So many towns, so little time!
Let's go to Chicago for a week to find somewhere to live, I said...easier said than done!
Before we even arrived, the diary was full of commitments, dinner here, lunch there, Super Bowl party, leadership dinner on Monday night, I was beginning to think that we would never actually have any time to look at property.
It was an uneventful flight, although there was a odd looking woman, who spent the entire flight in a hooded top and wearing a duffel coat with the hood up, at one point she even covered herself completely (head and all) with a blanket! All very odd, fortunately though, she wasn't a terrorist. It's amazing how your mind works after some of the recent global events; before I would probably not even have noticed her.
Picked up by a limo at the airport we felt like royalty, except the guy couldn't fit in all of our luggage, so we had to resort to punching it and jumping on it; surprisingly small boots, limos! We had fun (well I did) playing with the toys, CD, DVD, Aircon, dividing screen, etc all on a touch panel screen. Nearly lost a couple of DVDs in the drive though, as it kept taking them and not returning them, I almost rang 14000! (our technology helpdesk for those who don't know)
The hotel is OK, it has a pool and jacuzzi, and does a decent breakfast. Internet access is free by wireless device, so I am actually writing this in the bar, whilst drinking my complimentary drinks (every night 5:30-7:30).
It's been pretty cold, although apparently at the moment it is unseasonably warm. Lake Michigan is partially frozen, and one of one of the inlets up in Kenosha is completely frozen.
Mike has been a complete star as always, hooking me up with a car (his!), a mobile phone and generally going out of his way wherever he can. I finally met his wife Jodi, she is great. We went up to visit them at their place. The have a rescued chocolate lab, called Chili, who is just adorable. They live in a great house up in Kenosha in Wisconsin, which by our standards back home is a decent size, 3 bedrooms, basement, 2 car garage, 2 full bathrooms and a "powder room", a living room, big kitchen, dining area and a den/family room, probably worth £350-400k back home, here it is worth about $250k (that's about £135k give or take, which is what I paid for my one bedroom flat!).
Gas or petrol is currently floating at anywhere around $1.90 a gallon, which at current rates is only about 10p more than we pay for a litre. Furniture is about the same sort of price, £ for $ that is, from what I can see, and they have Ikea, so we should be "all set".
We have spent the last two days trekking around the place trying to find a nice area, not realising how many villages, towns & cities exist in a pretty small (30/50 mile radius) area. Vernon Hills, Mundelein, Libertyville, Grayslake, Gurnee, Kenosha, Zion, Waukagen, Lake Bluff, Lake Forest, Highwood, Glencoe, Highland Park, Evanston, and a dozen other "villages" in between.
There are some "dodgy" areas in Zion and Waukagen that apparently are cheap for a reason, and some other areas in Gurnee, Grayslake and the like, that we didn't like. Lake(s) Bluff and Forest, Glencoe and Highland Park, are incredible, but very expensive, right on the edge of the lake. Our current favourite is looking like Libertyville, it has a high street and some great looking properties, near the office, and not too far from the lake, although for pure value for money, Kenosha is right up there.
So now it's time to relax. Tomorrow we have the Super Bowl party, dinner with my new team on Monday, and home on Tuesday to continue the preparation..the visa interview is on the 15th, and my official start date is the 4th April, although I will probably leave the UK around the 28th/29th March.
Before we even arrived, the diary was full of commitments, dinner here, lunch there, Super Bowl party, leadership dinner on Monday night, I was beginning to think that we would never actually have any time to look at property.
It was an uneventful flight, although there was a odd looking woman, who spent the entire flight in a hooded top and wearing a duffel coat with the hood up, at one point she even covered herself completely (head and all) with a blanket! All very odd, fortunately though, she wasn't a terrorist. It's amazing how your mind works after some of the recent global events; before I would probably not even have noticed her.
Picked up by a limo at the airport we felt like royalty, except the guy couldn't fit in all of our luggage, so we had to resort to punching it and jumping on it; surprisingly small boots, limos! We had fun (well I did) playing with the toys, CD, DVD, Aircon, dividing screen, etc all on a touch panel screen. Nearly lost a couple of DVDs in the drive though, as it kept taking them and not returning them, I almost rang 14000! (our technology helpdesk for those who don't know)
The hotel is OK, it has a pool and jacuzzi, and does a decent breakfast. Internet access is free by wireless device, so I am actually writing this in the bar, whilst drinking my complimentary drinks (every night 5:30-7:30).
It's been pretty cold, although apparently at the moment it is unseasonably warm. Lake Michigan is partially frozen, and one of one of the inlets up in Kenosha is completely frozen.
Mike has been a complete star as always, hooking me up with a car (his!), a mobile phone and generally going out of his way wherever he can. I finally met his wife Jodi, she is great. We went up to visit them at their place. The have a rescued chocolate lab, called Chili, who is just adorable. They live in a great house up in Kenosha in Wisconsin, which by our standards back home is a decent size, 3 bedrooms, basement, 2 car garage, 2 full bathrooms and a "powder room", a living room, big kitchen, dining area and a den/family room, probably worth £350-400k back home, here it is worth about $250k (that's about £135k give or take, which is what I paid for my one bedroom flat!).
Gas or petrol is currently floating at anywhere around $1.90 a gallon, which at current rates is only about 10p more than we pay for a litre. Furniture is about the same sort of price, £ for $ that is, from what I can see, and they have Ikea, so we should be "all set".
We have spent the last two days trekking around the place trying to find a nice area, not realising how many villages, towns & cities exist in a pretty small (30/50 mile radius) area. Vernon Hills, Mundelein, Libertyville, Grayslake, Gurnee, Kenosha, Zion, Waukagen, Lake Bluff, Lake Forest, Highwood, Glencoe, Highland Park, Evanston, and a dozen other "villages" in between.
There are some "dodgy" areas in Zion and Waukagen that apparently are cheap for a reason, and some other areas in Gurnee, Grayslake and the like, that we didn't like. Lake(s) Bluff and Forest, Glencoe and Highland Park, are incredible, but very expensive, right on the edge of the lake. Our current favourite is looking like Libertyville, it has a high street and some great looking properties, near the office, and not too far from the lake, although for pure value for money, Kenosha is right up there.
So now it's time to relax. Tomorrow we have the Super Bowl party, dinner with my new team on Monday, and home on Tuesday to continue the preparation..the visa interview is on the 15th, and my official start date is the 4th April, although I will probably leave the UK around the 28th/29th March.
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