No Place Like Travel

Over the last 24 hours our lives have changed. We are now of no fixed abode, we are owners of fewer possessions and we are reveling in our new status as nomads as we hurtle down the I95 toward Cape Cod.

Travel snack pack from Irish Lass

It’s hard to imagine that just this time yesterday we were swimming in a sea of bubble wrap and packing tape. Nerves fraying faster than the bottom of overpacked boxes.

Little Baby O summarizes exactly how we feel

They say life teaches you lessons everyday. Here’s what I learnt:

• Moving isn’t fun. It is a temporary form of hell (sort of like a six day root canal). But everything will be okay…eventually.
• It is well worth the extra two seconds to put the scissors, tape and fat marker pen back in the same place after use. Playing the ‘where the *fudge* is the <insert item here>’ game quickly wears thin.
• If in doubt, throw it out.

Even after a big cull we have more stuff than we need

Here’s what English Hubby took away from the experience:

• It’s a bad idea to schedule a long overdue check up with the dermatologist on the same afternoon as moving and vacating the apartment.
• A hungry wife with screaming baby who just had a daiper blowout is a lethal combo.
• Staying hydrated is important.

At the end of the day there weren’t too many casualties, plant life excluded.

Thankfully the only casualties

As dear friend, Irish Lass, wisely counselled – This is just one day which will all be a distant memory very soon. You will soon look back on it and laugh.

And we’re ready to leave

Previous Post: And More Stuff

Next Post: Happy Times in Cape Cod

More musings…The Road Less Travelled

When will it ever end? How did we accumulate so much stuff? More packing, this time attacking the kitchen with a little picnic interlude with Big Red.

The forest of cardboard boxes grows

Did we ever need all this shiny stuff?

Delicious picnic on Wards Island with Big Red. A welcome reprieve from packing

Previous post: Getting Nostalgic

Next post: And Away We Go

Already getting nostalgic. There is much we will miss in New York City. It is farewell for now, not forever.

Closing one door, for now

Will miss the local green market every Thursday

And even the sounds and smells of Manhattan

Yesterday’s post: No Longer Our Home

Next post: And More Stuff

Packing up our life – pictures no longer hung, walls are bare, boxes boxed. Our apartment no longer feels like home.

Going…

…going…

…gone!

Previous Post: The Road Less Travelled

Tomorrow’s Post: Getting Nostalgic

It’s 4.30 in the morning and the gravity of what we are doing has just hit. Why not have a baby, take a 15 month career break, vacate your comfy Manhattan apartment, sell your worldly possessions, leave your dear urbanite friends (and substitute family), buy an RV and drive off, destination unknown. And throw in for good measure a three month old baby. English Hubby and I must be nuts. That, dear reader, is the closest we have to a plan.

They say it’s always darkest before the dawn. Right now, it’s pitch black.  Surrounded by boxes, packing tape and general chaos. To-do lists on post it notes. A fridge full of food that needs to be consumed.

Packing mayhem

Questions unanswered, from the mundane (where should we forward our mail, and how do we collect it on the road?) to the sublimely important (how do we get Little Baby O his periodic vaccinations?). That being said, the done bucket is slowly expanding.

Find an RV. Check.
Sell furniture on Craigslist. Check.
Arrange for storage. Check.
Pick up rental car. Check.

Rental car pick up

I guess we have 12 more days to work out the details before we take possession of our tiny house on wheels and hit the road. The rest we may just have to figure out along the way.

Here’s to the road less travelled, and may it take us far, yet bring us closer to all we hold dear.

Happiness

Next post: No Longer Our Home