Ready to go...well almost

My lovely shiny new wallet and passport holder from Radley arrived yesterday so now all I need is a bunch of shiny credit cards to go with it and I'm ready for America!

In other news - Jelte's driving licence arrived safe and sound in San Francisco wednesday morning, so he is off to pick up our rental car. 

Alfie was a brave boy and passed his pre flight health check, and will be sleeping in his crate for the first time tonight...

Until next time...
 

Our San Francisco Corporate Housing is looking pretty good

Jelte has arrived safe and sound in San Francisco and managed to get to our temporary flat despite the fact that I had his driving licence in my purse. Whoops! Oh well, luckily there are companies who specialise in delivering things so he should get his licence tomorrow morning...

Our Temporary Housing

Judging by the photos Jelte emailed me last night, our new home is looking pretty nice, with a little balcony and even a little food bowl with treats for Alfie. I was worried as the marketing materials showed the flat had cream coloured carpets (imagine keeping them clean, competing with four muddy paws) but its looking pretty good. Our plan is to stay in this flat until our own furniture arrive & we can find a flat of our own...

Meanwhile in London

Alfie is getting to grips with staying in his crate for short periods of time with the door shut. His initial comments went along the lines of "Roooooo  wooooooof wooof, let me out of here you bitch", but later he went back in the crate by his own initiative so he seems to be coping well. 

I have sprayed Alfie's bedding with a calming spray called Adaptil which is supposed to reduce stress and make him feel happy inside. With all the stress of the move I'm thinking of drinking the whole bottle myself before checking him in on the plane! :-) 

Alfie will be on the same plane as me, but he will be travelling in his crate along with the luggage. I know he will be safe and comfortable in there, but I have a feeling I will still listen out for his rooo'ing over the jet engines as soon as our flight takes off.

Here are some more pics of the flat:

Preparations & List Making

So as the big date for our move is drawing closer, we find ourselves incredibly busy trying to get organised. We've had our leaving party already, the VISA's are sorted and now its just a matter of figuring out the final logistics.

The big plan is as follows

The whole move is following a big masterplan consisting of hundreds of 'todo's' laid out in a neat planning tool called Teux Deux. Yes its geeky, but if you're planning to move two people and a dog across the atlantic you have to be.

The pub we had our leaving do in decided that the party was just for me as they couldn't spell Jelte's name!

Jelte is flying to San Francisco in a couple of days on the 14th, and Alfie and I follow on the 21st. That leaves only a couple of days working what he should bring in his luggage, what I should take and what can go in the big move.

Jelte is going a week earlier than me and Alfie so he can arrange the practicalities like getting dog food, a rental car and anything else before picking us up at the airport.

In the meantime, over in the UK,  I'll make sure that Alfie gets his final vet checks, and that the flat gets rented out and making sure that Alfie is used to staying in his crate before the flight.

We have arranged for the movers to come and pack up our flat after Alfie and I have left for the airport as we don't want the dog to get upset by having strangers going through our stuff.

Temporary Flat

We are going to stay in a temporary flat in the SOMA district for the first two months while we're waiting for our furniture and stuff to be shipped over, so we need to make sure we pack the right things in our check in luggage. While we're staying there we will of course start looking for a flat somewhere in the Cow Hollow or Marina District which is where we'd like to live eventually.

That's it for now - the next update is likely to come from across the pond.