Are you homeless if you're in a De Vere?

I return to my blog like a prodigal son, but as I can no longer eat beef the fatted calf is safe and we look, instead, to the cheese topped veggie lasagne.  And the reason for my return?  I am about to become, albeit in a comfortable Home Counties sort of way - a transient, a nomad, and, on paper at least - homeless.  It is arguable that as I will have somewhere to actually reside I am not able to use the description 'homeless' but let me tell you as a soul who craves for the anchor of being home, as one who misses home even on a best of holidays that I will feel without home, and my abodes will certainly be less than any home.

I move out of my flat in a week.  I move into my new home 40 days following that.

I had the challenge, intially, to consider renting a short term flat.  The cost advertised on several sites looked tempting, but when one enquired further it transpired that all of these flats were single rooms without bathrooms, and if I actually wanted a double with a bathroom the price trebled (and then some).  OK.  I considered serviced accomodation, but only for the precise time it took to find out that such came at a price of £118 a night.  Then I considered buying a cheap campervan, budget £800, living in it for the duration then selling it for at least £700, thereby making our stay have a light impact financially.  But I was outdone by two things - one the site fees were in their twenties most nights and this made Travelodge cheaper, and two - my partner in crime thought living in a small van with no toilets in a muddy field in winter seemed somehow less than appealing.

And so I turned to Hotels, and primarily I turned to hotel deals.  Let me tell you I have spent many an hour juggling locations, prices, deals and variables and I have had many a sleepless night considering the benefits of location over facilities.  And so, here, today, I have booked us into as many hotels as I could find, four nights left unbooked and I have come in on budget.  Phew!

Budget - My aim was not to exceed our 'normal' rent if at all possible.  For the 40 nights I considered 30 of them to be at the rent rate and the other ten to be a daily rate.  I also figured into this the fact that we already had a holiday booked to Morocco....... but we would have gone on this and still paid rent, so I didnt take these days out of the consideration.

So, what follows is a daily update of where we stay, what we pay, how we eat and how my strong need for a home base survives.