Apartment Hunting - A full contact sport!

A friend recently said to me, "From what I hear, apartment hunting in NYC is a full contact sport". After viewing 40 apartments over the last four and a half weeks, we have finally signed a lease! And yes, it is a full contact sport!

And what a broad spectrum of potential abodes we saw. We looked in TriBeCa, the Financial District, NoLIta, the Lower East Side, the West Village, the East Village, Greenwich Village, Chelsea, the Flatiron District, and the Upper West Side.

We looked at the insanely tiny (this is New York after all), and apartments up 5 flights of stairs (which I couldn't be convinced to traverse each day with a baby under one arm and the stroller under the other - not to mention the groceries!).

There were one bedrooms (in which we were supposed to erect additional walls to create a second bedroom aka "cupboard" for the baby to sleep in - because he doesn't take up much room right?).

There was the apartment block I was denied entry to because "babies are not permited on building sites" - a fact which may make living there difficult since the baby is non negotiable.

We saw an "apartment" which was actually a sewing factory (and the fact that the dress Whoopi wore to the Oscars this year was made there will not make me want to live there more - no matter how often you repeat it).

There was the loft with the "6 foot" ceiling in the second bedroom (interesting that I could not stand up being that I am 6 foot and no I am not mistaken I am not 6 foot 2! And no it won't be perfect for the baby because his mother needs to be able to enter his room without risking concussion).

And there was the apartment Nathan didn't even let me see - retreating out shaking his head.

Then there were the brokers! Like used car salesmen but somehow worse. We met no fewer than 5 brokers and, with exception of Lior our final broker, all were useless. Sentences would start as follows:
"Now I know this is above your price range but..."
"This isn't a true 2 bedroom but..."
"This apartment does have some stairs but..."
"That air conditioning unit isn't the correct fit so it is packed in the space with bubble wrap. Not attractive but it works" (don't worry about the choking hazard not to mention risk of small child falling through the gap!)
"There is no washer/dryer but do you know you can send your laundry out to be done?"
"This apartment is a little small but..."

And the list goes on!

Then finally there was the Forward Building in Manhattan's Lower East Side. I literally heard angels begin to hum "Aaaahhhhh" as we entered.

• 24 hour doorman (tick)
• Elevator entry to apartment (tick)
• Washer & dryer (tick tick)
• 1,435 square feet (tick x 1,435 squared)
• 2 complete bedrooms (tick tick)
• View onto a park (tick)
• Children's playground in that park (tick)
• Lovely open kitchen (tick)
• 2 bathrooms & a tub (tick tick tick)
• Bike storage facilities (tick)
• Additional storage space (bonus)
• Roof deck (bonus)
• Built in very large flat screen tv (bonus)
• Famous land lord (cool)
• Famous neighbour (extra bonus and cool)!

Of course, one final note should be, that whislt we looked at a staggering 40 apartments in the flesh, hundreds more were perused and discounted online. All of which was completed on the 11 cm x 6 cm screen of my iPhone (being that our computer is in storage).

We may be left bruised and bloodied, and in need of new glasses, but we have a place to live. Isn't that what this contact sport is all about anyway!?

48 hours in transit

After 48 hours in transit, with a 5 month old, we got our first glimpse on Manhattan from the ground before sliding underground into the Midtown Tunnel. The husky hues of sunset were the perfect backdrop to a city coming to light. The pinks and purples faded into oranges
and yellows before being washed out into blues and grays. Lights began to twinkle in the windows of the city that never sleeps.

We emerged onto Manhattan under the Empire State Building. Iconic and encapsulating all we looked forward to in our new life here.

But it is not all so romantic. 48 hours ago we left behind our families in Sydney. Our son's grandparents only just stopped short of kidnapping him but did not manage to hide how sad they were to say goodbye. So sad in fact we had our smallest farewell party at the airport in our 2 years of living in the US. Too hard to come to the airport again and say goodbye.

Then 24 hours ago we farewelled our Los Angeles friends (and tried to convince them to move to New York with us)!

In between all the farewells were two mammoth plane rides. Mammoth both in time spent travelling and because we had our robust (as my husband describes him) and adorable 5 month old son with us. The adorability is the harder trait when travelling we have discovered, for even when he is asleep hostesses and other passengers stop and coo and cluck - and none too quietly -often waking the poor little guy up, who of course just flashes a big smile at all the inquisitive faces above him. My husband and I however were all scowls knowing we have little chance of getting him back to sleep for at least another couple of hours!

"Yes he is cute"
"He's 5 months old"
"His name is Noah. Yes adorable"
"It's a Phil and Teds cocoon. It comes with our stroller. Yes it's great."

These are just some of our conversations whilst in transit.

But I guess we shouldn't really complain. We were flying business class and on the Sydney-Los Angeles leg of the journey we had 4 seats to ourselves. Noah is already used to the luxury and space. He may get a rude shock when we head home in November and only in Premium Economy!

A couple of other travel and transitting whinges to end with. We are srrugglung to understand why, when forced to switch planes in Los Angeles on our way to New York, our baggage allowance dropped. Does United Airlines expect us to drop 20 pounds out of each of our suitcases as we pass between terminals? At least the staff were so smitten with our "Mr Adorable" son they helped us repack at the check-in counter.

Some highlights from our travels to New York:
Noah timed perfectly his once-a-week poo to arrive 15 minutes prior to boarding (we got called over the airport paging system for the first time ever as a result)!
Being able to go into the American queue at customs due to Noah's birthright (not that we did as it seemed longer only to be pulled out 10 people from the front of the visitors line and sent to the back of the American line)!
Bring able to sit at our favourite cafe in Los Angeles, Joans on Third, one last time for hours with our friends.

Good-bye Los Angeles. Good-bye Sydney

Hello New York.