Dispatch no. 38 - Updates Podcast

The north of England is *muuuch* cheaper than London. London is just stupid expensive (and the south in general, but in London it's turned up to 11). There are obviously expensive places up north as well, I live in Durham where housing ranges from pretty cheap ex-council houses (social housing) to expensive historical listed buildings, but even the expensive stuff is cheap compared to similar things in the south. And things I believe get even cheaper if you move up to Scotland ;)

I'm not sure if you speak Spanish at all, but my husband and I moved to southern Spain recently, and it is an amazing country full of beautiful history and the cost of living is SO much less than we were used to. We were surprised to find that many people speak English here, and its been a wonderful experience so far. If you have ever considered moving abroad, Spain is absolutely wonderful. We have felt very welcome as foreigners here, and are trying to figure out how to make this our permanent home. If you ever head out to Andalucia, let me know! I'd love to show you around!

I prefer staycations more for exactly these sort of reasons! My social anxiety and germiphobia have dramatically gotten worse since the panini and adding on top of that having to depend on the often times disappointing airlines… 🫣 But super glad you had fun and your posts have made me add London to my Must Visit list! 😍

By the sound of things, it was touch and go getting to and from the airport. Mercury was in retrograde then, too...oof! I used to commute from Manhattan on the Long Island Rail Road and they'd announce the platforms with very little notice, like you said at the airport. Hoards of people, staring at screens and when the voice called out, "Ronkonkoma station, track 4" you can bet your booties the herd went running!! Crazy. I have a hard time chilling out, too, but it sounds like your grandparents were just what the doctor ordered!

I'm glad you had a good trip despite the rough beginning and the ending. On the plus side of the tax thing, owning a home and having a mortgage is a tax reduction. Things to look forward too!

Your flights sound like our flight out to Italy. The day before our flight, Italy announced a airport workers strike on the day we were to fly out. We were rescheduled to British air on the extra large airplane were we were in front / back to each other not next in the middle of a 3 person row. Then we had to change terminals to get to that damn terminal 5 which took about 20 minuets on internal bus. No gate number till 20 min before flight 😬. But we made it.

Omg, as a Hounslow resident, I can only imagine what you were thinking as you waited at that grotty bus station. Such terrible luck, London transport constantly keeps us on our toes! So glad that you made it 🙄

Oof! Taxes. The proof of your success that we all love to hate. Loved your sharing of your trip on Insta and in videos. Looking forward to another studio tour. I love them. I have no idea why, but I would watch studio tours and listen to how people set themselves up to function in their space forever. So yay! Looking forward to that.

I use a short section of ribbon with buttons on each end to hold the loops of the mask. I put the loops over the buttons and the ribbon across the back of my head to save my ears. I'm glad you are doing well, though the tax bill was a surprise.

Actually, your gut makes most of your serotonin! Yay for our microbiomes :)

Woo! Excited to listen to this tomorrow morning 😊

I mean, are you ever even *at* the airport if you aren't running frantically from gate to gate with scarves & cases trailing dramatically behind you?! This happens to me e-v-e-r-y time