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fjAnybody 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.
no subject
Date: 2007-12-20 11:24 pm (UTC)They weren't problem free ... but the problems were really nothing to worry about (communication mostly). No problems with actual transport.
Shipping across the states to the port of departure is billed by weight (standard in the US) and then the rest of the way by volume. The port of entry for Europe is (of course) in the Netherlands ... so it will be close to you. One shipping container on the slow boat is about 7 feet long as I remember and 6 feet high or so? Maybe 4 feet wide. Something like that. It is standard though - you can google it. One container held all my dishes and Christmas ornaments .. some lamps .. clothes ... some books. A bed (it comes a part - mattress,no box spring). My COOLIO dining room table (also came apart to save space) that came off the side of the road in the junk heap in Oak Cliff Dallas (and everyone loves it). Half my CDs and much more other junk then I can remember that I decided I didn't even want by the time the slow boat arrived. (Actual time 3 months.)
The couch would have required a separate container for me. So it is still with my super ex-boyfriend in Dallas.
The relocation firm also handled all the import paperwork.
I don't remember how much it cost ... but the US leg was the disproportionately costly part. I do remember it was much cheaper than I expected.
And everything was well packed. And at least insured against damage.
Wooden container packed at your loft is taken to the port, where it is placed in a metal container then loaded on the boat for the journey.
The firm would also handle packing items later or storing things before shipping etc, etc.
Only problem is there was a strange translucent film on some my stuff. It wasn't really corrosive ... so not exactly sea water. The people at the relocation firm said they had never heard of the like ... but said if it didn't wipe (or in the case of the dishes wash) off they would file a claim. It came right off. So 'was sollst'?
no subject
Date: 2007-12-20 11:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-20 11:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-20 11:49 pm (UTC)But, I remember it being less then $1,000. I hope I'm not misleading you. Because that seems awfully low. But like I said ... it also wasn't as expensive as I thought it would be. I am positive it wasn't more than 3,000 if that helps (because my mom loaned me 3,000 which covered that cost and some more). (You will likely to have to pay more for the overland route to the east coast I'd imagine.)