I just realized it's been over a year since Kelly and I moved to London! It's been such an incredible year I figured I should write it all down before I forget.

# The move

We were nervous about flying our 4-month-old puppy across the country, so we decided to fly to Michigan first to visit family and reduce the total flight time.

We packed up our Florida house, put most of our things in storage and grabbed a flight to Detroit!

We went to Michigan, hung out with family, played some chess, Freya met some other dogs, and then we flew from Detroit to Paris. Strangely, the UK doesn't allow you to fly with dogs in the cabin when entering, so we flew to Paris and then paid a service to drive us from Paris to London (which means taking a car on a train and the train under the English Channel.)

# Arriving in London

We arrived, Kelly's job set us up with a temporary apartment, and we missed the worst heat wave. I was jobless in a new country and having a blast. We ate pub food, visited friends and explored the city together!

We had such an awesome first few months. Eating incredible food, wandering through all the great parks London has to offer and making a ton of friends. A few weeks in, our friends Katie and Liz came to visit! It was a great chance to do a bunch of touristy stuff.

We did the British Museum, Globe Theatre, Agatha Cristie plays, and Jack the Ripper tours and ate incredible Indian food.

We also spent an entire day in Canterbury, and it was awesome.

Eventually, sadly, Liz had to return to the US, but Kelly, Katie and I took the train to Edinburgh for the Fringe Festival.

Edinburgh is incredible. We saw shows, hiked, ate fantastic food, and drank a bunch of Scotch. It was splendid.

We even took the train out to Loch Lomond and hiked and took a boat tour of the Loch. It was freezing but also beautiful.

Katie went home 😢, we returned to London and did more fun things. Including a 14-mile hike!

# Settling in

We enjoyed the end of summer. Flower markets, Sunday roasts at pubs with friends, and bus tours around the city. Late nights out drinking with friends. One weird night, I took a bunch of pictures with a red notebook (a story for another time).

We found a permanent flat, moved in and finally started feeling settled. The first few months, while fun, I felt like I "missed home" and wanted to return to the States. I think having an apartment that was ours and a job (more on that later) really helped.

We did more hikes, I started preparing to interview for a job, and we began really settling into our life in London.

In October, we went to Cardiff, Wales. More hiking, more great food! They have a charming downtown area with no cars, and it was great to walk around. Our friend Josh played host and showed us all the cool spots in the city!

# My dad visits

In early November, my dad came to visit. We did a ton of great stuff. We went to metal bars, visited Edinburgh again, ate our way through the fancy markets of London, and saw a concert together! Scotland was a bit chilly at the end of fall, but we made the best of it!

# The bad times

A literal supervillain took over Kelly's company (which was tied to our visas). It was a horrible time, and he remains a despicable person. On the good side, I landed an incredible job at Bloomberg that came with a visa, and Kelly was able to walk away from the madness!

# Back to fun!

I went to Dayton, Ohio, at the end of November. Got to see my family and spend some great quality time with them.

We had a great winter. We visited the RAF Museum and Bletchley Park. We watched the World Cup with our friends and played in the snow.

In January, Kelly's mom visited. We ate more bangin food, went to some fancy Michelin star restaurants, saw a ballet, had high tea, and went to Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park.

Caption: Bangin food

# New Beginnings

In January, I started a great new job. Doing all sorts of cool infrastructure and performance things and building devtools. It's pretty much a dream come true.

We went to a bunch of art exhibits and generally tried to get as much sunlight as we could during the 3 hours per day it's out in London!

My friend Chris visited in February. He stayed at a baller hotel, and we only had a few days together, but we made the most of it!

At the end of the month, Kelly and I flew back to Florida for her dad's wedding. It was great to see family and get a tiny bit of sun again!

Kelly and our friend Jani had a shared birthday in March! We rented out part of a pub, and all of our friends came. It was an amazing night.

FWIW, Freya also had a birthday 🤣

At the end of March, we took a weekend in Bath. Saw the Roman baths, toured a bunch of parks, and had more amazing food. It was great!

We also went and saw the Pixies at the end of March! They put on such a great show.

# Portugal

In April, Kelly and I went to Lisbon, Portugal! I've always wanted to go. It was warm and gorgeous, and the food was delicious, and there was music and culture everywhere. We walked all day and all night and had so much fun.

More friends visited at the end of April, including Pancakes (a new friend for Freya!)

London Spring is incredible. More hikes (white cliffs of Dover), more food, more friends and adventures!

# My family visits

In May, my mom and sister came to visit! We did so much stuff. Fancy meals, back to Bath! We saw Stonehenge, ate the fanciest dinner of my life and took some memorable tours.

In June, I got to visit NYC for work. I flew Business Class for the first time ever (life-changing) and got to see some great friends while in town! I met a bunch of my New York teammates and had a great time.

# Helsinki

Later in June, Kelly and I got to visit Helsinki for a conference. The conference was amazing, a bunch of our friends spoke. The food was great. We had such a lovely time. At the end of the week, Kelly flew to Dublin for a work retreat, and I went up north in Finland with some friends to a lakehouse we rented (what even is our lives).

# TC39 in Bergen

In July, I was given the opportunity to join TC39. It's been a career-long dream of mine, and it was just as cool as I thought it would be! I got to attend their plenary in Bergen, Norway.

# Back in London

We did a bunch more cool stuff, but I'm getting tired as I type 😂

Kelly and I had a 5-star meal on a fancy bus as it toured London!

# Isle of Skye

In August, a bunch of friends came to visit! We had a few lovely days in London and then went up to the Isle of Skye in Scotland. It was rainy, freezing and stunningly beautiful.

# Kelly's sister visits

Kelly's sister, Amber, came at the end of August. We saw a fantastic concert (Yeah Yeah Yeah's and The Strokes), had high tea and explored so much of London!

# TPAC in Seville

I also got to go to Spain! Although the trip was technically past the 1-year mark. I got to attend TPAC with two coworkers. Seville was beautiful, and I finally got to practice my Spanish!

# Conclusion

What an absolutely incredible year. I cannot wait until the next one!

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