Air Cargo Bust

Our air cargo arrived on Tuesday morning and I was so excited! I had planned what would be on the shipment so that we would have some of the comforts of home a few weeks after arriving in our new country. We figured getting Madeline as much of her stuff as possible was a good idea so that she would feel at home faster. Most of her toys, some books, her crib/mattress, bedding, her Learning Tower to help in our big awesome kitchen, her clothes/shoes, the Honest Company cute diapers and super useful wipes that I have begun to miss already, etc. Frames were another thing that I wanted right away so that we had our favorite memories and people around us.

Fast forward about 15-20 minutes and all of the boxes had been brought in. Hmmm, that was fast...I did not see M's crib mattress, her dollhouse, her new Pottery Barn chair she had just been given for her 2nd birthday. Hello all of my clothes that should have been M's. Where is the rest of the Learning Tower so it can be put together? Why in the heck did the infant bath tub arrive in this shipment? Oh nice, part of the crib has been dropped and is damaged in one corner.

Awesome.

The Irishmen who unloaded our stuff were lovely and one unpacked my clothes while the other one got on the phone to try and locate our stuff in case it had been left in the warehouse. Nope. It must all be on the ship and that will arrive May 19, clear customs in a week and be here the following week.

As they say around here, brilliant! Although it is not so brilliant.

So we have a slightly damaged crib with no mattress. Large American crib. We have not been able to find a mattress that is the right dimensions. The relocation company was going to pay to have the mattress replaced since it should have been on the airplane. They were also willing to replace the crib (I guess they don't mess around with damaged things as they relate to kids). Pottery Barn ships to the UK and they have the right size however they require your shipping and billing address to be the same. Well we don't yet have a UK bank account or credit card so I guess that option is out.

So Madeline is still in her Baby Bjorn travel crib next to her missing mattress crib.

Another frustration we've been having is trying to open a bank account and establish credit in the UK. We opened an HSBC account in the US before leaving in the hopes that it would speed along the process here. Davis has been jumping through hoops with the HSBC bank here- May 19th was their earliest appointment to open an account! Really? WTH? So the HSBC branch in the US got involved but it's not helping. The British bankers don't really care about what the American bankers have to say even when it's the same company. Credit does not transfer between countries either so Capital One UK does not care about Capital One US.

So since I do not have a bank account I cannot get a cell phone as the UK requires a bank account to get a cell phone. Are you following me? Geez.

In other news, the landlord had the dryer delivered and it actually dries the clothes! It's the little things!