Tr1boy

We're already working out what to ship and what not to ship. As I will be going ahead it'll down to Mrs Triboy to sell/pack/ship etc. Given we don't have much stuff anyway and I'll be flying business and can take twice the luggage allowance, we've pretty much got it down to:

TV (26" Bravia, still have the box. I'll buy a Freeview box in UK and borrow a TV until ours arrives).

Stereo (small Yamaha Pianocraft, still have boxes)
Microwave
2 guitars
Amp
Keyboard
Office Chair (boxed)
Kitchen stuff

Idea being that I'll buy a bed, sofa, tv unit etc when I'm there (ours aren't worth shipping). I can borrow a tv, kitchen stuff etc from Mum and Dad.

The big question mark is our fridge. We have a 380 ltr F&P fridge/freezer (one of the 75/25 split things). I haven't seen too many of those in the UK, as they all seem to be 50/50 or separate (small) fridge and freezer. I have seen a few on Kelkoo etc but not many.

If we shipped our fridge, would most houses/flats have a 'tall space' for a fridge nowadays or do they still count on most people having a small one under the counter as it were?

It's a nice fridge and suits us well, and I can borrow a small fridge until we get ours over, but I don't want to ship it if it's going to sit idle until we buy our own place and can knock the kitchen about etc.

Fleaflyfloflum

You shouldnt have a problem with the tallness of a fridge freezer, but the wide ones could be an issue. My daughter has a very tall Bosch fridge freezer and it used to fit in the kitchen of her old flat easily. It also fits easily into her new house too.

Can you tell me roughly how much luggae allowance in kilos it is for business class, ticket prices and who you will fly with? I am optimistically thinking it might work out cheaper for us to take what belongings we are taking as luggage rather than ship... probably wont do it but good to compare

Tr1boy

Thanks Flea. It's not a wide fridge, pretty std really.

As for the flight, I'll check, but return with Asiana is about $6k, and I doubt one way will be much cheaper (I get a bit of a discount) and I think luggage on business is 38kgs, but I am Diamond with them anyway, so it would be unlikely I'd get charged for pretty much anything. They have pretty generous cabin allowances as well (12kg I think), and there's always stacks of room overhead in Business.

If you want, PM me you dates of leaving and I can get a quote from our Korean travel agent, and get you the SP on weights etc.

Fleaflyfloflum

Thanks my dear... we dont know when we are flying yet as the visa hasnt been granted yet, but i'll let you know when we get it.

Tr1boy

Wow that's taking a while? We went to Canberra in 06 and got ours the same day. (that was 2yr Settlement).

Fleaflyfloflum

No its all changed now. You cant do that anymore we were told. The official line is up to 12 weeks for processing, although Finks gave us hope. Although they are in NZ theirs was granted in 4 weeks.
We discovered the other day that because of the christmas holidays and Aus Posts incompetence, all our documents did not arrive there until 5th January!! :curse: So officially they have only had them 2 weeks so far

Tr1boy

Oh wow, that's good to know thx. We are actually thinking of taking a trip to BHC to ask all the questions we need to ask. Given our situation (it'll be nearly 4yrs married, we've had one SV issued before, and I'll be in the UK when the visa is issued etc) it might be worth the trip to get the info from the horses mouth.

Englishmum

Flea - sorry for hijacking your thread, but here's a thought.

My best friend returned home to Sydney in late November (long story, she's going to have her baby in Oz in case her possessive boyfriend goes to court to prevent the child leaving the US after it is born...) and she flew with Qantas.

She did fly from New York's JFK but enquired with Qantas beforehand about taking excess baggage. She had 6 extra boxes (on top of her luggage allowance of 2suitcases each for her and her son, flights to/from North America allow 2 pieces of luggage per pax) to check in.

I honestly can't remember if each box was 23kg or the max of 32kg although I think it was the latter, but I was with her when she checked in and she had to pay US$ 106 - approx AU$ 156 - for each extra box. What happened was that the airline accepted the boxes and her suitcases at the check-in desk, but she had to go to the ticketing desk to pay the excess luggage voucher (by credit card). Once this was done she returned to the original check-in desk with proof that she'd paid and was then given her boarding passes. She thought it was well worth it after finding out what she would have had to pay if sent by FedEx.

You should have seen us at the check-in desk....the weight of the boxes was OK and were sealed with packing tape in any case....but a couple of the suitcases were too heavy so there we were, a very obviously pregnant woman and her friend opening them up to put items into the other cases...all sorts of things (mostly toys) were falling out all over the place and you should have seen the other people waiting in the line to check in....they weren't very happy LOL! (The porter she used to cart the baggage from the minivan at the kerbside to the check-in desk wasn't very happy either when she didn't give him a big fat tip! )

However - it is essential to contact the airline (any airline, I guess) beforehand to get permission to check in lots of excess baggage (boxes are best as they are light and sturdy) as if they have a lot of air cargo there may not be enough room or provision for excess weight on your flight and it may have to go on another flight. You can also get the current price in Aus $.

If you choose to do this, get the name of the customer service rep when you make your phone call to the airline and also ask for the name of the customer service supervisor or rep at the airport you're departing from; if you have a problem at check-in, someone in authority will be aware that you're checking in a lot of excess baggage.

Hope this helps!
PS: you should have seen the amount of carry-on baggage she had with her too! Well over the limit, she must have had about 7 bags between herself and her son. I was hiding around the corner with it so the airline staff didn't notice it, and made it look like it was my personal stuff until she had to go through security. I nearly got busted for helping her load her stuff onto the x-ray machine although the TSA guy gave me permission to help a pregnant woman and 6 year old son....actually the TSA guy got busted by some jobsworth... Anyway, she did get a comment in transit at LAX but they couldn't do much as she had already boarded at JFK.

PPS: It might be worth checking for flights back to the UK via North America ie. the US or Canada as you will get a larger baggage allowance. I know that Air New Zealand has flights via LAX and some people travel with Air Canada.

islandergirl

My mum has a fridge freezer like what you have described, I will ask her what make it is, something German I think so they can be bought over there.
But if you are getting a container anyway might as well throw it in, it's not hard to change the plugs.

Tr1boy

Thx. Certainly won't be getting a container, probably a backload on a backload I doubt we'll have even 4 or 5 cu mtrs

G586

I'm not sure shipping a fridge is a good idea as the pistons in the motor can be knocked out of line if they put it flat or jiggle it too much. I know this as this happened to a Miele ff that I ordered online. It clunked after a day and it was because of the shipping and that was just in the UK.

Look at John Lewis.....almost all their fridges are big!

http://www.johnlewis.com/Electrical+...oductType.aspx