Down, But Not Out

It's official. I have a sinus infection. It's bad enough that I have to stay home from work due to the fact that I am contageous. Granted, I feel miserable anyway, so it's nice to sleep in. I cannot be out of commission for long as I still have the rest of this month to work and I have to get ready to be on the move again. That's right folks, I am done here in three weeks! I have given notice to my flat mates and my job that my last day will be September 30th. I have also booked travel plans for London and a plane flight to Paris. I plan to meet up with Ian and Richard on October 5th. All that is left for me to do is book my train from Edinburgh to London, pack and ship my non-essentials home, and pack my suitcase for traveling.

I looked online and made some phone calls to find out what it will cost me to ship my stuff home. I wish that BUNAC was more helpful. They reffered me to a local shipping company who quoted me a cost of £313 plus insurance. I tried FedEx and got an initial quote of £227.04 but they can't advise me of how to pack my things to make sure it all gets past customs. Luckily the FedEx agent had the number to UK customs who stated that I can ship anything I want. He then referred me to customs at the US Embassy in London. They were finally able to advise me about a Special Form 3299 that I need to include and outside each box to declare what I am shipping and for what purposes. He also recommended that I ship through the local postal office for much less than FedEx and the like. So things seem to be coming together. Only downside is that because I live in Portland, I can't ship booze home. I am going to have one heck of a Bon Voyage party I guess.

Looking back the only frustration in all of this is the realization that after all my efforts over the last 6 months I will end up completely broke financially. I had $12,000 in savings at the start of this adventure and am down to $3000 which will barely cover my trip to Europe. I never made any decent living here in the UK and thus have had to supplement my income the whole time from my savings. As of right now I have £341 in my UK bank account to pay to ship my stuff home, for my train ticket to London, and if I am lucky I will have a bit left over to feed myself.

I have to get well so I can go back to work. I need the money from a good two to three weeks worth of work to cover my expenses until I get to Paris. Please think healing thoughts for me everyone.