Back in the Bay

And just like that, our RV travels are over and we are back in the Bay Area! The last time I was in San Francisco was last July – I came back from Asia to visit Joe and help move into the trailer. 9 months later, we are reassembling our lives again after our life-changing adventures. It’s exciting but also kind of trippy to be back. Even though it’s only been one week, it feels like we never left and like our sabbaticals were one looong dream.

After our 2-week road trip from Dallas, we settled into an Airbnb in Oakland (20 minutes from San Francisco in East Bay). We decided to temporarily set up here because it’s the midpoint between San Francisco, our storage unit, and our RV parked in East Bay – the ideal location for all our moving errands.

At first, I felt a little overwhelmed with all we needed to do, but we tackled things one-by-one, and in one short week, we accomplished a lot. Between moving out of our trailer, moving into our Airbnb, apartment hunting, and starting my new job, it’s been a busy week!

The cats have been through a lot with all our traveling the last few months. As usual, they were confused when we got to the Airbnb, but they eventually settled in, and they are loving the extra space compared to the trailer.

Both Ben and Ellie were super sleepy the first few days – all the driving wiped them out!

We stockpiled our favorite ice cream, Blue Bell, from Texas. We brought as much as we could fit in our RV’s freezer, and we’re trying to make this last as long as possible since it’s not sold in California.

I started my new job this week! It feels good to get the first-day nerves out of the way. After my year-long sabbatical, I was scared I would lose motivation, but I surprisingly feel the opposite – I’m ready to be productive again and start a new chapter. Plus, it doesn’t hurt to have income again. 😉

Every day after work, Joe and I drove into San Francisco to apartment hunt or through Easy Bay for different errands. Joe and I agreed this is the most searching we’ve ever done for apartments, and our calendars have been packed with appointments every evening. Fortunately, we’re both on the same page in what we want, so we’ve just been patiently waiting for the right place to come up. We’re also figuring out how to park a full-size truck in the city which is no easy feat. I’m optimistic I’ll have good news to share soon!

Overall, our excitement for being back has outweighed any stress from moving. It’s exciting to drive into the city every day, imagining our new life in that environment again. We’ve enjoyed eating dinner at different restaurants after work and before our errands, including some old favorites from our previous SF days.

Couldn’t resist a stop at Oakland’s kava bar…it’s been too long.

Our weekend was a productive one too – more apartment hunting and exploring our favorite neighborhood in the city (which is where we are trying to live). We took a long stroll through Golden Gate Park in between apartment viewings; it was the perfect weather, and it was so nice to be in one of our favorite spots again. ❤

Sunday was moving day for the RV. We spent all afternoon packing stuff into boxes and moving it into our storage unit. I could NOT believe how much we accumulated over the last few months! It was wild seeing how much we towed across the country…no wonder our gas receipts have been high. 😉 Fortunately, we fit all the boxes on our truck bed so the move went smoothly.

It was nostalgic visiting our storage unit and seeing our belongings again. I am SO ready to have my stuff back!