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Worrying
Anybody any experience with international moving and shipping? I guess my personal items -- pictures, vases, Christmas ornaments, all fragile, and my few books and most of my clothes -- I will want to send to my Dad to store in the basement until I have settled somewhere. I think that's not just a Take It To FedEx job, because some of these things are big paintings and will be bulky when protected and there is no need for speed at all. I would like to do that before I leave, now tentatively the end of January.
Then there's the furniture, of which I will not want to take much. I'd rather sell most of it with the house because really, how likely is it that I will need 12 feet of table in London or Amsterdam? The small tables, the desk, that is all IKEA and West Elm, almost disposable after the sale. But I doubt I would get what I want for the couches and the console table, so those will need to come over on the slow boat too. It would be better if those stayed until The Loft has sold, even if I have left, in case they could become part of the sale.But if they are not, I need a company that my broker can call, will pick it up, put it on a slow boat, and end up somewhere in storage until I decide which country I will live in. You know, for just a set of couches, that could be more money than what I would want for them. Sigh. Who do I call?
As for my tools, cookware, impressive collection of cables and peripherals (among which one will find a PCMCIA to SCSI card for example), linnens, stereo, loudspeakers, TV, TiVo with lifetime service, everything else? I am not attached to any of it and it is not required for staging, so I guess I will just have an open house and hope my friends go through my space like locusts.
Freecycle the rest? I don't know. But it is the shipping that is keeping me up at nights. But the hard disks go with the travelling clothes. Oh yes.
Then there's the furniture, of which I will not want to take much. I'd rather sell most of it with the house because really, how likely is it that I will need 12 feet of table in London or Amsterdam? The small tables, the desk, that is all IKEA and West Elm, almost disposable after the sale. But I doubt I would get what I want for the couches and the console table, so those will need to come over on the slow boat too. It would be better if those stayed until The Loft has sold, even if I have left, in case they could become part of the sale.But if they are not, I need a company that my broker can call, will pick it up, put it on a slow boat, and end up somewhere in storage until I decide which country I will live in. You know, for just a set of couches, that could be more money than what I would want for them. Sigh. Who do I call?
As for my tools, cookware, impressive collection of cables and peripherals (among which one will find a PCMCIA to SCSI card for example), linnens, stereo, loudspeakers, TV, TiVo with lifetime service, everything else? I am not attached to any of it and it is not required for staging, so I guess I will just have an open house and hope my friends go through my space like locusts.
Freecycle the rest? I don't know. But it is the shipping that is keeping me up at nights. But the hard disks go with the travelling clothes. Oh yes.
Slow Boat To Asia
4 Years ago I made the move from New York to Thailand, and brought a LOT of junk with me. First thing I did is decide what I could do without, and then I sold it or stored it with my folks; then I separated out what I needed to have immediately and would take with me; and the remainder was what I shipped over by cargo ship.
For the shipping, I went direct to a company that specialized in shipping to Thailand. I did NOT use a relocation company, or one of the big movers. Last time I used a moving company they tried to double the price with bogus surcharges. Effectively I ended up with about 1/3 of a container just for my crap. Price wise it was about $1500. Door to Door New York to Bangkok (I did all the packing/boxing ). Shipping FROM the USA can be very cheap, since the boats are often half empty. The company I used was referred to me by someone in Thailand - and proved excellent.
For computer equipment I pretty much disassembled everything, and brought hard disks, motherboards and ram with me. Once here I bought new cases,keyboards, etc.. The most critical Hard Disks I took on the plane with me.
My one mistake, was getting rid of my stereo gear before I left since the voltage would be different here. I later learned that it not that expensive to have someone replace the power supply in a receiver.
Since I had lined up a work permit in Thailand, I did not have to pay any tariff or taxes on my stuff since it counted as personal possessions.
In summary - find a shipping company, don't use a middleman. And have a solid grasp of fees and tariffs involved, and how to NOT pay them. Get everything in writing, and keep asking about 'extra' fees, tariffs, and details (i.e. do you deliver at destination ?, do I have to pay storage at Destination, etc... )
Re: Slow Boat To Asia