Dorothy's Florida Adventure: And the winner of the apartment hunt is . . .?

After a lot of discussion and thought, we decided to take on Palm Beach Gardens as an adventure.  But we first had to find a furnished apartment within our price range that would take pets.  Before our “house-hunting” trip, we had visited the local furniture rental store to check on costs and terms for renting.  After looking at that option, we decided it would be better to just look for a furnished apartment.  There would be fewer items to take and the total costs would probably be lower.

We traveled to Palm Beach Gardens by car for our apartment-hunting trip.  Prior to the trip, we had become very discouraged because our relator’s preliminary review of available apartments that took pets had not been very productive.  After talking with her, she tried another type of search and found several possible units for our review.  The first stop for us was the Club Cottages in PGA.  These “cottages” were all one level in conjoined buildings of four to eight units set back so that each entrance was separate circled around a center area for dumpsters and mailboxes.  The first apartment was a challenge because the key safe would not open until a lot of patience and determination opened it.  From the moment we walked in, I knew this was the apartment for us.  It had tile floors with two sliding glass windows overlooking a golf course, two full baths, and two bedrooms.  A compact washer/dryer and new appliances made the kitchen welcoming.  Even after looking at other apartments in PGA, we kept comparing them to the first apartment. A quick telephone call to the relator handing the rental and our offer for a year’s rental for 526 Club DR was accepted.   Once that was done, I asked if we could have a final look to take photographs of the rooms and kitchen utensils so we would know what was already there.  I would have to pack some plates and kitchen things, but all the linens were already in the apartment.  There were also three vacuum cleaners, two TVs in closets, and a TV in each room, but we would deal with all that later.   Our move-in was scheduled for October 21^st.

Living Room

View of Patio

Front door of 526 Club DR

When there was some free time, we set out to visit the Norton Museum of Art.  It seemed strange that the entire parking lot was deserted.  An employee explained that the museum was closed because of renovations.  So that we would return, he gave us two passes for the museum.  These were safely stored in the glove box in the car.

During the whole time staying at the Doubletree in Palm Beach Gardens, I had a headache and the AC did not seem to work correctly.  It was either too hot or too cold – resulting in very little sleep for either of us. When I complained, no one seemed to respond. One morning at breakfast when I told the waiter I didn’t feel good, he brought me a wonderfully hot pot of soothing tea and two pieces of toast.  I also had trouble trying to print items from the computers in the business center, so eventually one of the desk staff let me us her own computer to print pages.

(When the online survey came from the Hilton group, I told them about the wonderful waiter in the restaurant, but I also told them of the AC problems and the other things that were just not right.  Within a day, an e-mail arrived to apologize and offer a free stay in the future.  That had been unexpected, so we planned to use it when we came down prior to our move-in.)

The company offered to move one automobile down for us, so we decided that the Prius would be it.   About a week before the movers were to come pack up our “stuff,” a gentlemen came with a tow truck to pick up the car.  He could not actually load it from our driveway, so he took the tow truck to Center Street and then drove the Prius up the ramp.  After it was secured, we waved as he drove off with our little blue car.

Our moving company was not one that either of us knew.  They were supposed to be the best, so we gathered our items into boxes in the hall and kitchen.  We also noted that the computer, printers, and the modem were to be packed as well.  The only real furniture we took was a filing cabinet and my sewing table.  As we not certain just how cold it was going to be, we took very few winter garments.   It took them only a few hours to pack everything in boxes and secure everything in the front of the moving van.  As our “things” had completely filled a moving van on our move to Georgia, seeing our belongings in just one small section of the big van was a little disheartening.  We were taking the minimum, leaving a large part of ourselves at home in Carrollton.   They were scheduled to deliver our boxes the day we were to take possession of the apartment.  After waving goodbye to the van, we started getting ourselves ready for our move.   The “adventure” had begun.