Cheerio with a bow full of fiascos!

Hello everyone! Rather than sending the same email repeatedly, I decided to follow in Kelly’s wonderful footsteps and create a blog to detail all of my entertaining adventures (or misadventures).  This is my first blog so bear with me, as it may be all over the place. 

I arrived last Wednesday morning and it has been a mess of adventures since then.  To start the trip off, I arrived and had no phone service.  I do not know how we survived years ago without phones, I felt naked without one.  Luckily, our taxi driver had phone numbers for my coworkers here so he could call them to meet me and pick up the apartment keys.  Once in the apartment, I unpacked my suitcase and took a nap since I maybe slept for 2 hours of the 7 hour plane ride (on a side note, ides of March is an interesting movie….not at all what I expected).  After my nap, I met up with a coworker and went to the bank to set up a UK bank account and to the UK phone store to get a UK sim card for my phone.  This is where messes 2 and 3 start. We go to the UK phone store after seeing the bank is busy.  I tell the gentleman that I need to purchase a UK sim card for my phone.  I brought over an older iphone that I was planning to use over here with the UK sim.  Before this, David had been playing around with my US phone, trying to get it to work, he inserted his sim card, and it said there was an activation error.  We were a little afraid that the UK sim card may not work but were hopeful the phone people would know more about it.  They knew enough to tell me that my phone is locked and I would have to go to the apple store in Liverpool to get it unlocked.  Since Liverpool is a 40 minute train ride and home of the Beatles, I figured I could go check it out on Saturday, not a big deal. 

Now to the bank, in order to set up the bank account, I had to have a note from my office saying I was living here for the next 6 months and at what address.  Lucky for me, I was warned about this and came prepared.  When I hand over my letter and the woman starts putting in the details, David looks at my letter and says oh that’s the right postal code (apparently, his girlfriend had the same problem).  Next thing you know, she is telling me that I can’t get the bank account without the write postal code on the letter.  Doesn’t matter that it’s only off by 1 letter!  I proceed to crumple the letter right in front of her, I don’t think she liked that very much but I was having a rough morning.  I decided to give up for the day and go back to the office.  I did get a bank account the next day and am now waiting for my silly “chip and pin” card.  If you travel to the UK, be forewarned that a lot places don’t like credit cards, they want a chip and pin card, the equivalent to a debit card for us.  Most of them will take credit cards but you may have to fight a little for them to take it. 

Thursday morning my coworker from our San Antonio office arrived so I had another girl with me in the office which was quite refreshing!  I showed her around the town a little and Friday we went to the black tie dinner.  Dinner was fun and I even won a few rounds of black jack but learned I was a horrible craps player.  Better to find that out with fake money than real money in Vegas! We went out drinking afterwards and I was so afraid I was going to kill myself on the cobblestone street in my high heels but I survived.  Saturday we went up to Liverpool to check out the Beatles museum and get my iphone unlocked.  We were warned not to go until 1pm or later because there was a football match that started at 1 and it could be a nightmare getting up there with all of the Liverpool football fans.  We wandered around the Beatles museum and learned more about them then I never really cared to know (yes its hypocrisy but I was never a big Beatles fan).  Liverpool was really neat though, the museum in near a big dock in a pretty part of town.  Then we headed to the iphone store and straight into mess #5!  I had made an appointment there so I wouldn’t have to wait.  When I went up to the gentlemen to check in for my appointment he asks what I am here for and I tell him my story.  He then tells me that apple can’t unlock phones, only my US provided can do that.  I was so frustrated and defeated as this point.  I just wanted a UK phone!  We left and went to this pub called the cavern which is one of the original Beatles hang out places, it was pretty cool. 

                                                     Liverpool - Albert Docks

Sunday we decided to go down to London to show Jodi around, it was going to be a fast trip since we only had the day but it was just enough for her to see the important things like the London Eye, house of parliament, Big Ben, Buckingham palace and tower bridge.  It would have been much better if it hadn’t been freezing cold, rainy and windy but we survived.  After my umbrella flipped up twice, I gave up and just got wet.  I did get to do some shipping too and to those of you that know me well, I restrained myself and didn’t buy anything but a pair of gloves and earrings, no shoes!  We headed to the train station to go home and got there with enough time to head to a pub for some fish and chips.  We were staring at the TV screens for the longest time waiting for them to post the train platform when it got 5 till the departure time we went down to the main boards and say that the town of Chester wasn’t listed as a stop on the train.  We started freaking out and went over to the information desk.  Turns out our train was at 7:05 not 7:15, oops!  Luckily, there was a train at 7:35 so we were safe.  

                                           London Eye but upside down and with a bird 

Now fast-forward to today: mess #6….and attempt #3 to get a UK phone.  After calling AT&T and asking them to provide me with an unlock code, they tell me that there is the possibility my phone won’t be able to be unlocked for 5 years after my purchase date.  YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME?!  I told my boss about it and he says he will just go down to the phone shop were they have a contract and put me on the BakerRisk plan.  I ask very nicely if he will take me now so I can get this off my list.  He obliges thankfully J  next thing you know we are spending 4 hours in the store trying to get a plan under the existing account.  Finally, a success and now I have a UK phone!!  Yay!!! 

Well that about wraps up my adventures for now….i will try to update this as much as I can but hopefully future posts will have fewer fiascos and more adventures.