#3 My Expat Story – On the Ferry

This article has been published as part of my "Expat Story" series on my page http://occupationexpat.com/2016/02/20/my-expat-story-3-on-the-ferry/

I knew this ferry rather well from several football away trips in the Champions League. Only that this time I had the entire 4-berth cabin to myself and I would not be horribly hung over upon arrival.

I took the first couple of pictures with the new camera – including one of the ridiculously overpriced steak from the on board restaurant.

The German TÜV of my car had expired some 3 days before my trip. I attempted to have it renewed beforehand but unfortunately they were of the opinion that the car was too low and they did not even commence the test. Since I did not want to give up on my new sporty suspension, driving across half the continent without a valid test certificate was the very first, very “un-german” thing I have done. Soon I would export the car anyways.

The first time I had been taking this exact ferry was in September 2003. Stuttgart were playing away in Glasgow at Ibrox – I don’t quite remember who against.. The team might not even exist anymore. As drunk as I was back then, the first time I set foot into Glasgow, I knew I was going to live there at some point.

The ferry arrived in Newcastle at 9 am on the Monday morning. It was the first time I was driving on the left and I was super scared about crashing into someone or something after only a couple of meters. Funnily enough that never happened and if I would get confused in the future, then only ever when I would be back on the continent. After a couple of miles it felt like I had only ever been driving on the left.

My final destination would be Greenock, a former shipbuilding town that was thriving in post-war years but has been badly hit by unemployment when the heavy industries eventually declined.

I managed to find one of those well-known standard call-center jobs there at an IBM facility that was, and still is until today known as “The Blue Building” . The plan was to live in Glasgow and commute the 30 miles to Greenock, or in the best case to find another job in Glasgow as soon as possible.

Whilst the simple task of sticking to the left side of the road seemed rather easy to accomplish, the actual challenge was to multitask and also find the right directions. After only a few roundabouts with 3 lanes and traffic lights in the middle, a thing that I had never seen before, I stopped at a petrol station to ask for directions. One friendly Englishman advised me to take the A1 to Edinburgh as “that’s the way north’.

Anyone slightly familiar with UK infrastructure will know that my optimal way would have been via Hexham and Carlisle to Glasgow. I, however, found myself in Berwick-upon-Tweed at some point and I decided to take a wee “shortcut” as I had wasted enough time already.

The “shortcut” was probably not the faster but certainly the more beautiful option. Coldstream, Kelso, Selkirk and Moffat were some of the places I crossed and not only were those roads not made to go any faster than 50 mph but I also stopped every couple of miles in order to take pictures with my new camera. I was about to become a resident of this ridiculously beautiful place and I had to show off with it!

When I finally arrived in Greenock with a delay of approximately 3 hours I checked into the halls of residence at the local James Watt College as part of the relocation package offered by my new employer. The room was one of the most spartan ones I had ever seen. It reminded me a bit of the prison cell I had visited as a kid as part of an excursion – with the slight difference that this one had internet access. The pallets I had slept on after a party night once, were probably more comfortable than this bed.

After carrying all my belongings from the car upstairs I went across the road to do my first grocery shopping – in LIDL, a place I only knew too well from Germany, even though I never really had to buy my own food at home.

Looking forward to my first working day in the morning, I eventually went to bed…