Eeeeek 10 days to go!! Getting really excited now!
Update from the last blog:
- The flat is rented out and seems to be going smoothly. The couple have signed up for a year lease with the option to renew so fingers crossed. Our original 2 year fixed mortgage had come to an end and luckily we fell into the next bracket so this brought our morgage down to be more in line with the renting price so we won’t have to worry about paying the extra in each month. We have moved in with my parents which has been a life saver if somewhat challenging getting used to the ‘everything must be absolutely in it’s place or you will be shouted at’ drill.
- We both flew to London for the day to go and get my chest x-ray for my Australian working holiday visa. We got the red-eye to Gatwick and went straight into London. After some shopping on Oxford Street it was a quick subway trip to Knightsbridge. The doctors surgery was oddly placed on a row of million pound plus houses in the middle of Chelsea next to Harrods. We got buzzed into the building and creeped through the foyer and found door 15. Inside was a receptionist who showed us to what looked like an old persons front room, complete with fire and old lounge chairs, very bizare. The called me up and I was taken to a room down the hall. How on earth they got these x-ray machines into this old building I will never know! My x-ray took about 1 minute and cost me £99! We spent the rest of the day in London with our first ever trip to Nandos which was rather disappointing! When I arrived home about 9pm I was suprised to find an email from Australian immigration granting my visa! Woo hoo!! Stress over.
We have since been to England to say our goodbyes to Shaun’s family. It was very nice to catch up but it was the first of our goodbyes and really sunk in that we are going, and for a really long time.
In preparation we got our tourist visas online for Sri Lanka which cost $30. And then the fun part … we have booked our first 3 nights in Sri Lanka. We are staying in Negombo which is only a 15 minute drive from Colombo airport. The hotel is called Goldi Sands Hotel and looks pretty nice with breakfast and a pool for a reasonable price of £41 a night! We will wing the rest when we get there as usual. We have 3 weeks in Sri Lanka and we really want to chill out and do absolutely nothing!!
From a work front, Shaun has been working his butt off at all hours of the day and weekends and will continue to do so until we leave, even on bank holiday Monday. Unfortunately, the project I have been working my butt off on for the last 2 years has not been able to go live before I leave, I cannot even begin to describe how devastated I am to walk away from all that work. But let’s be honest, nothing that laying on a beach for a few months won’t heal!
So we only have 10 days left, and 5 left at work. Shaun is having his leaving do with all his friends this weekend. Then next weekend we will be having our final goodbyes with a BBQ at my parents house the night before we leave.
We are flying to Gatwick on 31st August and spending a night near Heathrow before catching our flight to Colombo on 1st September. Time is ticking by soooo quickly.
Personally, I am really looking forward to turning off my phone and disconecting from the world for a while …
À la perchoine
Lots of love
Jodie & Shaun
x
