On The Move Again
We’ve been here in the UK for almost three and a half months and the exciting time to move on (again!) has come! Tomorrow we head back to India to pick up Aroha and start getting ready to sail on to South East Asia in a few weeks time.
It feels like the time has really flown. We spent January in a little rented cottage near Helen’s family near Bristol, but otherwise we’ve relied heavily on the hospitality of friends and family, feeling like we did several loops of the south-west of the UK in the process. We’re grateful to have had some extremely hospitable hosts who’ve welcomed us into their homes, and more importantly, their lives.
Being long term expats and having welcomed visitors to various places I’ve lived around the planet, it’s nice being on the other side of the equation as guests. I always looked forward to welcoming guests into my expat life and often used it as an excuse to do things that I might not normally do – visiting fancy new restaurants, skydiving, or going to concerts or shows.
There have been downsides of being long term guests. It’s been easy to slip into the habit of drinking every evening – there’s always a reunion or some such to celebrate! It was fun in the beginning, but we were happy to be able to fit in some dry days too!
Finding and buying a “bolt hole” property was both time and energy sapping, especially with what we thought was “the one” falling through. You can read about the ups and downs of that adventure here.
The good news is that we found another place that will become our UK base. It’s close to the sea, family and friends, and we’re looking forward to putting our mark on it to make it a home for ourselves, and attractive for family and friends to stay. The purchase process is crawling along, and we’ll be happy to share details once that’s all complete and it’s legally ours.
I’m excited about getting back to some sort of version of the original plan – of sailing around South East Asia. It’s funny thinking that tomorrow we’ll be back on a plane, heading back to our little floating home Aroha.
It’s been 18 months since we left Aroha in the marina in Kochi, India. We’ve made the most of that time, both in Aotearoa New Zealand and the UK, but at times she has felt like a bit of a burden. The irony isn’t lost – kitting Aroha out to go cruising was supposed to be a low stress way of spending a couple of years, and it’s been hard at times to not worry about her bobbing about it the murky waters of Kochi. We’ve had a trusted friend look after her, checking important stuff like bilge pumps, house battery health and ventilation, as well as keeping her clean from the Indian pollution. We’ve allowed about three weeks to get her ship shape before we cast of on our next sailing passage – there’s a lot of jobs to be done to service and recommission various systems, and we know that some of those jobs won’t go to plan. But in a funny kind of way, I’m looking forward to that challenge too.
Saying farewell to family and friends is never easy, despite years and years of expat life. It’s a little easier this time round though, as we plan to be back in the UK later in the year.
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