Into The Flat

We arrived in London on Thursday 4 May in the morning. Our first task was to get through customs and retrieve our luggage. The arrivals hall was packed that morning as several large flights came in at once. We got in the line for visa holders and waited. I think it took about an hour for us to reach the head of the line, but in the dull haze of transatlantic overnight flight, it’s hard to accurately judge time.

The customs agent was polite and friendly, he pointed out that we needed my work permit to get it stamped, but since we had packed it in our checked luggage he told us to bring it the next time we came through (which will be in a few weeks). He said that it had to be stamped as well as our visas.

Once we were through customs we called our relocation agent to see if we were going to be able to get into our flat. It turned out that the estate agent was in the office and would drive over to the flat to have us sign the final paperwork. So, we grabbed a taxi to Kensington, and managed to remember enough of our address to get to the right place.

We walked over to our building and introduced ourselves to the porters, and told them that we were the new renters for our flat. They were a great help, and took us up to the flat immediately. The porter let us into the flat and brought up our remaining bags, then he showed us around and helped us to understand how all the appliances work. After that he left so that we could settle in.

A little while later the estate agent showed up, we chatted a bit, signed the paperwork, and that was that. We were now the happy residents of a flat in London.

I’m amazed at how simple it was to do this transaction. Between email and wire transfers renting a flat in London was about as easy as renting an apartment in San Francisco. We traded several drafts of the contract as email attachments, and when everyone was agreed Jenna and I wired the first months rent and a six week deposit to the estate agent in London.

The flat is furnished, so we are already making ourselves at home. Our stuff from California is in the UK now and working it’s way through customs. We’ll probably have it delivered next week.