Our first week in Madison

Wow, this blog post is long overdue but we seemed to have crammed so much into the past five weeks.

We moved from Sutton in Ashfield, Nottinghamshire, UK to Middleton, Wisconsin, USA and here is how it went.

On Saturday 23rd April we kicked off our leaving celebrations by enjoying dinner at Pie Minister in Nottingham with my parents, brother and close family friends Anne & Don. Then it was off to our favourite bar in the UK - The Junkyard - for a night on the beers with many friends and family who stopped by. Thanks to: Mum, Dad, Andrew, Anne, Don, Ollie, Emily, Richard, Sammi, Ady, Helen,
Matt, Mike, James, Steve, Lesley, James, Anne, Neil, Andy, Louise, Clare, Andy, Pete, Nicola, Tom, Tara, Katrina and Craig for the send off.

Rather worse for beer, we were dropped off at home by friends Steve and Lesley for our last night in our house in the UK.

The next day -Sunday - we had a final visit from Steve and Lesley then chums Dave and Heather popped round with Nathan and then it was off to Manchester airport with Mum and Dad. We stopped at The Wagon and Horses in Stalybridge just outside Hyde for a rather splendid dinner before being dropped off at the hotel airport and goodbyes with mum and dad.

Our flight was American Airlines 55 from Manchester to Chicago O'Hare due to leave at 12:30 and we awoke on the Monday to a message from American letting us know we were delayed two hours so we had a rather more leisurely morning and made our way over to check-in. Whoops we were over our luggage allowance on both cases, so after a quick reorganisation just one case was over and we paid the $100 excess baggage fee.

We got air-side and had a drink and light bite before making our way to the gate, what a lovely surprise the flight was only at about 60% occupancy so was an easy boarding and we had our row of three seats to ourselves.

 The crew on the flight were excellent and a real credit to American Airlines. After a very smooth six hours we touched down at O'Hare and were quite quickly through customs and immigration and picking up our baggage before entering the terminal building and boarding the bus to Hertz to pick up our car.

After the lovely experience with American Airlines service the shenanigans with Hertz were rather a disappointment, we had booked a Toyota Corolla and they first tried to get us to upgrade to a Dodge Charger, then a Nissan Juke, before trying to fob us off with a Mazda 3, a lot smaller than a Corolla. We dug our heels in and after about an hour finally got what we had booked and paid for.

Apart from a dent on the passenger side the Corolla was a great car and we eventually held onto her for four weeks. Leaving O'Hare we entered the Freeway to Madison and realised that we were on the wrong road so ended up adding about 20 minutes to our journey by going via Milwaukee rather than Janesville. Arriving in Madison we soon found the American Inn off Odana and at 2130 local time - 0330 body-clock time - we crashed out in bed for the evening for our first nights sleep as non-immigrants!

Our first day in the USA and we had some stuff to sort out, first of all bank-accounts, so over to Chase on Old Sauk and High Point and we were soon the proud owners of a checking account and a savings account. Now time to find a bed, we looked in a couple of places before finding the perfect bed in Steinhafels which we paid for and arranged to have delivered to our apartment the next day, leaving our phone number just in case they had issues. We had a lovely lunch at Barriques in Middleton before checking out our local Costco for the bargains.

We then popped to pick up some essentials, namely bedding, but that is an entire other story that I no doubt shall relate one day! We made our way back to the Americinn ad were soon crashed out, only to be awoken several times by a party of unruly school children who were running up and down the corridors until the early hours of the morning.

Next, day, Wednesday our first task was to check out of the Americinn and pick up Social Security Numbers from the office on Odana before driving over to Deer Creek to get the keys to our new apartment. We had received an email from Steinhafels to say our bed would be delivered between 1400 and 1600 so we were all on schedule.

Only having a couple of suitcases it was quite easy to unpack here and I drove to a local sandwich shop to pick up us a 'Sub'. At about 15.45 we decided to call Steinhafels to enquire where the bed was - it was not coming the driver could not find us and had not wanted to make an international phone call to contact us - arse! We cancelled the bed and gave them a flea in the ear.

We drove over to Target, picked up a air-mattress, bedside lamp, two patio chairs and a patio table. The first night in our new home would basically be camping. That evening we ordered a mattress from Amazon for Friday delivery.

To console ourselves we had rather a lovely dinner at Hubbard Avenue Diner in Middleton before retiring to blow up the air-mattress.

Thursday morning and my first task was to pop into the office for a short daily team meeting and to introduce myself to the folks I shall be working with. I was back home just after 10 and Victoria and I were going out to buy furniture. Having checked their website but unable to place an order due to a UK credit card not being accepted for an on-line payment, Slumberland seemed very good place. We were soon selecting a new sofa, bedroom chair and console table for delivery at time unspecified and the prices in the store were much better than the on-line deals - bonus!

We also took the opportunity to check out some local supermarkets, both Wholefoods and Metro Market are very good, the latter especially has a great selection of British foods available.

A very nice chap came from Charter connected us to the internet, woot! Unfortunately they don't provide a wireless access point so we stopped at Best Buy and after seeing how much they charge, instead decided to go 'wired' for a few days and ordered one from Amazon.

That evening we walked into the centre of Middleton stopping at Capitol Brewery for a beer. It's great to sit on the terrace there and enjoy the live bands.

  On our way back we stopped at the delightful Hubbard Avenue Diner in Middleton for supper, the staff are great, the décor straight from the 1950s and the food and brews fantastic. As you can see Middleton is rather lovely.

Another surprisingly comfortable evening on the air-mattress and I again dropped by the office for the days team meeting and after we were out to do errands again. We badly needed supplies so went to Metro Market on the east side of town where we phoned our shipping company. Our furniture was due to arrive the coming Monday and we needed to ensure that all was running ok. Well, to cut a long and fraught story short they had lost our pallets, our furniture and belongings had done 5000 miles from the Uk and about 100 miles away in Janesville had gone missing. Arse! and Arse! again. After about an hours calling around it was located with the wrong tracking numbers and even better it would not be coming on Monday but tomorrow - Saturday. Also when we got home our new mattress had arrived from Amazon, things were really starting to come together.



That evening we ate at our local bar, World of Beers, yes my local is a proper brew-house with about 50 beers on tap and over 500 bottles of world beers to select from. They also do a rather splendid giant pretzel that we shared for supper with a kale salad.

Well Saturday came and our truck arrived promptly just before 1000, Work colleague and all round great guy Jeff arrived with his daughter Lily and we soon had it all inside. The bed was assembled and we had a proper place to kip for the evening.

Jeff and his wife Debra invited us for dinner that evening and we had a lovely time with some splendid food and drink discussing the differences between our UK existence and our USA existence that just a few days in the states had uncovered.

To be continued...

Autumnal Madison Adventures

So, following on from where we last left off.

It is Friday and I was still suffering really badly from jet-lag so am awake well before 0300 and don't feel like I have had any sleep at all - uuurgh!

Today I have a meeting in the Madison office with my prospective new manager and then will be meeting up with the team members for their quarterly review, this is really quite exciting and even though I have met them all before I am really quite nervous.

We had been warned that the it can take a good 45 minutes from where we are staying to get to the office as it is the other side of town and roadworks on the Beltline are causing lots of delays so we set out with plenty of time to spare and of course arrive well too early. So, we stop for a while to kill time then I drop Victoria and Jasmin off at a Classic McDonalds and I drove to the office to meet Ben.

I have a really good couple of meetings in the office and Jeff sorts out my Illinois Tolls before driving back to meet Victoria and Jasmin at Starbucks. They have had a great time, spending a good couple of hours browsing art and craft supplies in Michaels after their breakfast and then doing a bit more shopping at Greenway Station. After meeting the girls we drive into the centre of Middleton to take a look around. It really is lovely, very reminiscent of old films. We espied a new apartment complex in Middleton Station and as they have a viewing board out and we decide to take a look, these are really lovely, but a bit pricey.

There are also some lovely apartments to rent a short walk from the office so we go back to Deer Creek and make an appointment for a viewing on Monday. We have one final set of apartments to check out but they are unimpressive and the agent is a disinterested arse-hole. I cannot name and shame as I have forgotten the name of the complex!

We make our way back to our AirBnB stopping for a not-shopping session at Target. The idea being to get an idea of what we can buy that we usually buy at home. Of course we have to pick up some goodies, including speciality M&Ms and a 1l bottle of Sailor Jerry for about £10.00.

Back at the apartment I take the opportunity for a couple of hours kip before we go out that evening. We ready ourselves for the evening entertainment and I drive down-town for the first time. I get completely lost going around the Capitol so dump the car in the first available parking garage.

It is chucking it down as we meet colleague Jeff and his son Ogden in the Coopers Tavern, it is packed in there so without getting a drink we regroup in a bus-shelter as we decide where to go next. The Heritage Tavern is a few minutes walk away and actually right next door to where we parked our car, we head in there, it will be a good hours wait for a table so we settle down at the bar for some cocktails. After the first round we are joined by Debra, Jeff's wife.

After another round of drinks we are seated and orders dinner. I have a fantastic gnocchi with wild mushrooms from the specials board, as do Jeff and Debra. Jasmin has the Hickory Nut Pesto Soba and Victoria the Market Green Bean Risotto. Ogden, the only non-veggie had the Pork Schnitzel. It was unanimously agreed that the meals were all lovely and we found the company excellent. After some fantastic deserts and more drinks we say our goodbyes, head out into the rain and find the car for the drive back to our AirBnB.

Having had late night and a little sleep this afternoon I managed a lie in and did not wake until about six am, yes, that constitutes a lie in. We have a packed day today starting with another trip back into the centre of Madison.

We park the car at the same place as yesterday evening and visit the must see farmers market that is set out around the Capitol. This is great, lots of stores selling delicious fresh local produce, street entertainers, political agitators and what not. We have a great time browsing the stores and purchase pastries for tomorrows breakfast and some Wisconsin maple syrup to take home for our porridge and pancakes (not at the same time). After our lap of the Capitol we headed down State Street stopping in the Michelangelos Coffee House and enjoy a splendid mocha each and share a egg and cheese croissant. The atmosphere is somewhat spoiled by the drug deal taking place on the table behind us though!

We continue up State Street and drop into Anthology that was recommended to us by Debra, I pick up a great scratch-and-sniff pumpkin spiced Halloween card for Victoria and a set of vintage button badges to put away for Jasmin. By now we are ready for a comfort break so pick up a smoothie at Jamba Juice while we avail ourselves of the facilities. Continuing up State Street we get as far as the Memorial Union Terrace before heading back up towards the Capitol.

Nearing the Capitol we head west towards Monona and notice that the 306 West apartment building is having a open house for viewings. These apartments are really stunning, however, they are right at the top of our price bracket and would be miles away from work involving a drive through town and past the university every morning.

Heading back to the Capitol we stop for a coffee at Starucks, thankfully free of drug dealing and then do a half loop of the farmers market to get back to our car. Victoria and Jasmin are keen to visit Jo-Anns craft store on Odana. We have not eaten since Michelangelos so grab a drink and some fries at Burger King where we are served by a lovely chap. I drop Victoria and Jasmin at Jo-Anns and head over to Pegasus Games over the road. After about 30 minutes browsing the shelves I head back to Jo-Anns to find that Victoria and Jasmin are still making their selections. Ten minutes later I am in the queue to get fabric cut. Half an hour later I leave the girls in the fabric queue and go for a snooze in the car. Twenty minutes later Victoria joins me, another 20 minutes later Jasmin has finally been served. Yes, it took over an hour and a quarter just to get the fabric cut and paid for!

Rather delayed we head back to the AirBnb for a lot shorter time than we had expected. I had hoped to be able to get a short nap but 40 winks was all I got. This evening we would be meeting my future boss Ben along with his 10 year old son Arnun and Arnun's friend Nate at Trienen Farm. I had been here before a couple of years ago, but tonight in the Corn Maze they would be hosting Zombie Apocalypse 2015.

Meeting up with Ben and the young chaps we fist went to the pumpkin catapult where Arnun was very nearly on target and then we entered the 'Fox and the Grapes' maze at about 1800. We would have one hour before the zombies were released. A great time was had by all as we navigated the maze, finding each marker post and picking up the next section of the map. Arnun and Nate battled each other with corn, Arnun adopted a pet corn and finally just as we were completing the last section the Zombies appeared. Aaaaaargh!!!!!!!

Jasmin has never been good with clowns, so was totally freaked out when she came face to face with a Zombie Clown and had to take some time out to calm down around the bonfire with a generous portion of apple cider donuts.

We finished off with some snacks before heading back to Madison, stopping on the way at the China Inn on Cottage Grove Road. Jasmin had been wanting a Chinese take-away in the US and this place did not disappoint. For less than 20 dollars we had a lovely feast of freshly cooked food and there was plenty left over for the next day. Tired and sated we retired for the evening.