Successful Week!

I had an extremely successful week! I’m so glad I had the vacation time and visa ahead of time to be able to come to London a week before I started work. I was able to take care of three necessities: cell phone, bank, and flat before I start work on Monday which is making me feel super relieved right now! I’m very ready to start work and am glad that I have these major things off my list of things to figure out!

Yesterday the realtor took me to 13 flats in Chelsea and South Kensington. She originally had 16 flats on the schedule but by the time I got there in the morning, 3 had already been taken off the market because they ended up getting rented out. Very quick moving here! It was quite a day, and out of those 13 I only found 3 that I liked (and I’m not even a picky person), and the one that I bid on yesterday (and got!) was a clear contender against the rest. It is a true gem to come by in Chelsea and an 8 min walk to the tube. The local area is really really great though- lots of cute restaurants and local butchers, etc.- including a restaurant that Prince William frequents- wahoo!

It was also amazing how different properties can be even when they are all within the same budget! It’s really really important in London to physically walk in and see these places in person because no two are alike and pictures really don’t tell you much. For example, the very first flat I walked in was in almost an alley and it had a terrible smell that I don’t think I could have lived with! I seriously can’t believe they market these things all at the same price!

Okay, so here’s my flat! It’s newly renovated, got fantastic space/storage options….great kitchen and bathroom….great closet space. It’s decorated very modern…the lights are blue and there is a bright red rug (not pictured). Honestly the decorations weren’t my taste at all, but overall it’s an amazing flat- the thing that sold me was the private porch that meets the community gardens!

The landlord seems really great- he was very nice and lives just across the hall. He’s really passionate about the technology and renovation of the flat and went into great detail about every aspect of his “project”.

Here’s the living room/dining room/kitchen. You can see the porch through the windows and the large park :)

Here’s the amazing kitchen that Jessica will have to come over and cook me Thanksgiving dinner at :) (I will explain who Jessica is if you don’t know in another post soon but basically she’s one of my closest friends from Chicago who is ironically moving to London in a few weeks with her fiancé Joe and she’s much better at cooking/baking than me!) It’s even got a trash can built in the counter so that when you are peeling vegetables or fruit you can just dump it in. It’s got a big wine rack on the other end of the island, and the landlord has already bought some wine he’s going to give me…fabulous!

Here’s my bedroom. Um, they’re also providing the bedding which I find a little odd and guessing from the decorations it won’t be my style but oh well!

Here’s the other wall of my bedroom- all for closet space!! Woohoo!

Here’s my bathroom- it’s FABULOUS! Lots of storage space too!! I was worried because most places here have no counter space in the bathrooms.

And I also have a utility room!! Crazy! And it has a washer and dryer- which is really hard to find both in London.

I feel so fortunate because this kind of place is really hard to find here! All of the other places I had seen were over 100 years old! My place had only been on the market for a week and there was even another bidder this morning aaah! Here you put in offers to rent out flats similar to how you would buy a house in the US, so someone could outbid you. I really can’t believe how lucky I got.