Reset Part 2: Two Bags, a car, and an air mattress

Picking up from where we left off, our items were in route to Central Florida via the relocation service company, 1-800-PackRat. I was left in a mostly empty apartment with a few belongings and a lot of cleaning to do. Our roommate was also still living in the apartment, but they had found a new place and were in the process of relocating locally.

Before I closed up each shipping container, I placed an Apple Air Tag inside each one and named them accordingly so I could track them on their journey across the country. All-in-all it took them about 3 and a half days to get from Burbank, CA to Orlando, FL. I was impressed with their travel time. There was a day or two in the beginning where they stayed at a facility in Los Angeles, I assume that was just a part of the plan all along. Luckily, I was not in a hurry to get them or on any type of time schedules, so it was all just data for me. Once they arrived in Orlando, I immediately was charged the monthly storage fee.

For a more in-depth review of our relocation costs, see our blog post coming soon where we do a deep dive into our relocation expenses.

I had about a week or so left on our lease at the apartment in Burbank. Our roommate was also still living there, although they were also in the process of moving out. During this time period, I took advantage by cleaning, touch-up painting, and selling or disposing of the leftover items that I couldn't get inside the shipping containers.

Luckily, I was able to sell quite a bit of items and I made a few hundred dollars which I happily pocketed with the intent of applying towards my upcoming rent. I used Offer Up to sell to local people who came to me to pick up the items and they paid via the app, so this made it easy.

Oddly enough, the final walk through of the apartment was a week AFTER we vacated. This was due to a scheduling conflict by our landlord. By the time we walked the apartment, her "handy man" had already begun renovating! There were holes in the ceiling where they were installing canned lights in the living room, kitchen, and bathroom. That would've been nice! Oh well. Like I said, the final walk went well, and we parted ways. In her true fashion, the landlord did hit me up later regarding our deposit, and said because she had to replace things, it was going to eat out of the deposit. I told her to just forget it and that I didn't want anything back. Really, I just didn't want to deal with her shady, incompetent management any longer. She really was an awful landlord. Always questioning things, asking me to relay messages to the other tenants, and accusing us of breaking things or causing breakers to go out; when it was the fact that the power in that apartment was probably from the 1950's! Most of the outlets inside did not have ground wires, just the two-prong outlets. What a dump. Good riddance! Anyways, next I needed a place to stay....or did I?

Yes, I very much contemplated sleeping in my car and showering at work. After all, it was only supposed to be for a few weeks. Fortunately for everyone, I found a place. My co-worker had a room he and his family had renovated with the intent to rent out. They had not done so yet, and this seemed like a good test run for them, being that he knew me and would ease their minds a bit for their first time.

It was about 30 minutes west of Burbank in a small town of Woodland Hills. It was an older home, but very well kept and the room was beautiful. They had done a great job renovating it. The place had its own entrance and access to the backyard. A private restroom and shower, kitchen, complete with microwave, stove, oven and eventually a refrigerator. It had everything except a clothes washer and dryer, which they added shortly after I left. I was able to stay here and pay cash each week. I asked to pay this way because, again, it was supposed to just be a few weeks, and in my mind, any day I would get the word that our new home was ready and would need to leave, so I didn't want to be locked into any obligations, nor did I want to leave my friend in the lurch. He agreed to this weekly cash payment, and I moved in shortly after.

I lived in this room up until our home was ready. My friend and now landlord, would ask periodically about the progress of my house, both for his personal interest and I assume to know when I would be vacating. I'm grateful that he and his wife were cool with me staying far past June, which was my original exit month.

Meanwhile in Orlando, Marzz was renting her hotel room from the Extended Stay and having adventures of her own.

As mentioned briefly in the last post, Marzz had rented a hotel room at the Extended Stay America hotel near Sea World Orlando. We made this decision after the recommendation from our realtor, Kenard, who has been amazing in this whole process by the way, more about him later. Marzz had compared some Airbnb's and private rentals, as well as short-term apartments, but again, we were under the impression that this was only for 2 months, so we did not want to get caught up in a lease, not to mention we did not want her to have to go through a credit check or have to pay a deposit; we needed our credit to remain strong and we needed every cent we had to ensure nothing went wrong when it came to paying our down payment and other costs to secure the house and to relocate me.

The Extended Stay America hotel turned out to be a good choice based on its location and proximity to her new workplace as well as common amenities such as grocery stores, gas stations, UPS store for her mailbox that she setup, and other day-to-day places you might need. It was also in a safe area, surrounded by lots of tourists and a sheriff’s sub-station was a block away. Being in a new city and alone, being in this type of area provided peace of mind to both of us because safety was high priority and knowing she could get around easy was a plus.

Oh, and the dog. ESA allowed pets, so that was another reason she chose to rent a room with them. Many of the Airbnb's wanted outrageous up charges for pets. Our dog by the way is a 14-year-old Maltese poodle, weighing about 15 lbs., he's not exactly your idea of terror or menace.

There were of course some draw backs of ESA. It wasn't the cleanest place after all. Marzz found some roaches from time to time in her kitchen area. The second floor where she was located was reserved for dogs, so it came with a lovely odor (just use your imagination). Being on the second floor also made it a nuisance to take the dog outside to go potty. Then there were the other dogs, most were well behaved, but there was one incident, while I was visiting in June, where another dog attached our dog. I don't believe the other dog meant to hurt ours, but he did get aggressive and bit our dog, drew blood from both me and our dog; me and the other owner had to physically separate them. Luckily our dog was fine, a little shaken up, which was to be expected, but overall okay.

I'm getting ahead a bit, so let me back up.

Marzz was a trooper. She got herself, the dog, the dog's stuff, her stuff all to the Burbank airport, then onto the plane, navigated a layover in Dallas Fort Worth, Texas; had to rush to make the connecting flight, so no time to allow the poor dog to relieve himself; who by the way, was terrified the entire flight to Texas. Then on the connecting flight, he was howling on the plane, scared. Luckily none of the other passengers were vocalizing their displeasure, but I'm sure were thinking it. Then our dog, his name is Miracle, couldn't hold it any longer and urinated inside his carrier, which leaked out onto the man's shoes sitting in front of Marzz.

Upon landing, Marzz profusely apologized to the man, he was very nice about it and told her not to worry. Marzz offered to buy him new shoes, but he declined. It was very nice of him, and he handled it very well, in hindsight, we're thankful to him for that since this trip was stressful enough for Marzz.

Now Marzz is at Orlando International Airport, it's around 10:30PM local time, she exits the plane, goes and picks up her luggage and hails an Uber ride to the hotel. She chooses one that accepts pets, which results in a slightly higher rate and longer wait time, but he finally arrives and drives her safely to the hotel.

At the hotel, checking in, Marzz confirmed that they had her down for several weeks, and that if she needed to extend her stay at the Extended Stay, she could. They confirmed that all she had to do was let them know at the front desk and she could continue staying in the same room. This was helpful, one less thing to worry about.

I was in Modesto, visiting my family and gathering any belongings that I still had at my parents’ house, when Marzz arrived in Orlando. We spoke on the phone, she let me know she was okay, although stressed and tired from her journey.

Over the next few days, Marzz tried to get acclimated to the time change and the weather which was just beginning to warm up. Miracle took to it with no problem and seemed to thrive with the warm weather. Marzz didn't have any specific issues, just the normal initial shock of the humidity, but she adjusted quickly.

Back in California, I packed up my stuff and went back to Burbank to finish wrapping up there. In case you missed it, I go into more detail about what I was doing at this time in our last post.

Week’s pass, I'm living in the rented room in Woodland Hills, Marzz is living in the rented hotel room in Orlando. We're both getting by, but desperately wanting our house to be finished. Beyond missing each other, we were also spending quite a bit of money living apart. In addition to this, Marzz tried to get by using public transit, but ultimately, she caved and rented a car. We planned to purchase a car for her once we moved, but again, we didn't want to disrupt our credit or finances. Even renting the car, we had to run it by our lender to make sure they were okay with it. Luckily, they were and although the added cost, on top of all of the other added costs of each of us renting a place to stay, were a lot of additional money, we were able to shoulder it.

The car made commuting to and from her new job much easier. Her new job, by the way, was going quite well. She loved her new bosses and team and took to it like a fish to water. Like any new job, there's always a learning curve as well as comparisons to the previous job. Some new things were better, some not so much. As I write this in December of 2022, she has received numerous accolades for improving workflow and processes, so to say the least, she has made a good impression and things are still going well for her there.

Stay tuned for part three, coming soon!