Bank Holiday (another really long post)

Helloooooo!!!!

Again, I have an extremely long post about the past few days here in London. I'm already getting the hang of the tube and I feel like I'm learning my way around a bit, though I have done absolutely NO site-seeing! I need to explore a bit because the most of London that I have seen is the underground and my new little neighborhood of Maida Vale!

So on day 2 here in London, dad and I went to Islington to go take a look at a few flats. Islington is awesome, I really want to hang out there because it just seems like a cool, hip, young area. We walked around for a bit and then walked into a realtor place and made an appointment with a guy named Martin for 3 in the afternoon. Mind you, it was only 10 or 11 a.m. when we made this appointment so we didn't really know what to do until then. So we ended up wandering down this side street and we came across a letting agency. We poked our heads in and the woman working in there was a young, pregnant Irish woman named Gillian. She was really, really cool. She was on her way to a 2 bedroom flat to do an inspection that was still on the market and in our price range so she let us tag along. The flat was really cute and it was really good location for transportation and all of that, but it wasn't available until September 15th. Too bad. Dad didn't like the flat too much because apparently it had a musty smell and he didnt like that it was on such a busy corner.

We then met up with Martin, who was quite the crazy driver indeed! Dad and I both were gripping the arm rests! The first flat he showed us was a basement flat and though it was cute, it was kind of cramped, and I think I've had my fair share of basement apartments haha. It was also out of the price range by a lot. And then there was another 2 bedroom but it was up about 10 flights of stairs with no lift. Dad didn't like that one because just the thought of bringing my suitcases up those stairs made him want to faint. It was also far away from the tube and had a few buses nearby that went to central London but it would take about 40 minutes to get there. The other 2 flats aren't really worth mentioning. They weren't really bad but they were right at the top of the budget and away from public transport.

We then met up with Darren, a young guy who showed us a new construction 3 bedroom flat that was really nice. It was the most expensive place we had seen though. It was definitely the best place we had seen all day, but the price was a little bit out of the range for all of us. Though the location was awesome. I'm sure it could have been cool, but I think dad and I kept thinking about the 3rd flat we had seen the day before. So we called Randi and Alex (my new roomies) to see if they would be ok going for the 3 bedroom Maida Vale flat we had seen with Alfie. They both said they would be in as long as we could get the rent down a little bit. We called Alfie and set up an appointment for the next morning to see the flat again and make an offer!

Dad and I then went to the hotel, sent an email to Randi and Alex about the possible fees for the flat and different particulars, went to this pub around the corner from our hotel that had really good pot pies, ordered Revolutionary Road on pay per view in the hotel room, and started to get ready to go to sleep. When I checked my email right before bed, I saw that Alex had sent an email and was worried about how expensive it was and wasn't sure if she should commit to it. We talked on the phone for a bit and everything was fine, crisis averted!

We ended up getting the flat at a lower rent and a new fridge! We also met the landlady who is very nice. Now here is where things get complicated because of the bank holiday. In just 3 hours, dad and I had to a.) open a bank account for me, b.) change all of our American cash into British pounds c.) sign the lease, and d.) give Alfie the money owed. The reason why we had to do all of this in such little time, was because we couldn't move into the flat until Alfie had the money, and he wouldn't be working for the next few days because of the holiday. We thought that we could just open an account and change our dollars there, which we could have done, but the guy that helped us at the bank said that their exchange rate was awful there and that we would have more luck going to Edgeware Rd where there are a bunch of money exchange places with better rates. We had to do everything before every place closed that day because they would all be closed for the rest of the weekend because of the bank holiday. So we ran back and forth, got a good rate to exchange the money (actually saved a lot of money by not exchanging at the bank) ran back to Alfie's office, signed the lease and got the keys by the end of the day. This was all further complicated by the fact that most of the Bakerloo line on the tube was closed for engineering, and of course everywhere we needed to go was on the Bakerloo line, so we had to go out of the way, switching trains multiple times and all that fun stuff. But we got it done!!!

Then we had a great dinner with Ben (Nico's brother who lives here) at the Cinnamon club (Indian fusion food). I was so tired the second I sat down that I had to focus more on staying awake than the conversation we were having, which I obviously felt bad about later.

The next morning, we picked up Randi from the airport to help her with her bags. She is awesome and I'm really glad we will be rooming together. We went straight to the flat and then ran a ton of errands all over the place, buying sheets and blankets and towels and the like. We also had to go and get her set of keys from a different letting agency because Alfie only had one set of keys at his office. During our journey, we realized that our flat is about 15 minutes walking from Abbey Road!! How cool is that?!!!! I was pretty excited.

Dad left yesterday morning bright and early, which I was sad about, but I was glad to have Randi there because we had another full day of running around and I didn't have to be alone. We were going to go get our phones, but apparently we need to get something in the mail, like a bill or a bank statement for proof of residency. Of course it's hard to set everything else up without a phone, and I can't use a copy of my lease as proof of residency, and the banks are closed because of the holiday. Oh well, we will figure it out! And Alex came this morning, she seems really sweet and cool. I'm glad I'll have some roomies while I'm here so I have some people to hang out with, especially in the beginning!

I'm already loving our neighborhood, I'm in a cute little cafe down the road from our flat and I'm about to stop into one of the small little markets to pick up some stuff for the flat. Sorry this is such a long post and I'm sure it's really boring. You know me, I need to include every last detail because that's just what I do!

Hope everyone is doing well! Send me emails and I'll respond the next time I'm at this cafe! Love and miss you alllllllll!!!!!! xoxoxoxoxoxoo