Coworking: Road Trip to Ikea

By Angel Kwiatkowski

I recently saw a picasa album of coworking spaces and about 80% of us furnished our spaces with Ikea wares. I dug up this post for you about our epic trip to Ikea and thought you would enjoy reading about (or commiserating) with our experience.

Road Trip To Ikea: #rt2i

Day 1: In order to save money and have an excuse to take an epic road trip we decided to travel the 527 miles to Draper, UT to the nearest Ikea store.  Accompanying me on the journey is my best, good friend Chris.  We are a match made in heaven: I brought snacks and she brought a loaded ipod. We departed Colorado at 4pm on Thursday and made it to Rawlins, Wyo.  Last hour in terrible conditions-foggy, slick roads and could only go 45 mph.

Day 2: Awoke early, had trucker breakfast at Penny’s Diner.  Screaming deal since we got free vouchers to eat there from the hotel which we totally deserved b/c they are the only hotel that cleans the rooms in the middle of the effing night.  Didn’t get to sleep until 3am after I went out and pleaded with the housekeeper to please stop vacuuming the room next to ours and to please stop slamming a door every 23 seconds b/c it literally rattled the bed frame every time.  Anyway, it was an awesome breakfast.

Drove solidly through the 5 hours to Salt Lake City.  Turns out that Salt Lake, Provo, Draper and 14 others towns are really just one town.  Did you also know that this conglomeration is completely surrounded by mountains on all sides?  Very cool scenery and totally worth the 5 hours of butt numbing driving.

Went straight to a hotel and caught a quick nap.  Drove 1 mile to Ikea <squeeee>.  Luckily, I had printed out the instructions on how to shop at Ikea.  Turns out the assembly directions for their furniture are no easier to understand than how to properly “shop” at Ikea.  You really do have to follow the directions or the ultra chic staff people in yellow polos (circa 1991) look at you like you are *so* dumb (think bubble gum chewing, skinny jeans wearing-looking teenager who wishes they didn’t live in Salt Lake).

Spun around the showroom for almost 3 hours.  Yes, that’s just about how long it takes to get around the whole store and that was with a minimal amount of oooing and awing.  Headed down to the “self serve warehouse,”  which isn’t as much fun as you would think.  Turns out that a lot of Ikea’s furniture is quite heavy and I have genetically weak arms.

Purchased a few of our lighter/accessory type items and started panicking about what size uhaul to rent.  Renting a uhaul on a whim at the end of the month is a terrible idea.  I guess a bunch of landlords kick people out at the end of the month b/c we had to drive 25 minutes to find a dealer that had a trailer that was smaller than a semi truck.  Stopped off at a delightful Thai place and decompressed over Pad Thai and Spring Rolls that were absolutely awesome.  Discovered that Iced Thai Tea is really not MY cup of tea.

Returned to hotel.  While Chris got into her stretchy pants and snuggled down, there was no rest for @CohereLLC.   Here’s what my night looked like:

1.       Phoned husband for last minute instructions on how to use a uhaul.

2.       Bucked up and decided to throw down an extra $700 on furniture that the coworkers would actually like, not some cheap-o crappy looking stuff.

3.       Re-re checked my online shopping cart at www.target.com to re-re make sure that I definitely want/need that furniture (I do).

4.       Texted 12 times with interior designer to okay a few last minute, on the fly choices

5.       Mopped brow

6.       Made a new Ikea shopping list

7.       Tweeted some stuff

8.      Ate a girl scout cookie

9.       Thought about how great it is to be in a hotel that cleans the rooms in the morning

10.   Collapsed

Day 3: Rose early to let Chris sleep in, had not so great, but again, free continental breakfast.  Drove to uhaul place and waited in line for 30 minutes behind all the people who got kicked out of their apartments.  Got trailer hooked up and drove away.  Arrived at Ikea just in time for opening.

This is where we kicked Ikea’s ass. We loaded 7 flat beds with stuff and trucked to the checkout.  We were definitely the “don’t get in line behind those yay-whos” people.  Do you have any idea how long it takes a 16 year old who really doesn’t like his job to scan 7 flatbeds worth of stuff?  About 20 minutes, no exaggerating.  Blew a hole in my Cohere Debit Card to the tune of $2223.74!  *EFF*  See photo of Hans, I mean Jared, holding my 2.5 foot receipt.

After you throw down that kind of cash, Ikea provides you with 2 boy slaves to load your uhaul.  As I was going out to retrieve said uhaul, discovered another Jeep with Colorado plates towing the same size uhaul was parked right next to us!  Perhaps we should have been more efficient with our resources.

We u-hauled ass back to CO in 9 hours.   Very proud of my little diesel Jeep that got 26mpg on the way back pulling one ton of Ikea + trailer.

Lessons learned on the #rt2i:

·         Choose a copilot who likes to chat, it will really help keep you awake in the middle of Wyoming and one who really only needs a cup of hot tea in return for hours and hours of circling the same store.

·         Really, really happy we had the instructions for how to shop at Ikea.

·         Call ahead to reserve your u-haul.

·         Ask to take your cashier’s photo for your blog.  It perks him/her right up.

·         Eat more fruits and vegetables.

·         Pick a hotel with a hot tub for aching ikea muscles (note to self for future).

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