I am going to relocate. What should I take with me?
What should you bring with you if you relocate?
This is not a silly question. We originally started to make plans around taking much of the contents of our UK home to Greece. Then we started to think whether our style of furniture would be appropriate for a Greek house. As we intended renting we realised that to take our furniture would restrict our choice to purely unfurnished property.
As it turned out, we rented a furnished property, bought some furniture in Corfu and took 58 boxes of personal effects plus the car which was full of computers, tools, breakables and some electrical equipment (Hi fi etc.). We were also fortunate in that our landlord had proved to be very accommodating in that he was amenable to removing items of furniture that we didn't want. (All Greeks seem to have masses of storage space, but heaven knows where!)
Having decided what you want to take, how are you going to get it there? Essentially there are only two viable solutions. You either have your goods freighted overland by a forwarding or removals company or you hire a vehicle sufficiently big enough, assuming that you are licenced to drive it and transport the goods yourself.
This latter solution has added problems. Apart from hire charges, insurance charges in case of breakdown, road tolls, fuel charges, and ferry charges from Italy to Corfu as well as from the UK to mainland Europe, there will also be some overnight stops to cater for.
These may be able to be avoided if you can enlist the aid of additional drivers, but there may still be additional ferry fares. Oh yes! Did we mention that you then have to return the hire vehicle!
As an aside, we found that the hirers of commercial vehicles, in general, were quite reluctant to get involved in overseas hirings but some can be found.
Our Solution - We decided to ship our personal effects AND our car with a forwarding company. Yes! The car went into the back of a truck! The total cost (in 2002) was a little over £1,700 including limited insurance. (Total loss only). Our effects were collected from our door in the UK and delivered to our door in Corfu. On top of this we had to pay for single flights to Corfu. We had 3 items of minor, inconsequential damage and all goods were in Corfu within 5 days. At the time, we considered this the better option for us and have not changed our mind.
Packing!
What was the hardest part? That's easy! Packing it all. Ask Tricia! Some of what follows may seem obvious but it is amazing what gets forgotten in all the excitement!
You really need to get same same sized boxes for easy stacking. We used smaller boxes for heavy items like books - Don't try packing a box the size of a tea chest with books and expect to lift it! It sounds obvious but our forwarding agents assured us that people do try! The final hard thing is living when all your every day items are on their way to Greece! Marks & Spencer did very well out of us for that week!
In Conclusion
If have made your mind up to relocate, what you take with you will be dictated by a number of things. It will certainly depend upon whether or not you are 'selling up' in the UK.
Don't be too hasty in throwing things out or giving them to charities. (Being the hoarders that we are, we gave away about two van loads to charities!) It can be very comforting to have familiar things around you.
Gentlemen! If, like me, you have built up a collection of tools over many years, take them with you. They can be expensive to replace and, depending upon where you choose to live, difficult to locate.
