living in England!

I hope you enjoyed this (very long) story of our moving adventure to England. I want to let you know that I never would have been able to do this without the helps of my parents. They were a lifesaver many times! So, don’t think you can make a big move like this without a lot of help! Look for Friday’s post all about the differences between finding a teaching job in the US and finding a teaching job in the UK.

This weekend, we finally went to the movie theater to see Beauty and the Beast. (I’ll leave comparisons of US vs UK movie going experiences for another day.) Beaty and the Beast has always been my favorite Disney animated movie since first seeing it in high school. I even had it on VHS (and have it on DVD now). So seeing a remake (or alternate version) of a movie I love while living in my alternate reality was a bit surreal.

As a teen, I identified with Belle – the odd girl who didn’t seem to fit in, nose stuck in a book yet with head in the clouds wanting more. As I watched the movie on Saturday, I realized I’ve had adventures in the great wide somewhere – more than I could have ever imagined when I first saw the movie. (You can read all about past adventures on this blog.) Plus, I’m living a pretty huge adventure right now – living in another country.

Living in another country makes you more cognizant taking time to explore. We don’t know how many years we’ll live in England, so we want to make the most of our time here. For example, over my two week Easter break from school, here are just a few things I’ve had the chance to do:

• take the train to Brighton with former colleagues and students visiting from Georgia
• explore the British Museum (I love the Greek statues)
• ramble around the Tower of London
• walk along the River Thames
• use various forms of transportation around London including trains, the tube, boat, and buses
• walk around National Trust property Snowshill Manor
• explore the gardens of National Trust property Hidcote
• eat a cream tea sitting in the sunshine
• drive through the Cotswolds
• see the Rollright Stones, a collection of ancient stone monuments including a stone circle
• drive by Stonehenge and visit its gift shop.

And these are just a few things I’ve done over the span of a couple of weeks. Since moving to England in June, I’ve had numerous chances to explore and find adventure in the great wide somewhere. Let’s see where the adventure continues to lead!

I’ve decided to work on posting a new update/story every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I’ve been making a list of US vs. UK topics to share about from driving to shopping to school schedules and weekend activities. Look for Wednesday’s post all about how this adventure began: the flight to England!

Since June (2016), I’ve been adjusting to a “new normal” (one of my husband’s favorite expressions). Perhaps I’ve been reading too much fantasy/scifi lately, but I feel like I’ve been plucked from my normal, comfortable reality to a slightly different, alternate one. There are so many things about living in England that are the same as being in the US, but often with a small, subtle (or not so subtle) tweak.

For instance, before I left Georgia, I sold my lovely red 2007 Mazda 3. It was nearly 10 years old, but it didn’t feel that way to me. After a few months without a car in England, and right before school began, my husband bought me a car: a blue 2007 Mazda 3. So much about this car is the same as my old one, but with some significant differences, the most obvious being the side of the car the steering wheel is on and the color (colour?).

Over the next months, I plan to share my adventures in this alternate reality. There will be stories of everyday life, grand adventures, and how teaching in England compares to teaching in the US. I hope you’ll join me as I share my stories.