Goodbye ATL, Hello Hitchin

Well, I didn't really believe it was going to happen, but we started our blog. Hopefully we'll stay on top of it - i'm sure we'll be harrassed by friends and family if we start to let it slide! So here goes..

Pre-departure: First and foremost, the entertainment center I started to build around March (?) was completed and moved from the garage to the living room before the end of the year. (ok, so it's not exactly completed to the original specs, and I think I said it would be done by May, but whatever, it's functional).

With the entertainment center finally setup, a thorough house-cleaning, a seemingly endless list of "to-do's" finally completed and minutes ticking away before we leave for the UK for 6 months, there was a feeling of sadness of all the things we're going to miss - hanging out with friends, a couple birthdays (the big 3-0 for a couple people, goodbye 20's old people, you know who you are), and the familiarity and comfort of everyday life to name a few - Atlanta was sure to give us one last reminder of what we won't miss, the traffic! A sluggish trip through downtown to make sure we burn some lasting images of home before we go.

We finally arrive at the airport with 3 large bags, 3 carry-ons and, of course, a golf bag - making sure to take full advantage of the airline weight limits, we ended up checking 200 lbs and carrying on almost another 100 (this is in addition to the 6 boxes we shipped before we left).

A horrible 8 1/2 hour flight (for Jay) and we find out the trains don't run on New Year's, but we have our taxi waiting for us and our bags. The driver assists with a look of amazement on his face that two americans have brought this much junk on vacation and I say, "We're moving here for 6 months." He quickly replies "It shows." Which brings us to:

THE BRITISH WORD OF THE WEEK: Rubbish

Used in a sentence: Ashley's running skills are rubbish, so we missed our train to Stevenage.

Toured Hitchin on New Year's day, everything closed, except a couple restaurants. Had some AMAZING pizza (this is Jay writing, yes, i'm as surprised as you, pizza was great). Jan 2nd, went to Stevenage to give the train system a test run. Ashley made her first British clothing purchase, a new hat!

That's all for now. Here's some pics Hitchin and our flat:

Main street into Hitchin:

St Mary's Church, believed to have been built upon a church dating back to 792 AD, portions of the current structure date back to 1115:

The view of our building from the outside:

Master bedroom 1 of 2 (fancy):

Master bedroom 2 of 2 (ooh, ahh, 7 inch tv):

Living room/dining room/Ashley's home office:

Off to London tomorrow, until next time....