Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah!

1 month, 1 day.

I think that something is wrong with the ticker I have to count down the days; it said 1 mo 2 days on the 27^th and now says 1 mo 1 day on the 30^th. Obviously, one of those is incorrect. Yes, today's ticker is correct. It is now one month and one day to our departure.

Yesterday we went to the Consulate-General to apply for K's visa. Our appointment was for 10 AM. We got there around 9:35 and were told we would have to return after 9:45. We went to a place a block away and shared a bagel, then returned. We had to check in with a security guy at the door. Then we had to sign in, get scanned with one of those wands, then put our bag and coats through an x-ray machine. We went up to the 10^th floor where the consular services department was. There were a number of other people with 10:00 appointments so we had to wait in line. We got more and more nervous as we got closer to the front of the line. Finally it was our turn and we went up to one of the windows. The woman there just asked for specific pieces of documentation. First she asked for the application and K's passport. She clarified that K was applying for an unmarried partner visa and not a proposed civil partner visa. Then she asked for our cohabitation documentation, which we had in the form of tons of mail to each and both of us over the last four years. She went off to make photocopies. When she returned she said that we were very well prepared and that it was the best prepared ever. She then looked at our financial documents (bank statements showing our savings and employability information for each of us) and our lodging information (just a booking confirmation for a holiday flat for one month). She asked no clarification questions. After she went through all of that, keeping some things and returning others to us, she cheerily told us to pay ($520) and then come back in one hour for the visa. That was it. It was so much easier than both of us had anticipated. I was a little worried about our financial stuff, but apparently we have plenty of money saved up as far as she was concerned. And the temporary lodging didn't seem to be a problem, either. After exactly one hour, her visa was ready.

In other good news, the UK bank account is open. I got my debit card. Now we will go to DC and see if we can get K added to it before we move over.

The biggest worry we have now is trying to get rid of about 98% of our belongings. There is so much to go through!