The Move: Getting to Munich

Now that we’ve been in Munich a few weeks, it’s a bit easier to look back with a less exhausted eye to see what it took to physically get here.

Part One: Packing It In

We decided to use the same moving company that unloaded our stuff into Hamburg. Although expensive, they had been careful, professional, and very friendly.

On the morning of the move, 2 guys showed up 40 minutes past the arrival window, apologized because there was traffic, then promptly took a smoking break.

After 2.5 hours, they must have realized they weren’t getting very far, so they took a lunch break and called in reinforcements. By 2:00, we had 4 slowpokes instead of 2. 

It ended up being an 11-hour day that I spent camped out in the bathroom trying to comfort the cat. But it wasn't over yet, because we were leaving for Munich the next day.

I did a quick first cleaning pass of the apartment in the dark. While Larry was at a doctor’s appointment the next morning, I made a more concerted cleaning and paint touch-up effort, then we raced to catch our train.

Part Two: Plane or Train, and Automobiles

Plane vs. train was the admittedly brief debate once we’d figured out our schedule for when things needed to happen. Traveling by air was shorter, but would involve carrying Aji through security, and that was a big risk for such a scaredy-cat who could move quickly and was good at hiding.

Then it turned out our fast-moving tank was too heavy to go in the cabin on at least one of the two major airlines flying this route. Plus, the airline prices were three times the price of the train.

Six-hour ride to Munich it was.

Thankfully, Aji was quiet on the train. That relieved much of my post-apartment-cleaning-sprint stress. To ensure we had plenty of space, I’d reserved a seat for each of us, and gave him one of the window seats so he’d have some light (if he ever stopped sulking enough to lift his head). 

Once we reached Munich, he only protested a couple of times in the taxi cab from the train station to the hotel. (Notably once in response to the cab driver asking if he was a rabbit or a cat.)

After exploring the very cramped hotel room and voicing his displeasure, we created a perch for Aji on top of the radiator so he could watch the birds. 

That kept him occupied for a day-and-a-half until…it was time to uproot him again and take a cab to the new apartment.

Part Three: Taking a Load Off

The apartment walk-through and handover of the keys was a bit of a circus. The previous tenant was still there when we got there, and our landlady is super sweet, but seemed a bit overwhelmed by everything that needed to happen. 

Luckily, our relocation agent was there to help get meter readings recorded and coordinate on needed repairs. However, our landlady had enlisted a German-speaking American to serve as interpreter just in case, so for most of the visit there were five of us in the apartment, with two to three conversations going at a time.

The floors downstairs and the kitchen were dirtier than we’d like, but we decided to come back the next day anyway. The plan was to camp upstairs in the loft to start getting Aji used to his new home before the movers showed up. Debatable strategy, since he spent quite a bit of time over the next two days howling and running to the front door as if to say, “Okay, I’m done with this place. Let’s go home.”

Sigh.

A cleaning team and repairman were supposed to come on Sunday to take care of things before the movers came the next day. Both were no-shows. The next day, the movers did show (and on time), but they were the exact same two guys from Hamburg.

I’m not sure if they thought the amount of stuff we owned magically shrank since we’d seen them four days prior, but after an hour or so, they called in reinforcements. Even then, it was a 10-hour unload and unpack day.

Of course, there are many places along the way where things could have gone very wrong. But we are glad to have this piece of the puzzle out of the way, so we can move on to the fun parts of reassembling our lives in a new place.

We’re still making some refinements to the space, but we’re happy with our new home. You can see some preliminary pictures of it here.

And as always, visitors welcome!