Adventures At The Navy Lodge

My recent posts have been updates from our travels of the past couple of months and now I’m caught up to actually being in Italy, which has been for about three weeks I think?  I’ve had a few questions about our current status so thought I’d just pound it out here.

We are approved to live on the economy, meaning not in housing so we are currently in search of a home to rent.  We have seen a few (and if you chat with me privately you know the deeper story there, I can’t give that away publicly yet) but haven’t signed any paperwork on any at this point.  Once we do pick one there are a lot of things that need to happen and we are told it takes about a month before we can actually move in.  So, we are kind of in a waiting game and are hoping to be in our new place around the end of May.  This actually works out rather well in that we are expecting our household goods to arrive around then as well.  So, hopefully we will move in and have all of our stuff moved in right then, no loaner furniture!  Crossing fingers on this.

But for now we wait and continue living at the Navy Lodge.

What’s the Lodge?   Basically it’s an extended stay hotel that’s typically on the military base (inside the gate) and exists on most installations.  It’s basically a hotel… we are in a room with a kitchenette.  They differ at each location.  Sometimes it’s one sectioned off studio (typical hotel room) room and other times (like this one) it’s like a one bedroom apartment with a tiny kitchen. So, we are able to cook a bit but it’s very limited to our imagination and abilities, or lack thereof?

As Lodges go, this one isn’t bad at all.  Having a separated bedroom is nice but honestly I could still see it getting cramped quickly if you have children.  It’s fairly comfortable for the two of us though.

There is a small dinette and living area much like any hotel really and as I mentioned a small kitchenette consisting of a full size refrigerator, sink, microwave and two scrunched-in burners over a tiny oven.  When I say scrunched-in I mean it’s difficult to use both at the same time, they are that small and close to each other.

Yep, those are twin bunkbeds 😀

The Lodges are often staffed by local employees and built by local contractors I am guessing because every one we have been to has different appliances and cupboard setups as well as unique to the area bathrooms.  This kitchenette has a dish draining system above the sink which is super convenient for air drying dishes but and it’s a big BUT,  it’s the majority of the space provided so there isn’t much storage space for pantry items.   It takes some imagination at times to make spaces work.

Drying shelves

The luggage situation

Closets are fairly non-existent though drawer space is not bad as hotel rooms go.

All things considered it’s a temporary situation and I appreciate that it’s available to us during transitions.  It’s close to the Commissary (groceries) and the Navy Exchange (department store type shopping), the food court area and movie theater, the hospital and almost all of the services we need to work with while settling down.  Oh and the gym, which is quickly becoming a habit again, thank goodness!  (might get back on the fitness club diary soon)

We have picked up new cell phones for Europe which I am hoping will provide better photos for the blog and Instagram and we bought a new (to us) car because we left ours in the states.  Check out our Alfa Romeo!

That about catches us up to current status.  I’ll have a post soon about the few little excursions we’ve been on but we have just the past few days been driving out to explore a bit, navigating the highways/roads here has been a challenge without a gps, I am buying one today since we left our Garmin in the states.

Will hopefully start some bigger adventures in Italy soon!

No update on a job for me yet, it’s pretty limited and I am leaning more towards working from home in some fashion but I have to get out of my own head and my own way for that to work.  More on that another day but it’s a self confidence thing.

May Day / Beltane approaches!