A Place to Call Home

I’m so excited to move into a room all my own! After nearly 13.5 months of continuously traveling around from place to place, I finally have a little spot to call ‘home.’ Originally, while I was in London, I was planning to bounce around and stay with various friends, combined with a few hostels and hotels thrown in. It took all of two days (actually while I was still staying at the Aloft London Excel & hadn’t yet begun couch surfing) for me to realize that I had reached a point where I needed a bit of stability and a proper place to settle for a while. The constant moving from place to place had finally taken a toll, both mentally and physically. Not to mention, it’s next to impossible to attempt to establish a routine to find work when I feel constantly stressed about imposing on friends and where I’m staying the following week. This changes the budget a bit, but I think my sanity is definitely worth it.

When my friend Jean was in town, on his second to last day we all went out for a pub lunch. Another South African friend of his joined us and when I was explaining my loose, non-plan-plan to him, he mentioned that he and his fiancée have a second room that they rent out and I could come check it out the following week. It was perfect! My own room and bath on the second floor of their place. Since it’s the top floor, it has skylights and I really love all the natural light the room gets (you know, on those super common sunny London days). Not to mention, it’s been quite a while since I’ve been able to shut the door to my room and walk from the shower to my room without having to worry about bumping into another soul and it’s such a wonderful luxury I forgot existed!

As of today, I’ve been in my new place just over a week and I absolutely love it! Not that I don’t still love my packing cubes, but it’s so amazing to have my stuff fully unpacked and have actual shelves to put away my clothes. I’m slowly trying to establish a bit of routine and sort out working and having my own place has been incredibly helpful for both. It’s next to impossible for me to be constantly moving from place to place, not have a base and be able to get work done. I’ve enjoyed spending time exploring London and I’m trying to create a good balance of working and exploring each week. I’m also trying to do at least one walking tour with London Walks each week and so far I’m really enjoying those. I’ve toyed with sticking around London a bit longer and while I may regret saying these words later, I’m actually kind of looking forward to fall and winter weather. I’m not currently packed for this, but my uncle is a pilot for Delta and is generously bringing me an extra suitcase my mom is packing up for him this week. I’m beyond excited for this delivery this week, not to mention super excited to see family! Currently attempting to take things one week at the time because, well, you never know…