Moving Time

So, it is officially less than a month before we fly away from London for life in Wellington.

AHHHHhhhhhh.

On May 5th, after 2+ years for me and 10+ years for R, we fly back to New Zealand. We have a week in Auckland with R’s family and friends before heading down to Wellington to start our new life. R has a job which starts on the 16th – which is fantastic – but currently I will be unemployed. And living with my parents. Dealing with my second winter in a row. Talk about stressful!

There are a couple of things still left to do – the boxes get picked up on Monday, so we’ll be saying goodbye to the computer, xbox, books, pasta machine etc for up to three months, which is quite a long time! We also need to finish up financial stuff – cancel the Sky subscription, move out, close down bank accounts. We have to say goodbye for now to the friends and family we have here – including Ange, who’s only been here for 6 months, and R’s 3-y-o niece. I’ll probably cry a lot. It’s different moving this time – when I moved to London it was always only temporary – there was always an end date on my visa. Moving back is permanent.

I am looking forward to going home – I haven’t seen my best friend in over two years, and I miss my family. I also miss New Zealand’s significantly cheaper rent, and a city in which buying a house is not a complete pipe dream.

There are lots of other exciting things to look forward to – R’s buying a car while we’re in Auckland, so we can road trip down to Wellington, and go on lots of little day trips. We’re planning to do the Otago Rail Trail in October-ish – ride a bike at a leisurely pace for three or four days while enjoying LOTR-type spectacular scenery.

In the meantime, we’re trying to see as much on London as possible – Royal Albert Hall tomorrow, Cambridge next weekend, York last weekend – and I’m trying to get fit before we leave. After all, the best way to see the beautiful New Zealand countryside is to be in it – which means tramping, long walks, and camping. I ran 5km in March, but I haven’t really done anything since, so it’s time to kick it up a notch!

All my lovely books are packed into a box – anyone want an ikea bookcase?

Update, and a Pasta Disasta!

I have a couple of new posts coming soon, but they’re just not quite ready for the world yet, but to give you a hint of what’s coming:

Living in London

As I look towards my departure from London – my visa is up May 7th, and so I must go – I am also looking back on my time in this spectacular city.

Don’t get me wrong, London is hard. I’ve been through 4 jobs (including, total, about 2 months of unemployment), and moved several times. Yeah, that’s not something I’ll miss. I’ve also been to 6 countries other than London, 11 cities, and spent countless hours in London itself. I’ve meet the man I love – from my home on the other side of the world, here in London – made some fantastic people and am going home a stronger, healthier, more grounded person. That’s the whole point of travel, right? The highs have far outweighed the lows – although that may be the current high talking!

I’ll be posting some highlights (under NMKG Travel Diaries) over the next couple of weeks, but have a look at some of my favourite London photos below.

See if you can spot the three pictures with St Paul’s Cathedral – undoubtedly my favourite building in London. Feel free to ask me any questions about living in London!