Paul’s Tech Makeover: A Logistical Nightmare (Premium)

The next four weeks are going to be busy and interesting. But we should emerge on the other side of it fully moved to Pennsylvania.

Between now and then? A logistical nightmare.

Thanks to the fact that we hadn't been planning to move, we had booked our normal home swap for August. Which means that this trip, to Barcelona, has delayed the move: We're contractually obligated to let a family from Spain come and live in our current home, and to use our car. Plus, both families---mine and the one from Spain---had already purchased airline tickets before the idea of moving had ever come up, to the tune of several thousand dollars.

So we're obligated. Meaning that when the notion of moving escalated quickly this past April/May to something that is not just happening but happening very quickly, we had to figure out how to accommodate the very different needs of the home swap and the folks who are buying our current home.

You can read about the rough time line of all this in my forum post, The Thurrotts are moving to Pennsylvania. But long story short, we sold the house very quickly but specified that we wouldn't be able to close on the transaction until the third week of August.

So here I am. Sitting in my nearly empty (old) house, after spending the weekend breaking down the podcast studio in the cellar and what remains of my home office. About to go on a trip, for some reason. And delaying the move to the new house by about three weeks.

As you may know, we normally swap homes for three weeks each summer. This year, we accepted a request from Barcelona for only two weeks, the first two of August, so our original plan was to spend a third week on some kind of side strip. Lisbon, maybe. It's all kind of hazy now because that is not happening.

So here's the schedule. We fly home from Barcelona on Monday, August 14, two weeks from today. On Tuesday, August 15, we're renting a small U-Haul truck and driving to Pennsylvania those things---my home office, podcast studio, our TV, and so on---that we either will need right away or don't want to trust to the movers. Because my daughter has an orientation event to attend at her new school there, on Wednesday. Even a day later would have been nice.

But then we drive back home again, on Thursday. To finalize the move. We'll spend the next few days packing. And then the movers come on Sunday, August 20 and take it all away.

We'll spend the next day, Monday, cleaning the house for the new owners. And then we close on Tuesday morning, and drive to Pennsylvania for good that afternoon. It will be a Thurrott Armada, of sorts, since we have three cars between me, my wife, and my son.

I believe we close on the new house that Thursday. And then Friday, my wife and son will drive him back to school in Rochester, New York. And she'll fly home the next day and join me in our unpainted new house that is full of boxes.

So roughly four weeks, from now until then.

I'm ...