Hello, from Bahrain!

comments 16
Life

It’s happened. I have now moved to Bahrain! I flew out from London Heathrow, on Etihad, yesterday at 3:30pm and arrived in Bahrain at a little past 2am this morning.

The move went pretty smoothly. Well, aside from some packing woes. You see, I’m not good at moving, having barely had any practice at it. Packing everything I need in a 30kg allowance felt impossible. And it sort of was. After many packings and repackings, it was done. I’m not kidding about the many packings and repackings. The total amount of times my bag was packed is lost to me and upon arriving in Bahrain and coming home, I couldn’t remember what I had actually packed.

I learnt a few things about packing for moving…

  1. It’s all about the roll. Lay your t-shirts flat and roll them as tight as you can. Something the OH taught me. And it works. You won’t have creases in your t-shirts and they’ll be taking up a whole heck of a lot less space.
  2. Bare essentials. Over the years, staying in more or less the same place, you accumulate a lot of stuff. While clearing out my bedroom and wardrobes I had to be brutal. What have I honestly not worn in years? What do I desperately need/want to take with me? What can I live for a few months without? I had to be honest with myself with everything from clothes to shoes to make up to jewellery. It was tough, but here’s hoping I won’t look at my stuff here and regret things I have left behind.
  3. Expect to pack/repack. Expect it and do it. Why? Well, you won’t know how heavy your luggage is until you’ve done an initial pack. After that you can add more, take stuff out. Put some heavier items in hand luggage and repack again. I expected it, but not half as much as I actually did!
  4. Don’t forget your ziplocks! I was lucky. Only 1 item leaked. My lovely Macademia hair oil. Thankfully it was in a fully zipped ziplock bag and it leaked onto shampoo bottles.
  5. Shoes make excellent packing friends. Yes, shoes are silly shaped. Especially when they’re all different types – wedges, sandals, trainers, sneakers. Headache! But fear not. They have an extra packing use! Stuff things into them! Not only will they be protected but you’ll save on space. Though, don’t pack items you don’t want to be packed into shoes… That goes without saying. (Even though I did say it…) Oh and, this was another tip from the OH.

The packing was definitely the hardest part. By a long stretch. There was some minor mild concern when my flight from Heathrow was delayed by half an hour. The connecting flight from Abu Dhabi to Bahrain had an hour and ten minutes from arriving to departing. Got to the gate at Abu Dhabi in good time, even though they were doing a final call!

The flight itself went smoothly. Incredibly empty plane. I had never previously flown Etihad and was pleasantly surprised. Sure the food wasn’t that great. But that’s to be expected. But they did come by very often offering water and juice, which is always nice in lowly economy class. I get so dehydrated flying! Nice padded headphones for the in-flight entertainment. Brilliant selection of films. Though, after one film I switched on my Mac and caught up on as much TV as I could do. And the staff on the plane were really friendly – good work Etihad!

And now, here I am. Sitting in the living room of my new home. I do have to keep reminding myself that this is home. And not just another holiday. It’ll sink in soon.

Right now I am enjoying some time doing nothing. This is as much nothing as I’ve done in, what feels like, a long time. The past month, or so, has been a whirlwind of getting things sorted for the move. I’ve got another day of nothing, and then I’m back to work.

16 Comments

  1. Wait, wait, wait… you have a Mac? A MAC?! Are we talking the Apple laptop or did I miss something? Have you finally joined me on the dark side? 😉

    Packing dilemma aside, I’m glad you got there safely. The start of a wonderful new adventure I’m sure. 🙂

    • Hahaha! I was wondering, if I slipped that in real casual like, would anyone notice! Yes, I have a Macbook. A leaving/30th birthday present from my family. I have joined the dark side! Told my OH earlier this year, my next laptop would be a Macbook. And lo and behold!

  2. Glad to hear you’ve arrived safely Jaina! Enjoy your new life in Bahrain, I look forward to some pics of the country, hope you’re still doing photo posts 🙂

  3. Woo hoo! Glad you made it safely and with all of your belongings. I can only imagine having to pare down your belongings – hard but also kinda freeing. Enjoy this “off” time and let it sink in that you are home!!!!

    • There is definitely that freeing feeling. And knowing that you can actually do without x, y and z.

  4. Exciting times in your life! Understandable you want to chill when you arrrive, it’s draining thinking about all the stuff to bring, packing and relocating, and once you arrive, not knowing where certain things are, until you are settled. Wishing you all the best in your new surroundings!

  5. Glad everything went well. I know it has to be exhausting. Still it’s an exciting time for you I know.

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