One year anniversary in Europe

Big day – today marks one year since we arrived in Europe. 

A year ago today, we landed at Heathrow after a 9 hour flight with our 14 bags, a week booked in an AirBnB and no plans after that.  And what a year it has been!  Since then, we’ve done a lot:

• Traveled for 3 months straight, with not a single pre-booking or even a starting point predetermined (lesson learned – this is NOT the best way to do it).  Visited 30+ cities across 10 different countries (including 4 separate times to Italy), traveling by air, bus, ferry, train and car.
• Stayed in two truly miserable flats in London for a week each while looking for a long-term place to live.

• Moved into a phenomenal flat overlooking Cadogan Place, one of the prettiest garden squares in all of London (with 2 tennis courts!).
• The kids started at their new school just down the street, where they wear uniforms every day. They have settled in amazingly!  They are at school from 8am to 5pm most days (6pm some days) and come home bubbling with stories about what they’re learning and what happened during the day – something that never happened back when we were in Yarrow Point.  Their school is such a happy and encouraging place, and the kids are learning SO MUCH.

• I (Jen) picked up a tennis racket for the first time and have invested some serious hours in learning to play.  I now play 3-4 times per week at the public courts in two of London’s biggest and most beautiful parks, with friend groups at each location.  I’ve met so many people from all over the world who now call London home – people I never would have met elsewhere. I also do my Lagree workout 1-2/x week – the only studio doing Lagree in all of London when we moved here is 15 minutes from our flat (lucky!).
• There is seldom a day we walk less than 10,000 steps, and many days are 20,000 or above.  And that’s without trying – just doing our ordinary life things (walking to tennis/workouts, taking the kids to school, getting coffee, running errands).  In addition to walking, we absolutely LOVE the public transportation here and are lucky to live within a 10-minute walk of two different stations that can take us all over London.
• Emma started horse riding lessons.  We can walk up to the station and take one train 12 stops from the heart of central London and be within walking distance of stables providing lessons all day.

• Lincoln has gotten haircuts in 3 different countries (Greece, Ireland, UK – more to come).
• Ryan has gotten back into improv and just joined a group that performs every other week just a few stops from our flat.
• Ryan also got back into tennis for a while, after playing competitively growing up and then not really at all since high school.  A nasty elbow injury has had him off the court for almost 5 months now, but he’s finally starting to recover and hopes to start training again in the next month or so.
• Ryan got his UK driving license!!!  Apparently, it’s illegal to drive on our US licenses after a year, and the process to get licensed here is not easy.  Ryan studied for over a month for the written theory exam, then had to take XX hours of driving lessons to prepare for the practical (driving) exam.  And it’s not as if he was learning how to actually drive; instead, he was learning all the quirks and nuances of British driving rules.  And he passed on the first try, which is not the norm for foreigners in London!!!  Did you know that these are all actual names of different types of pedestrian crossings in the UK?
  • Zebra
  • Pelican
  • Toucan
  • Pegasus – these have the crossing button up high so they can be reached by someone on horseback – yep, seriously

• Learned where to get a decent and affordable lunch.  After missing sandwiches and salads from the US like crazy, we finally discovered that Pret a Manger actually has pretty decent (and cheap!) options for both.

All in all, it really feels like we live here now.  We have our routines, enough to keep us busy but still plenty of time to relax, explore the city, have hobbies (!) and spend time with our kids.  We have our favorite coffee shops and go-to restaurants, know which grocery store to go to for what (or order online for delivery, if we plan ahead) and can effortlessly tap in and out on the tube (we don’t look like tourists any more!).  Whereas a big weekend back in Yarrow Point might have found us walking in Bridle Trails park (with the kids whining and complaining the ENTIRE time), here we might go see a show (we’ve seen Wicked, Hamilton, Back to the Future, Hades Town, Mrs. Doubtfire, a very weird Christmas variety show), take the train down to Brighton (beach) for the day, go explore a new neighborhood or run errands on Oxford Street.  We still have so much to explore and learn, but what a difference a year makes – this is starting to feel like home.