On The Hunt For Home
We had burgers at Spinnakers Gastro Brewpub, then walked over to Parachute Ice Cream for dessert. I had vegan chocolate peanut butter ice cream in a bowl. Yumm-me!
We were flying out the next day to Halifax, Nova Scotia. The walk to the pub allowed us to see another side of the Victoria Inner Harbour. There was activity happening all around us, but we were preparing for the long travel day ahead.
At the Victoria International Airport, we set up up in comfy chairs to charge our devices. I worked on the next blog post. Leaving Victoria made me happy because living in a hotel had grown old. We felt recharged after visiting family and friends, but now we were on the next leg of our journey. Leaving on the 2nd of April, 2019, from Victoria, BC, to Calgary, AB, we flew through the night from Calgary and arrived on the east coast before 8 am Atlantic time.
Our flight from Calgary was packed and then delayed by the ground crew when the luggage ramp broke. We landed in clothes we had been wearing for 36 hours.
It started snowing in Halifax as we picked up our rental car. We had heavy snow and rain and wind while we looked at houses that morning in Walton. All three viewings were not what we were looking for. By the time we checked into our hotel, it was noon. We dropped off our luggage and discovered that the hotel restaurant had closed for renovations, and there wasn’t anywhere else to get food except going next door to the Hilton. We didn’t want to drive; we wanted food and sleep.
I felt overwhelmed, disappointed, and exhausted. Jamie was trying his best to problem-solve us out of the mess I thought we were in. Our hotel room didn’t have a fridge, no microwave, and no restaurant. At least there was a continental breakfast. What I had budgeted for the trip was about a third of what everything was costing. I felt so out of it because I needed sleep.
The next morning I was up and dressed before 7 am Halifax time. I had almost five hours of sleep. The continental breakfast was surprisingly good. We drove out to see the property we had nicknamed Rolling Hills, in Sunnybrae. We knew it wasn’t going to work for us because we couldn’t get Internet there. There had been a lot of rain the day before so we were able to see the problems the house had. There was a bad roof, and the basement needed a sump pump. We saw five properties that day. Jamie had to hold the steering wheel tightly because the wind was blowing the car all over the highway.
We got a better feel for the kind of life we were moving to. Jamie liked a place we saw in the Town of Pictou. It had a bright red metal roof and a dry basement. I was hoping the one we scheduled to see the next day in Little Harbour would have potential.
We had to get on the road before 9 am. I was groggy, still not used to the four-hour time difference. The cottage we viewed showed as nicely as the pictures online, but unfortunately, the house needed a new foundation. It was crumbling and quite a mess. Jamie could see blue sky through it.
We both wanted to find the right place and finish with viewings. Our agent found us more properties of interest for the following day. Then, more snow. We woke to a spring blizzard. We found a little take-out/dine-in place that sold fish and chips. We experienced a “fish fog” and came out smelling like the deep fryer, but it was a good meal. From there, Jamie drove to downtown Halifax to show me the Citadel. We got to see a little bit of downtown life too.
By the end of the week, we had looked at several houses but didn’t think we could make an offer on any of them. We stuck around Pictou County and asked to view the red roof property again. Then our agent showed us another house in the town of Pictou, and we had another we wanted to see in Stellarton.
One house stood out. It had a water view, a cute little patio area out back, and more room than we needed inside. There was enough space for a yoga and meditation studio downstairs, and we could each have a room for a home office, plus there was a beautiful little corner bedroom for guests.
We wanted the amenities of a small town, plus to live near the sea, and we wanted to find it before we flew back to the west coast of Vancouver Island in another week.