Mini adventure 2 - Finding an Apartment

So after having a few days to settle into the mad rush off New York, we decided to make our arrival slightly more permanent and find a place of our own. Armed with Craig's list (the US version of Gumtree) and your average "rent-a ratpit -apartment-for-over-the-odds-as-its close to -Bloomingdales" broker, we decided to gain the upper hand against the Americans and use Thanksgiving weekend as our weekend of action. Apartments go really quickly this side so while half of New York was eating Pumpkin pie and Turkey, Togo and I braved the streets.

Key points to note :

Everything is small
Everything costs a whack
Broker fees are a nightmare (15% of annual rent)
A kitchen is a bonus
Everything is small

Sick here is positive, our broker had me a little flustered when he promised the next place "was sick, really sick..."

Despite all his efforts, and finding us a penthouse apartment on Park avenue, our first dealings with a broker left a bad taste and we pulled out of the deal at the last minute. Neither of us were 100% sure of the apartment; their processes were a little dubious and the $5400 we were about to hand over for agency fees was enough to feed a small country.

Moving swiftly on and with brokers now firmly out the picture, my prime activity during the day was scouring Craig's list to find an apartment which was not renting through a broker. Easier said than done. Those advertised as no broker flats suddenly morphed into one on arrival and all others - a complete ecological study complete with hazardous " nearly new" furniture.

By some stroke of luck, Togo spotted a sign outside the apartment block next door to where we were temporarily staying in the corporate flat. A few quick viewings later, me a superficial approval -good sized rooms, a great view ( see picture above) and nice coloured walls. Togo a more thorough once over- toilet flushes with good pressure, cupboard hinges nicely greased and the criminal background check of each neighbour. All in order we moved in on Monday.

So here we are now, our new home in Mid Town West. IKEA is calling and I see some flatpacks on the way. Still getting used to the doorman and concierge guy as it feels more like a hotel but that they tell me is New York, just more people to tip...

Mini Adventure 1 - Finding a supermarket

We are finally here, Safe and sound.

Thanks to Togo's silver card and BA working their magic, we manged to get an upgrade on the flight over, so arrived fresh faced and bright eyed in NYC. After a few intense role plays with Togo I felt I was ready to face the stern faced official at immigration for some serious interrogation on why I was here and more importantly, when was I leaving. Discovered however that there must be millions of people coming through on the visa waiver programme each month and I had not done anything wrong- yet. Breezed through with my three month stamp - all that panic for nothing. Not sure how many times they will let me try that one though before getting suspicious. Keep you posted.

Arriving in peak hour traffic is always recommended and it took us over an hour to get through the Jersey tunnel. Rule 1. When purchasing a car here make sure that it is big enough to hold all your household furniture, extended family and food for 2 weeks... and that's just in the boot ( sorry trunk).
At the corporate apartment we discovered that despite living in high rise buildings everyone still has pets. We shared the lift up to our new home with 2 massive Alsatians, 3 mini things and a dachshund with a pink jersey on.. its gonna be fun here!

The apartment is perfect and bigger than I was expecting. I hope we don't have to downgrade too much from here. :-) We have two bedrooms and two bathrooms so plenty of space for visitors ;)

Settled in and needing some supplies, we though we would take the opportunity of finding a supermarket as a means of exploring our new hood! Two things:

There is NOT a friendly Spar wherever you are AND Tesco is NOT taking over the world.

Currently on 43rd street we took a leisurely stroll up to find our closest "Sainsburys local". As luck would have it we found what we were looking for - ON 75th street. THIRTY TWO blocks up - and not so local. We then proceeded to do the most expensive shop ever, even by London standards. I don't know who was more worried at this stage, Togo, on one salary or me who had just paid £1, 50 for 1 plum. We were slowly coming around to why everyone says its cheaper to eat out. However one good thing did come out of the experience. Togo can finally say he got the telephone number of a check out girl. ;) In the usual incredibly friendly US way, and with us moaning about prices here for groceries, the teller wrote down her number and told us to call her and she will tell us where to go, we had definitely picked the high end of the scale for shopping. Whew was glad to hear it and even more chuffed we walked THIRTY TWO blocks to find out.

Finally, to end our mini adventure off in grand style, we got caught in a tropical rainstorm on the way home and managed to end up with soggy $30 bread for dinner. But all is not lost, we discovered a food emporium 1 block over, maybe a little easier for next time...