The Art of Flexibility

In the last 12 hours, we’ve been hit with a few trip-related curveballs. Everything is going to work out fine, but it’s been quite a roller coaster.

First issue:

There was a small problem with our Visa application, which is delaying its arrival by a day. The Visa couldn’t be finalized without a letter from Matt’s company stating that his salary will be enough to support Frankie and me. (England is apparently afraid that Frankie and I are a couple of deadbeats.) The letter was faxed over on Wednesday, and if all goes well, we’ll have all of our travel documents in hand this afternoon. Since we’re leaving Friday morning, it’s a little nerve-wracking. If there are any delivery problems or delays, we might not get everything in time for our flight. (Deep breaths… Stay calm…)

Second issue:

Matt just found out that he’s needed in Bristol for meetings on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of next week. Bristol is over six hours away from Matt’s UK office, which changes our travel plans for our first week in England pretty drastically. We originally planned to arrive at the Manchester airport on Saturday and drive straight over to our temporary rental cottage. With Matt’s new meeting schedule, though, he’d essentially have to arrive at the cottage, fall asleep, wake up, and drive six hours south to Bristol. Then, he’d be in Bristol for four days (with our only car) while Frankie and I would be stuck alone at the cottage.

Not the ideal way to start our big family adventure, right?

So, after much debate and several frantic phone calls to the UK, we finally got everything smoothed out again. We ended up cancelling the temporary cottage in we were going to stay in until our long-term Maryport house was ready for move in on March 15. Instead, we booked a 2 bedroom city apartment in Bristol. It actually looks like a pretty great place:

http://www.premierapartmentsbristol.com/index.php

In a genius moment of planning, we decided to stay in Bristol all the way through to March 15. Technically, all of Matt's meetings are finished on Wednesday the 10th, but we thought it would make more sense to just stay put until we're able to permanently move to Maryport. Matt will just take the last two days of next week off, and we'll be able to have a little family mini-vacation before we move to Maryport. (Yay!)

Bristol itself is a pretty big city, and should be a lot of fun to explore. Plus, if we get tired of Bristol and feel up to an adventure, London is only about an hour and a half away by train.

So, three hours after I woke up in the morning, the first ten days of our trip were completely re-planned and re-booked. It was a surprise, but in the end, I think it’s going to work out perfectly. I’m really looking forward to seeing Bristol and London, and (most importantly) we all get to stay together.