So – one week from now we will have hit the road.  It’s ten to 4 in the afternoon, my guess is by this time next week we will be about half-way to mother-in-law’s place. She and her husband will be hosting us on the first night of our big move. I thought I’d share the big milestones in this project with you:

Thursday February 18th
The movers arrive at 7.30 in the morning and start packing things. They have promised to leave us a plate and a bed each – we will after all be sleeping in the house that night, our very last night in that house for a very long time. We’re thinking of spending the night with my husbands cousins, since their place will still look like a home and not just an empty house. Something tells me the kids will appreciate that.

Friday February 19th
This will be my last working day in a long time. After this day I will be a part-time student and part-time Stay At Home Mom (aka SAHM). I have all sorts of strange feelings about this, Lutheran angst and gosh knows all of it. But I also have plenty of time to work through those feelings, and I’m pretty sure I’ll get used to the concept – all in due time. In the house, the movers will collect the last few items (aforementioned beds and plates…) and leave room for cleaners. The single most amazing thing about this move is that we practically don’t have to do a damn thing on our own. After lunch the hubby will meet up with the guy who’s moving into our house along with his familly – to confirm that everything is in order. After that A will pick up the kids and head to the city – where we’ll be checking into a hotel for the night. By bedtime this night, our beds will be somewhere along the E4-highway…

Saturday February 20th
This is when we start our own journey southwards – we’ll leave Stockholm right after breakfast. We could start driving on the Friday evening, but we figured it’s smarter to drive in daylight and after a good night’s sleep. Besides it’s a bit of an adventure to sleep in a hotel, I think the kids will get the hang of what’s going on by then. For the little dude (he will be 4 in the summer) it will be like vacation – we’ve done roadtrip vacations for a few years in a row now, so I think he will just fall into that rut. His older brother (who is heading for his 6th birthday in May) knows we’re moving to a new country and he is a bit spooked out by this already. With him we’ll just have to try to make everything as fun and adventurous as possible – and at the same time make things feel nice and safe. I do think he also needs to get going, and find out for himself that everything will be fine – it doesn’t really matter what we TELL him, he needs to see for himself.  (And I’m the same way myself, so I can’t really blame him…!)

This evening we will, as I said, be staying at mother-in-law’s place in the south of Småland. We hope to get there in time for Melodifestivalen on TV… Very important stuff…!

Sunday February 21st
Another day on the roads – we’ll again leave right after breakfast. We’ll make a first stop to bring cake and a present to my little brother in Skåne, who celebrated his 15th birthday the day before. And after that it’s straight on towards Hamburg. We’ll go through Denmark, since one of us (that would be yours truely) has a problem with ferries. If we go by Rødby-Puttgarten, we’ll minimize the ferry-time to 45 minutes, which is about as much as I can deal with… (Yeah, I know – I’m a wuss…). This night we’ll sleep in a hotel again. Depending on what time it is when we get there (personally I don’t really think this will happen, I know us far too well by now…!), we might have time to stop by the apartment and have a look at our new home.

Monday February 22nd
The movers are scheduled to arrive between 8 and 10 in the morning, and at that time we will be there to let them into the apartment to start carrying our stuff in.

And – from then on… I guess the adventure truely has begun. Yikes…!