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London - The Review
On
January 10, 2004, Jill and I boxed up all of our stuff, packed our suitcases
as full as we could get them, and got on a plane heading to London. We had
no place to live and we had only visited London once before (for less than
12 hours). We spent the next three years living in a one bedroom 400 square
foot flat with a tiny refrigerator, a small washer/dryer that only held a
day’s worth of clothes and took four hours to dry, a bathtub with a
handheld shower head (no full shower), no air conditioner or dishwasher, and
we had the best three years of our entire lives. We miss it already!
Thanks
First, we want to thank God for such an incredible opportunity He has given
us. We had a lot of fun, but we were blessed in so many more ways. We made
some of the best memories of our lives, some incredible new life-long friends,
everyone back home was kept safe and healthy, and so much more. This experience
was much greater than we can put into words, and we praise the Lord for giving
us this experience in our lives.
Thank you to our families who have been so supportive this entire time. You have all helped us in so many more ways than you’ll ever know. From talking with us as often as we want to keeping us up to date on the local news to being so interested in everything we do to picking us up and taking us to the airport so many times. Thank you for it all – we love you very much!
We
also want to thank all of those who help us take care of Bimmer and Levi -
our parents, Mendy, Bart & Kerry, Amy & Clarke, and Mavis. Thanks
to all of our friends who kept in touch with us during these years –
we know the time zones made it difficult, and it really meant a lot to us
to hear from you. Steve, thank you for trusting me with this job opportunity
and taking care of Jill and me all the way through the end. Scott and the
rest of Highwinds – thank you all for everything you did to make this
smooth for us. Sam – thank you for talking to us before we moved and
for helping us get our feet on the ground when we arrived. ntl – thank
you for welcoming me and including me in your activities. Ellsworths - thank
you for all of the care packages that you sent us. Jon – thank you for
being an easy landlord to work with. All family/friends – thank you
for all of your prayers, love, and support. This experience would not have
been possible without each and every one of you – thank you all!
And I’d like to thank my wife. How she put up with me in that small flat for three years I’ll never know. But she did so much more than be a wife for me – she has been my best friend and companion. Not only did she take care of our place (we didn’t have a dishwasher, remember) and cook so many dinners for me, but she researched and planned 99% of our trips – and let me tell you, that’s no easy task. Jill has taken me all over Europe and she hit every detail perfectly. Her detailed planning made sure that we never missed anything. Thank you Jill for making this experience so incredible! I love you so much!
Visitors
We’d also like to thank all of those who came to visit us – we
shared such great times with you, made unforgettable memories, and we appreciate
you coming to see us:
Our parents (more than once)
My sisters and brother-in-laws
David/Janet
Mike
Bart/Kerry
Kathleen
Scott and Kim
Amy and Clarke
Steve, Chance, and Dave
Richmond
We spent our time living in the southwest corner of London in a place called
Richmond (part of Surrey). We are very fortunate to have ended up here as
we believe it is one of the best places to live in the entire London area.
Richmond has a lot to offer – the largest Royal Park in London; the
Thames River with great riverside pubs, restaurants, and places to hang out;
a large garden overlooking the Thames; a great High Street full of nice shops
and restaurants, and a tube/train station that was in a great location getting
to both Central London and my offices. Richmond is near and dear to our hearts,
and we will always miss living there! There were always lots of cats hanging
around too (Ginger, we miss you too!)
London
We could talk about London for months – it’s truly an incredible
place. Of course it’s a very beautiful city with lots of great history,
but it’s much more than that. We never got bored just walking around
and soaking it up – it was so fun just to do that. There is also lots
of shopping (Jill), good food, cool markets, great sights to see (we were
still sight-seeing during our last week there), and the list goes on. We loved
jumping on a tube or train and enjoying everything that this city has to offer.
Trips throughout Europe
Well, after 100 flights we sure have covered lots of ground. We have pretty
much been to all of Western Europe and some countries more than once (especially
Jill as she often took her mom and dad to countries that she had already been
to). Here’s the final list of the 21 countries that we visited over
the last few years:
| England: Wales: France:
|
Italy: Monoco Vatican City Scotland: Belgium: |
Ireland: Germany: Netherlands: Sweden: Denmark: Spain: |
Poland: Hungary: Austria: Czech Republic: Switzerland: Greece: Portugal: |
 |
We loved every single place we visited. It’s amazing how different the countries and cultures are even though they are all so close together. We ended with trips to Bruges, Belgium and Lisbon, Portugal. These were at the bottom of our list of places to visit, but the reality is that they were just as good as the ones at the top. If we didn’t live in London, we would never have seen these places – and they are so worth going to. That’s the beauty of living in London – we were able to go to places like this that we normally would have missed.
Favorites
So what were our favorites? Well, London is our favorite – hands down.
Paris has a lot to offer too, and we both agree that it’s up there too.
But as I said, everything is so different it’s really hard to say otherwise.
It’s so hard to compare places since they are all so unique and have
their own special things to offer. But if we HAD to choose, here is what each
of us would say:
Jill:
French Riviera
Venice, Italy
Mykonos, Greece
Sweden (Ice Hotel)
Switzerland (skiing)
Brad:
Venice, Italy
Switzerland (skiing, riding trains through the mountains, and the views from
the top)
Ice Hotel
Tuscany – Italy
Amalfi Coast - Italy
As we look at this list, we think of all of the other places we’ve been and that’s why it’s so hard to make a “list”. Everything else is like a tie for number six, and the margin between five and six is so close.
Miss/Don’t Miss
So now that we’re back, what will we miss the most? What will we NOT
miss? Here are two lists that we have put together to answer these questions:
Miss:
Richmond/London – see above
Traveling
Walking around (and seeing all of the cats)
Public transportation (so nice not to have to worry about traffic)
European stores (Jill says they have different styles – something like
that)
Pubs
Good beers (my favorites are Hoegaarden, Kronenbourg, Carling and Carlsberg)
Restaurants (especially Relais de l' Entrecote, Nando’s, and the Taste
of Raj)
Quaint villages
Culture
Weather - only light rain instead of thunderstorms and tornados
Long days (at its peak, the sun is up from 4:30am until 10:00pm)
Shower (we only had the handheld thing)
One faucet (we had one for hot and one for cold – difficult to get “warm”
water that way)
Big TV – we lived off of a 13-inch the entire time
Church, but we like Duke Street in Richmond too
Chip/pin when using credit cards - no signature required
Tesco chocolate chip muffins - my morning breakfast
Sunday Roasts – delicious!
Going to plays/concerts – we hit 20 while we were there
Rugby/Soccer – surprisingly, we really enjoy these sports (I did NOT
say that we enjoy them better than football!)
Don't
miss:
Stores closing early
Customer service - God bless America!
Carrying groceries home
Hard to play golf – no car to carry my clubs
Not having a car (sometimes)
High prices and expensive exchange rate
Good steaks – we only found a couple
Lack of ice – and when you ask for it, you get three cubes
Cars coming down the wrong side of the road – I still look both ways
when crossing the street and I can’t tell you how many times I went
to the wrong door to get in cars
GMT – tough to sync up with family/friends while 6 hours ahead
Lack of football – this was painful (at least we could listen to the
Bama games in the middle of the night)
Not having a big house – we were cozy in our flat
Not having a dishwasher
Small washer/dryer
Shopping
– if you see something you like, you better get it now or it's gone
No paper towels – too many automatic hand dryers
All the mess of being in a different country - bank accts, insurance, etc.
Taking 17 hrs to get home – no kidding, it took us 17 hours door to
door
Not having an air conditioner – although it was only tough for a couple
of weeks during the summers
Carrying luggage on tubes/trains, up/down stairs
Free refills – only at Nando’s
Iced tea
Jetlag
Commute
Myths
Before we moved, we heard a lot about three things that turned out to be very
untrue:
1. It rains so much that it’s depressing
It is true that it rains a lot, but it’s almost always just a light
sprinkle that doesn’t last very long. It’s so light that you can
walk around in it and be comfortable. We only saw lightening three or four
times the entire time we were there. We actually prefer London rain to Alabama
rain.
2. The food is bad
Maybe people were talking about the British cuisine only. We are not fans
of their shepherd pies and such, but they have some outstanding roasts and
lamb. Not only that, but there is such a variety throughout London, you can
find just about anything. We’ve definitely missed the food since we
left.
3. The beer is served hot
I think this may have been the case many years ago, but it’s very different
from that now. Not only is the beer cold, several beers are advertised as
“extra cold”.
Friends
We sure did meet some amazing people while we were there – lifelong
friends - not only our British friends, but our American friends living abroad
as well. We have so many wonderful memories with all of you, and we thank
you for everything. We look forward to seeing you all again – we’re
only a flight away! Please keep in touch and know that you are always welcome
to stay with us any time. Take care of yourselves!
Closing
When Jill and I first moved to London, we really thought we’d move back
after one year. We loved it so much we stayed for three – and that really
speaks volumes. We always said that when we had to move back there would always
be many more places we would have wanted to visit. But the reality is that
we’d say that no matter how long we lived there. Europe is a wonderful
place, and there is so much to do and see there. Who knows, we may move back
to London again in the future – you never know.
Well, we’re off to the Big Apple now – New York City. We are very excited and hope to see lots of you come and visit. Our door is wide open. We are closing this chapter in our lives, but we are opening a new one. Until the first NYC update, take care and God bless. We love and miss you all!