Hello Britain!
22 May - 8 June 2019
After moving out of our house in Singapore we spent our last few days on the East Coast in a hotel. And there were a lot of “lasts” as we said goodbye to this significant chapter in our lives.
Now, after 14 years of being based in the Asia-Pacific region, it was time to move back to Europe. It was quite strange purchasing one-way tickets, but exciting as we set off on this new adventure. We managed to sneak ALL of our possessions and bags under 100kg coming into the UK - which is pretty good for a family of 4! We had trimmed right back, knowing we would soon be re-accumulating boat-appropriate gear instead.
We landed in the UK in late-May to some rather brisk weather… Despite the sun, it felt like early winter! However returning back to the family home I grew up in was very comforting, and having grandparents available to help out makes things quite a bit easier too. :) We settled in and showed the kids around their temporary home. With plenty of new things to explore (not least of all the excellent stash of toys on offer; some from Dad’s vintage!) the transition was fairly smooth, despite some jet lag.
We had a number of things to achieve on the list now that all of the Singapore admin had been wrapped up. It was time to open up new bank accounts, register with the health service, get new phone numbers, etc.
As we started to really think about the logistics of moving onto a boat with no possessions, online shopping has become a daily feature! (Hello kitchenware, lifejackets, a generator, boat bits, outdoor clothing, and more!) It’s quite interesting to think about what you desire verses what you actually need. Our strategy is to acquire quality over quantity - items that will last, are as eco-friendly/sustainable as possible, and with a view that everything should be multi-purpose if possible.
Our desired (long) summer-like temperatures has had to be paused thanks to the delayed warm weather in Britain, so we have gratefully accepted a significant amount of hand-me-downs for the kids. We literally only had shorts and t-shirts leaving Singapore, so it’s now a lot more effort to get out the house with the kids all layered up!
Soon after we arrived in Manchester we busily got to organising seeing family and friends, including an “open-house” gathering with a bunch of old mates and family, many whom we haven’t seen for years. And have also taken day trips to Chester, Liverpool and Birmingham. It’s been really encouraging to share more about our adventure and find out what everyone else has been up to.
So, the first two weeks of settling in and catching-up has been really lovely - so different feeling to just being on holiday and thinking about returning to work - we are much more relaxed!
There has been a slight delay on receiving the boat, putting us from a June pick-up to the end of July instead. But with the French holidays in August (rather an abrupt interruption to the year and something we are not used to!) this actually pushes us into early September before we can step aboard. A bit of a spanner in the works, but truthfully this is exactly the type of unpredictability we expect from our new chosen lifestyle. So we intend to take full advantage of the opportunity to head to France anyway and enjoy a land-based summertime adventure. There are a number of people we can visit and stay with (thanks folks!), and some places we would love to show the kids that aren’t accessible by boat.
We’ll make some bigger trips in the next few weeks as we hang out in the UK, so stay tuned to see where we head off to… :)
-Ben