The trip - day 4

Saturday
No breakfast in the hotel till 9am so a bit of a lie-in and time to pack up first. I tried to take some photos of the hotel but my camera decided that it would not work when it was cold. Then we drove up to Stockholm to show RP the palace and do a bit of souvenir shopping for the little ones back at home.
On the way down to the airport we stopped off at a town called Gnesta which has also made it onto our list of possibilities, although it would be a longer drive for D to get to work every day.
After a late breakfast we'd only had a snack for lunch so decided to have a hot meal in the airport as it would be late by the time we got back and we had to collect the youngest 2 from grandparents before we could go home. This turned out not to be such a good idea as the meatballs that we all had turned out not to be very pleasant as well as being lukewarm. So we ended up going through the McDrive at Stansted anyway!

The trip - day 3

Friday
We started the day with a drive down to a smaller town south of Södertälje called Järna where we had seen a few houses we like the look of. There was one in particular with a round tower that I had fallen in love with. Sadly, when we got there we discovered that it was right next to the train station. But the rest of the town seemed nice, and it's definitely somewhere that we will consider making our long-term home.
Back up the motorway again to meet D's colleagues and ex-boss for lunch. They took us to an Indian restaurant that looked very drab and dingy on the outside but was stunningly modern on the inside. The food was pretty good too, and really cheap, so it's somewhere we'll be going back to.
Another visit to a supermarket, this time a big ICA which reminded us of Asda or Tesco and will probably be where we do our main grocery shopping. We've been very relieved to see the number of familiar brands so we can introduce the girls to Swedish food gradually. Not sure how I'm going to work out which is the right flour to make bread with though.
We'd heard of a small town called Trosa which was supposed to be beautiful so decided to go have a look. At lunch we were told that it was also known as 'the end of the world' and driving down there we could see why! It was absolutely gorgeous though but we decided it was too cold to get out and have a walk round (really need to buy some better winter clothes). There was a house there that we had a look at as well, which would be a fantastic place to live, so hopefully there will be something similar available by the time we are ready to buy.
Having explored to the south it seemed like a good idea to have a look to the north as well, nearer Stockholm, so we paid a visit to Huddinge. Almost straight away I could tell that it was not my cup of tea at all (don't ask me why) so we're going to stick with places south of Södertälje.
After a big lunch, no-one had much of an appetite so it was back to the ICA for some snacks and then an evening in the hotel playing cards and watching snooker.

The trip - day 2

Thursday
Today started with a 9am meeting with the HR lady who is looking after our move to Sweden. She was really helpful and answered a lot of our questions about all the things we need to do, as well as giving us a fistful of forms to fill in. Still need to go through all those, but we can't do them until we arrive anyway, and fortunately I'm fairly sure we won't be on our own.
Then we had a 10am meeting at a nearby school. It was very different to here, for a start they have no school uniforms, and it also seems to be less structured than we are used to. Can't be a bad thing though as the Swedish education system has such a good reputation. The class that RP will be joining will be a normal class with Swedish children, but the teacher is actually English and is accustomed to teaching international students. She was really nice and set our minds at rest over several issues. As they don't start school till 7 over there, RP will be joining a grade 2 class with children a year or 2 older than she is so she won't have to start right back at the beginning but should still be able to cope with the schoolwork at the same time as learning the language. I'm hoping she learns it fast too so she can help me out! We are going to be having language and culture lessons, but I don't have much faith in my ability to pick it up anywhere near as fast as the girls!
Then we nipped down to McDonalds for lunch (much posher than the ones here, and with a lovely view down the river, although the food was the same) before heading back to the office to meet the lady who was going to show us round the apartment. This is a company apartment that is fully furnished and we can have for as long as we need it (until we find somewhere of our own to buy). An apartment wouldn't be our first choice to live in but this will be just fine on a temporary basis and has enough rooms for us all which is a bonus!
Then we went to have a look at some houses we'd seen on hemnet.se just to get an idea of what was available in our price range, and what the neighbourhoods were like, followed by a visit to some supermarkets (very important). D had a meeting with his new boss at 5pm so dropped RP and I back at the hotel. Unfortunately I was hit with a migraine so had to go to bed whilst D and RP went to look at a house that had been offered to us for rent by a colleague. They said it was lovely, and whilst we would prefer to live in a house, I think we've decided to stick with the apartment as the house is only available till Christmas and we don't want to put any pressure on ourselves to find somewhere else. I'd much rather take my time and find the right house in the right location.
After checking on me, they went off to a little pizzeria for tea where RP was most impressed by 'Swedish' pizza and said it was much nicer than the pizza we have here.

The trip - day 1

Wednesday
Arrived at Skavsta airport mid-afternoon and then drove up to Södertälje and checked into our hotel - a lovely little pensionnat by a lake (it was also by the train station and motorway but you wouldn't have known!).

Having missed lunch, by this time we were starving so headed off into the town centre to find something to eat. It was too cold to walk around for long (-5ºC) so we went to the first place that looked vaguely open and appealing - a Texan steak house. Unfortunately the steaks were hugely expensive so we settled for some beef fajitas, chicken nachos and no bean chilli. Food was good but still on the expensive side. But I was so hungry by that point I didn't care!
Quick stop off at a shop for some coca-lite and Marabou chocolate and then back to the hotel to get settled in, and finalise plans for the next day.

Systembolaget

Something I had always found a little worrying about moving to Sweden was the restriction on the sale of alcohol to special government shops, but now that I know you can still buy beer in the supermarket (just not wine or spirits) I feel much better. 

Home again

Got home late last night, after a very productive visit. Still too tired and befuddled to make sense of it all so will update properly tomorrow.

Off we go!

All packed and ready to set off on our recce trip. Think I'm actually quite excited!
Spent some time last night looking at houses on hemnet.se and wrote a few down so that we could look at the kind of areas there in and get a feel for what's around in our price range. Planning on making a visit to some estate agents too although it's probably going to be another year before we're ready to buy anywhere.
Also had a look at where exactly the school we're going for a look at is, and discovered that it appears to be in the middle of nowhere. So not very sure about that one. I'm sure we'll be able to find a suitable one somewhere though. It is, however the bit that I'm looking forward to the least as it's such an important decision to make.
Lots to do over the next 3 days, but hopefully we'll have some fun while we're there too.
Sweden here we come!

Lists, lists and more lists

Have started making lists of things we need to do and find out before we go. And as Mr.B is always taking the mickey out of my list making habit, I've even created a master list of lists... and it's interactive! 
Barely started with the things to do though, and they're already quite sizeable, which doesn't exactly fill me with joy :(

Trip itinerary

So far we have a visit to 2 schools and a nursery booked, plus a visit to the apartment that may well be our home for the first few months that we're there, and a morning with the 'moving to Sweden' department. Getting a little bit excited now!

iPhone

Oh yes, the negotiations definitely paid off - the man has decided that I can have my iPhone when we get to Sweden (if I still want one *duh*) yay!!
And no, I didn't threaten to hurt him :P

Recce trip planning

Not long to go now until the recce trip, and still trying to work out our itinerary. Visit to the office/HR and to a potential school are a must, as will be a drive round some residential areas to see if we fancy living in any of them. That for me is the exciting bit! Also going to pay a visit to a supermarket to see how much cooking I'm going to have to relearn (not that I have particularly extensive cheffery skills at the moment!).
Mr.B keeps telling me that I'm not going to like the place we're going to visit (and potentially live) and he's worried that I'll change my mind about going, so I'm just hoping that it's not as bad as he makes out. Mind you, I did grow up in the 'grim north' as opposed to him in the 'soft south' so our opinions of what makes a place nice or not don't always match!

On the plus side

I am currently negotiating with my lovely husband (in case he decides to read this!) that some of our relocation money should be spent on an iPhone for me when we move there - it'll be a necessity don't ya know?!

And whilst I'm on the subject....

.... need to have a moan about Ryanair (so feel free to skip this post as it will likely be deeply uninteresting and completely irrelevant).
They go on and on and on about how they're cheaper than other airlines, but really they're not. Oh yes, first glance - fare out = £0.00; return £74.99pp -> bargain! But then there's the taxes, fees etc. - £146.49; £19 to check in a bag; and then £9.50 each for airport check in - they won't let one person check in at the airport with the bag and the others check in online for free, oh no, you have to all check in at the airport and put more money into their greedy little paws.
The one that really gets up my nose though is the so-called 'payment handling fee' for paying by card - £4.75 per person per flight so another £28.50. What I don't understand is how they have the bare-faced cheek to charge us 6 handling fees for a payment we're only making once.
Grand total £447.46. 
If the service was good and the planes actually comfortable then I wouldn't mind so much, but it's just not worth that kind of money.
Had we been able to book this trip a couple of weeks ago we could have gone BA for the same price. Unfortunately all their flights that suited us have now sold out and we are left with no choice.
Last time I flew Ryanair I swore that I would rather swim than get on another one of their planes. Unfortunately Mr.B won't travel that way. I just feel sorry for #1 that her first trip on a plane (that she'll remember) is going to be in a yellow peril :(
Sorry. Rant over. Thankyou for your patience.

Sweden here we come!

Well it's official - the man from Normanton said "No" so it's pretty certain now that we will be making the big move to colder climes! (There are rumblings about something else possibly being around but I'm not holding my breath - that would be silly anyway).
Thus we've just booked our flights for the recce trip in a couple of weeks time. Taking #1 with us and leaving the other two here under grandparental supervision. We figured that she's the one most likely to be affected by the change, and hopefully the others are young enough to adapt fairly easily.
The plan is to have a look at the residential areas around and about the town that the office is in and see if any of them appeal to us. We're also going to try and book a visit to the school that #1 would potentially be going to - both for her and our sakes!
Then there's the visit to the office to meet Mr.B's boss' boss; dinner with his ex-boss and family; plus we want to go into Stockholm (as I loved it last time I was there) - in fact, not entirely sure how we're going to fit everything into the short time we're there!

Given up on the North

Well still no news, and I think we've basically come to the conclusion that Yorkshire is going to be a no, so looks like we're off to Sweden!! Being talking/looking at stuff this evening, but tired now, so more on that tomorrow.