A Travel Journal

   About two and a half years ago a friend of mine bought me a black travel journal with an Eiffel Tower on it (very fitting for me). I meant to write in it, but of course I haven’t. It is sitting in my bookcase. At first, I wanted to talk about my travels moving to North Carolina and the travels while living to North Carolina, but I felt like I didn’t have much to say even though I have traveled since I have been here. I think I may have missed the whole point to that journal. It was not just about travels that I take, but also the adventures of life.


   Moving to North Carolina was a new adventure for my life. A completely new experience, which I thought I would never have. I never thought I would live in North Carolina. I have learned so much since I have been here. I have learned about culture, about local history, and met people from all over the country and other countries as well. I have had the experience of getting a top notch education through working on my master’s degree in education. I have learned how the schools here are similar and different in many ways from New Hampshire. I would not give up these experiences for anything. I have grown as a person and feel more independent than ever.

   It was a lot of work to relocate, but I would do it again. I love living here, but in some ways I wouldn’t mind moving to another area and experiencing and learning more. I am looking forward to completing my master’s degree and having more time to experience life, travel, and learn more.

Two Years in North Carolina

    This weekend is the two year anniversary of Joe and I moving to North Carolina.  I cannot believe we have already lived here two years.  It seems like we just moved here.  Sometimes it still feels strange that we actually live here.  I never thought we would leave New Hampshire, but now that we have, I am glad we did.  I am glad to be living here and experiencing a new area.  I think Joe and I knew we would someday move out of state, we just didn't know when and where.  I am glad to call North Carolina home. 

Visit NC

Our Move to North Carolina

    You'll begin to notice throughout this blog that difficult circumstances seem to like to follow me.  This past weekend my husband Joe and I helped our friends move. This got me thinking about our experience moving from New Hampshire to North Carolina, which was--to put it lightly--an undertaking and not the best of experiences.

    First, everything we owned needed to be boxed. We had to make the move in one trip. There was no running back and forth to pick up more things for our new place. Almost everything had to fit in the trailer with the exception of what could be put into our two cars, which we were driving down. We packed our luggage with clothes for the upcoming week, brought all our cat stuff and our cat Kitsy (at the time we only had one cat) with us, a small television, my laptop, a couple of folding chairs, some bedding and towels, an air mattress, some bathroom stuff, and cleaning aids. That was about it. That was all we would have to live on for the next few days, or that is what we thought.

    The movers we hired ended up being a disaster. First, they never bothered to ask us when we were available to except the move (if I were a mover I would ask that). We were closing on a place, so we couldn't move in until after we closed, which was only one business day after when they came to get out stuff in New Hampshire (we moved Memorial Day weekend). We had the weekend to get down to North Carolina. I did tell them when we would be available, but I guess they didn't listen to me. They called me to try to deliver our stuff on Memorial Day (We were told that they would not be making deliveries on the holiday weekend.). I told them we didn't close until the next day, so the truck driver said he would have to continue on the Florida and stop on the way back, which ended up being many days later. They didn't show up until two weeks later. For two weeks we were sleeping on an air mattress, had limited clothes, no couch, nothing of anything to sit on other than a folding chair, no plates or pots and pans, nothing. We had to go out and buy Joe new clothes for work.

    Once the trailer arrived you would think the nightmare would be coming to an end, but you would be wrong. First, I had to meet the truck driver out on the main bypass, since he did not have a GPS. Second, he didn't have professional movers with him. He picked up workers from Labor Ready (day labor). The two men he hired knew nothing about moving. I don't think they had ever moved before. They were so sloppy. When moving the bed upstairs they dinged our ceiling. They broke the glass backing to our china cabinet, because they had not bothered to tie ropes around the china cabinet before they moved it. All they did was complain about the work and the heat. It was 98 degree that day. They didn't even bother to put the nails in our bed fame. We had to secure the bed before we went to bed that night.

    Over the two to three weeks that I dealt with this situation, I called the movers multiple times to complain. I tried everything I could to get the move there quicker and to get a discount off the move. The company seemed very unconcerned and told me that this was just as much a pain for them as it was for us. They made me feel like the situation was all my fault.

    The drive down to North Carolina was at least less difficult.  We stopped overnight in Maryland, so we could allow Kitsy to get out of his carrier and walk around a little.  The hotel in Maryland was not the best. There was no begging on our bed when we got there. By the time 5 came around I just requested bedding and we made the bed ourselves. At least they didn't charge us the fee for having Kitsy in our room. The traffic wasn't bad.  Even the George Washington Bridge coming out of New York City into New Jersey wasn't that crowded.  We probably paid $20 or more dollars in tolls. 

    We were able to unpack our stuff much quicker than we had packed our stuff. That's good since my husband had to work that week. We hadn't planned it to take this long to get our stuff of course. He was home for the move at least, which is why when the truck driver saw Joe he asked if he could help move the washer and dryer into our house. Of course he didn't.


    I don't know what I would have done differently. If I had a time machine I could go back and hire a different mover, but that was all that could be done. I'm not looking forward to moving again. At least not as far.

    Maybe next time I'll tell you about planning for our wedding.