We moved to Manchester!

Four Weeks Down

Written at the beginning up April, 2022

We did it. We made the move from Indianapolis to Manchester. A lot of planning and preparation went into the move, but at the same time it was quick and before we knew it, our bags were packed.

How We Got Here

In November, Sara began discussions with her company about accepting a new role, joining the EMEA team (a new location and new customers). Hesitant at first, she couldn’t say no after seeing Kent’s excitement about his literal dream coming true. *The last statement sounds dramatic but it’s accurate.

Our AirBnb in Media City

After ample paperwork, lining up what to do with our home in Indiana, and trying to soak up as much time with family and friends as possible, we flew over to Manchester at the beginning of March. And things went very smooth. Flights were on time, we were able to maneuver our two checked bags and two carry on’s each and made it to our AirBnb, located in Media City, south of Manchester and home to iTV and BBC offices. On the Quays, it’s near water which makes for a perfect walking route in the evening, but is still two miles from the lively city center.

A Place to Live and Work

We used the first week of arrival to settle in and identify a place to live. We trained out to Glossop, a cute village near the Peak District, to see if it was a good fit. We then visited villages off the tram line, closer to the city center like Altrincham, Didsbury, Prestwich, Bury and others.

Looking at terraced houses in Glossop

Kent got right to viewing places to live as I jumped into work the following week, going back to an office for the first time since living in Denver pre Covid, and meeting a lot of new faces. Kent viewed terraced houses and flats, as those were what made sense with our budget. We’ll continue to miss our large house with our updated kitchen, but looking at smaller homes is quite a good realization of what we actually need - we'll see how we feel in a few months :).

After a week, we found a flat! Quick. Speedy. We couldn’t be picky and didn’t want to wait around finding the “perfect” one, as we could see that while the AirBnb does meet our needs, we wouldn’t feel like we lived in Manchester or be able to really meet people until we had a place to call our own. We didn’t even want to buy a large box of tea because we’d have to consider how many tram or cab rides it will that take us to move to our new residence.

A park right near where we'll
live in Didsbury

While I worked from home and went into the office one or two days a week, Kent applied for jobs, which is a job, and he did the job well. After three full weeks of living in Manchester, Kent found himself with three interviews and three job offers. He could’ve had two more interviews (and they’re still reaching out!) but he’s accepted and excited that even the Job part of England will feed into his dream. He’ll be working at UCFB, a college for people who want to go into sports business, specifically football. He’ll be working from home some days and going into the office on others— office being an EPL football stadium.

The Fun Stuff

On the weekends we’ve been exploring different areas and have already made our way over to Liverpool twice. We don’t move into our flat until later in the month so we’re still in the Airbnb as well.

Overall, it’s all gone quite well! Kent has a job lined up, we have a place to live, our house in the states is being rented and we don’t feel too out of place with the move. Next up, is to make some friends! :)

Weekend trips

A few quick snippets of how we’ve spent our weekends:

• Huddersfield and stopped along at Marsden and Slaithwaite - This was lovely to get out into the countryside, enjoy a walk along a canal to a brewery and then head over to a Huddersfield Town football match. The train is also known as “The Real Ale Trail” that will be a lovely activity for visitors.
• Liverpool for the Legends football game seeing previous players of Liverpool take the pitch. We walked around the town, got dinner at a place Kent has been wanting to try for a while.
• Peak District Castleton - Our favorite day yet included us taking a train to Hope and then walking over to the small, charming town of Castleton for a 6-7 miles walk along some of the bigger hills in the Peak District, including Mam Tor. After days in a city and not enjoying a proper hike for many months, getting back out to the green was much needed and gave us some energy heading into the next week.
• Liverpool…again. Man City and Liverpool had a big game over the weekend and Kent wanted to watch the game among fans so we made our way back to the south side of Liverpool to explore some more restaurants and the area. We enjoyed a walk in Sefton park, saw some iconic spots from the Beatles’ Penny Lane, and enjoyed some food and bevies on Lark Lane.

Walking along the Canal near Slaithwaite

Hiking Mam Tor

Kent at Penny Lane

What’s up next

As I write this, the Easter Weekend is upon us and we’ll be headed to Whitby - and Kent goes to Conwy tomorrow. We’re also heading to Spain later this month! We’ll be updating with a bit more detail as we get our of the “blur” of the past few weeks.

Sara’s Observations

• The grocery stores are similar to the US in many ways but also quite different. A lot of takeaway options that make it easy to grab when I forgot lunch at the office (meal deals). But an abundance of produce is missing at the stores. Pears and Apples are not stacked up in piles but rather in plastic packages. There’s also more variety in the US - need curry sauce - they have a few options vs. many in US. We'll see if my view changes and we try other places!
• Typically Europe sets the trends for the US and heads up that baggy and all 90s is in, and people are wearing it. Clunky shoes and sneakers, oversized blazers, baggy pants and more. 
• The British drink. And they drink early and start singing karaoke at 4 in the afternoon.
• Reservations are possible at many locations, and are sometimes necessary. People could reserve picnic tables at a brewery outside in the middle of the country.
• Trains are a bit more expensive than we expected, but still really great to not need a car.
• The weather has been better than expected! Definitely some gray and rain. But no big downpours and a good mix of sun as well! Again, we'll see how we feel after another month or two 😀

Kent’s Observations

• To follow...

We'll continue to write and update on travels and day-to-day life. This isn't the most exciting blog, but more than anything is so Kent and I can remember the details and have something to look back at in years to come!