The final countdown - It will never fit!
The final countdown
Today our landlord will come to visit after we have our Covid tests done. It was a bit of a pain to get that arranged with him because the testing was actually going to happen between 13.30 and 21.00 today. Thankfully, we won't have to sit inside from 2 to 9 after all, they sent us a 1,5 hours time frame yesterday in which they will arrive for the testing. That's great because it will make our day a lot smoother now that we decided to buy another big suitcase after all. This was not planned, we hoped it wasn't needed either, but it seems like we will make it harder on ourselves if we don't.
I considered the pain of traveling with this much luggage and not buying one extra big suitcase, but then I realized our "taxi" will be a friend with a station wagon and from the first hotel to the airport, it's a shuttle bus (only a few minutes). Once in Malaga, we will also take a taxi to the hotel and most likely from the hotel to the bus station the next day too. Yes, those taxi drives will be expensive probably but anything for comfort to be honest. We've had our fair share of traveling with a lot of luggage (and a baby, stroller, etc) by bus already, this time we will just pay for comfort. The whole carrying around your life in several suitcases thing (including your office setting lol) is already uncomfortable enough as we have to hop from temporary accommodation to temporary accommodation the first month, that I feel we should give ourselves at least some comfort where possible.
The current status
It will give you a slightly wrong idea though as the items are just thrown on the suitcases without considering using a vacuum bag or anything, so the actual volume will look less big once we're done sorting what goes where. The only thing that we knew for sure was one trolley was going to carry most paperwork and some other heavy items we take, to hopefully get it close to 10kg and part of the check-in luggage, one trolley will be our carry-on luggage including everything we want to have close to us as well as a fresh set of clothes for in the hotels and one suitcase will be the one carrying only clothes plus the computer screens of our office setting so that they will not risk being damaged as there are only clothes in the suitcase.
As you can see above, we still have plenty of packing to do, lol. The right top picture shows our 2 big and 2 trolley suitcases, while on the top right you can see the third trolley we're taking. This was supposed to be enough but we're going to get another big suitcase later today after we had our Covid tests done. Why? There are simply too many items that haven't sold and while I was fed up selling, I also got fed up throwing things out for free. We noticed that the one extra suitcase would solve the issue, and even though it's a slight discomfort traveling with one extra, it seems that we're going for that option anyway. We're not sure yet if we replace one of the small trolleys, probably we will so we still have 5 suitcases instead of 6. Easier traveling, lol.
The bottom images show you the amount of paperwork I yet have to sort, except for the purple binder as that's paperwork sorted that we have to take with us, but thankfully, that's almost done. Even though we will have some more space for packing stuff later, I really want to remove as much extra weight as possible.
There's one box left as you can see, piled up with items that we won't take so this has to be given away, or put outside so strangers will take it for free. I tried giving those things away many times, without result and most things aren't suitable for our friends or landlord so that box has to be emptied later today making our hallway free of clutter again. It may seem like mission impossible for today but I feel calm and it will be all fine, we will first get rid of what needs to go (unless we want to ask our landlord if he wants it first) and then empty spaces will appear again.
Work
By the time of writing this, I got most of my work for today and the next two days planned ahead, I have to finalize a few things later today, but I'm not worried about getting that done today. I deliberately choose not to deal with any work stuff until at least Monday evening when we're in the first hotel, but I rather plan everything until Tuesday in case I'm too tired and just don't want to deal with work stuff during the travel days. If I will work, I will plan a few days ahead again because I know that once we land at our final destination, I will start enjoying our surroundings for the rest of the week as my boyfriend is also free from work. My work will be done in the early mornings or later evenings probably, and the rest of the time, I will enjoy it without a screen in front of me.
The biggest concern today: the Covid tests
I know when you are self-isolated it's quite impossible to have them turn out positive but then this voice inside my head reminds me about the false positives that have appeared over the year and I get slightly stressed and think "what if". Our tickets are non-refundable as I wanted to save ourselves the money for a trip we weren't going to move forward anyway, hence the stupid self-isolating. I will be happy when this day is over and we have received the green light in our mailbox that we have tested negative and are allowed to fly. It's one of these things that I can't control myself and makes me a bit anxious until I have the final verdict, lol.
Either way, the countdown is real and things will move quickly from now on.
Thanks for reading and have a great Sunday ahead!
Previous parts of The Expat Diaries
- The sound of an almost empty home
- Narrowing down our life to 5 suitcases
- When the universe aligns everything perfectly
- Catching up and saying goodbyes
- We're closing the kindergarten chapter sooner than expected
- Finding a place to live in Spain
- The countdown is real - The last times in Budapest
- Our life in 6 suitcases - sorting, selling & giving away our belongings
- Moving back to Spain very soon!
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- The text divider is my own design, created with Canva Pro with the usage of images from Canva Pro or in other cases my own images. The text divider designs are also for my own use only, unless I've given you direct permission to use them.
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All the best. Everything will go as planned and hope your back is better.
wow looking organised and tidy! Good luck over the next week or so and look after yourself! !PIZZA
LOL #sarcasm :)
It's already improved a lot as I spent the last hour going through my boyfriend's and daughter's clothes, these are now all sorted and packed. It's getting tidier by the hour :) lolol
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All the best. Hope things will go smoothly for you.
!PIZZA and stay safe.
Sounds you are almost set :) Hope the tests turn out okay. All the best to you on your final preparations.
!LADY
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I wish you all the best. Reminds me of my own situation last year. I had to do the moving alone and had to travel with 100 kilogram of luggage! But it was the best decision. i went back to Belgium and a few months later on to Spain. I still have no regrets. Hopefully all will go as smoothly as it did with me.
bags are packed and the journey starts soon! and yes .. covid test sucks :(
Alphashot from Listnerds
The testing wasn't as bad as I expected, thankfully!
I was not looking forward to it but it was not like they touched my brain (some people say its horrible haha)
Almost there indeed..
Hello @thisismylife. Yes, you don't realize all the items you've accumulated until you have to get rid of it. Stuff just comes out of nowhere staring you in the face begging to be dealt with. You will begin to see some empty space when you get rid of some unwanted items.
I usually call the donation people to schedule a pick up time. Otherwise, I place items in a box and label it FREE and sit it on the curb on the day heavy trash is due to arrive. Within no time, people who scour the neighborhood for unwanted items will appear.
Thanks for sharing. You're almost there.
Absolutely true, even though you think you have a pretty clear view of what's in the closets gathered over the years when you start digging and sorting to sell/donate/throw away or take with you, it's clear that there's so much more. I filled two huge bags with groceries for the person picking up the final sold items later, as well as our friend that drives us to the hotel tomorrow and still there's more.
Luckily, the selling went smooth at the start, it just started to become a daunting task not worth my energy for the outcome so we started putting bags/boxes with free items outside at some point because we could not bring them to the shelters anymore. I brought many bags there when I just started sorting things out but we could not bring these anymore as we don't have a car now. But thankfully, all the items have been taken when we placed them outside.
Our extra suitcase (my bf did end up getting one) means I can take a few more items from the kitchen that I otherwise had to buy new in Spain, and now we have some space to take them. So it's all fine, totally drained now, my back is also telling me to slow down so I will try to get into bed earlier than yesterday.
Thanks for stopping by!
Yes, if you try to do too much, your back and every other part of your body using muscles will let you know it's time to take a break.
So happy it's all finished. Now you can look forward to new horizons!
Take care and stay safe. Happy travels.
!LUV
!LADY
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Progress all the way! How is your back now? Hope it's better now. I wish you good and smooth move.
Thank you for asking <3
It's better than a few days ago, but earlier today I definitely was overdoing it because I had a nice pain attack and had to sit down for a few hours. But I also know, it's just one more day, not even a full one, so I will have to manage.
I will treat myself to a hairdresser visit in the morning and probably let them dye my hair as well for once :) that will make me relaxed haha.
!CTP
Oh no, soon you have the time to rest. Do enjoy your time at the salon. Hahah. You need it and take care of yourself. Thank you for the tip, Much love☺️.
Wow looking good and well organized
Good luck with the move. I am praying for safe travels for you.
!CTP
Wow, paring things down that much was a real challenge I am sure but you are almost there.
Woohoo!!! 'De laatste loodjes!' :) Not long now until you'll be turning the key in that lock one last time, never looking back and hop on the plane to your new life & adventures!
To me it felt like that time went by so quickly but I know from recent experience that it must have seemed like forever for you.
I'm SO excited for you guys, and I know you'll rock it in Spain.
Much love to you sister, in these final days in shit land hahaha.
With just a few hours on the clock before we close the door here for the last time, I had to respond to your comment as I don't know if I feel like checking my account later today or that I will just crash early (probably the latter lol).
Thanks so much, yeah the past weeks have flown by but now I'm still stressing about things not fitting, I knew this was going to happen, but I woke up with my boyfriend sorting the last pile of paperwork at 7am (apparently already doing that for at least an hour).
Although we wanted to take a lot of spices etc, as I have so many, they will probably end up in the bin as I don't see how I can fit it all :) Luckily, we can buy them there too so should not stress about these.
We have 2 suitcases filled up, and the rest 50% so now it comes down to the final stage of packing and cleaning up after ourselves.. I think we deserve a nice meal later in the hotel :) lol
Thanks for the support <3
Your almost set!
Just the covid test.
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This brings back bad memories of weeks ago when I knew my things would not fit in a van despite my efforts. I was blessed with a friend who stored some things for me and I got to pick them up a few weeks later on a drive back. I'm glad I only moved 12 hours away by car and still get to go back to visit family and friends. !CTP !BBH
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. Keep up the fantastic work
What an undertaking, and I totally understand the stress of 'what if' with the covid tests. I've been there once in the past 4 weeks. Sounds like an adventure, and I know you will enjoy your travels regardless of all the necessary stuff that needs to go with you. Once you finally get to your final home within the next month or so, that will the the 'ahhhh' moment for you, I'm sure! Take care and safe travels! !LADY
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Good luck with the covid tests. Do not worry too much - you do not want to manifest the total opposite of your wishes.
Came here from Listnerds
All clear :) woke up with the results and thankfully all negative and we landed in the hotel a few hours ago. :)
!CTP
Aww that is great news!!
I wish you good luck with your new move. It must be very exciting to start a new chapter.
thank you, and yes it is!
Best of luck on the journey. I hope it goes smoothly for you, and the stress will just melt away once you're settled in a new place in a new country.
Also, once the initial pain in the ass of travelling to a new country is over (I can't stand the element of travel of airports... getting to the destination etc) then that excitement of adventure can kick in. discovering new places, learning the language and making new friends.
All this is still to come and I'm sure you'll have an amazing time, and hopefully find a home base quickly as I know this is important for someone travelling/relocating with family compared to the lone traveller.
Best of luck 🌿🙂