Xgeminix

We are going to Perth 7th March and I'm getting in a right panic...everything is going Pete Tong!!!

We sold the house on 21st Jan after 6 months on market....completion date is 2 March.

Right this is why I'm panicing...rang John Masons and told them the completion date...Ohh we haven't got time to send anyone out for a quote we'll have to do it by phone, fair enough, I get a quote for £3016 for a few items of furniture and the rest cartons...they can only fit us in on the 23rd/24th Feb to ship out. All our money is tied up in the house so we can't pay for it until after completion.

We could not risk the cancellation/postponement fee of nearly a grand cos' we won't have exchanged then and hubby's a born worrier. They needed to know an answer this morning so we have had to decide not to take anything with us except a few cartons which we will send by both air and sea.

We can't book the flights until we have completed so OH and 2 daughter's are going to have to stay at his mum's and me and youngest daughter at my mum's until 6th March.

Can't arrange any accommodation yet in Perth until the money from the house is released and I know most of the short-term rentals we were looking at are all fully booked until mid April.

Went to the doctor's last week with a really bad viral infection..was in 5 minutes and totally broke down..came back out with antibiotics and anti-depressants to help me sleep. Notice my posts are mainly in the middle of the night...lol

God I hope I don't sound full of self-pity..what I need to know is how did you all do it? Did you all take a risk and pay for things (flights, accommodation before your house completed and pay with savings or a credit card..we don't have either..mum's still bitter about us going and I'm dreading the few days I have to stop there.

Can you book the flights 24hr before flying? (there's 5 of us).

Shi, shit, shit...

PS Anyone know the cheapest reliable air freight company?

Jude xx

Wendy

Aw calm down hun, it'll all come together.

The Johnstons

Awwww, Jude . Sorry you're having such a crappy time. We're in the same position, leaving for Perth on 27th March but won't exchange on the house til the 13th April . Our dogs have to be shipped out too (to the tune of £3K) which has to be paid before they go! All our money is tied up so I've no idea what we're going to do . Hoping a rich distant unknown relative has secretly left us a fortune, but doubt it .

I'm just hoping that things will work out somehow. My advice is to bite the bullet, pay for everything on plastic (if you can) and then pay it all off once the money comes through.

Fingers crossed for you and sending you some calming Karma.
TJ

HugoB

Yikes, it all sounds a bit manic! I'm sure you'll get through it, a few deep breaths and a glass or 3 of something strong! Make sure you have time to relax when you get to perth to make up for it! Do you have to be there on the 7th or can you make it later to spread things out a bit and make your timescale a bit more flexible?
We're arriving 1st of March and know what you're going through, but sold the house back in Nov so have done things in stages, even so, beginning to feel stressed again now!!
Lots of luck to you, may be see you there with a cold beer!!
HB x

Bert'n'Stella

If you've finished work (or as soon as you do) get your P85 off to Inland Revenue and get your refund, usually pretty fast. This amounted to almost £2k for us, straight in the bank! Might help and be faster than the house money
S.

joho

Failing that get yourself a 0% credit card and stick it on there till house finalises then pay it off and close it. Also try PSS we found them very good and very flexible with dates up to a point.

Jo

debbiemc

[QUOTE=debbiemc]whats a p85??

calm down sweetie, i'm sure it'll all come right in the end. get some of your friends and family involved in helping, i'm sure they'll be plrased to!

i have a number for freightworld and its 01142852777, they're based in sheffield but they're international shippers, we've been quoted £2480, thats for us packing them loading. that includes double board removal cartons , tape and bubble wrap too. some other peeps have used them on the forum.

get yourself a bottle of lavender and sandalwood essential oils and have a soak in the bath and burn some in a vaporisor whilst sipping a nice bottle of wine tommorow night.

good luck and karma sent, debs x

glennandkate

Calm down Jude - Go and have a long soak with a glass of wine and then phone the bank for a bridging loan...And no you dont sound full of self pity. You just sound really stressed which is understandable. Everything will work out OK and you will laugh about this next month. And maybe you can find a motel with a family room for a week or so when you get there. It might get you out of a hole.
Bert and Stella - Whats a P85? Am I missing something here? Am I entitled to something from the government??????

Katie

Wendy

[QUOTE=debbiemc] Fill in a P85 to get a tax refund. It's a form to say you are leaving the country

glennandkate

[QUOTE=debbiemc] You beat me to it - See Jude two people cant be wrong go get that bath!!!!!!

debbiemc

[QUOTE=WendyC] thanks wendy, i like the sound of that, mr tax man giving us some money

debbiemc

[QUOTE=glennandkate]

Kevhaze

Jude

It is an extremely stressful part, and from our experience it did seem like everything was happening at once at 100mph. But you need to take one day at a time.

You asked how the rest of us did it, we were lucky in that my brother-in-law had offered on our house, the only problem was that he was in Thailand and it seemed to take ages for paperwork to get there and back. We never had credit cards until about three years ago, and that was what really saved us. I won't say that we were being 'hassled' by the shipper, but they did tell us that October and November 2005 were getting pretty booked up (we had our offer on the house in August). I was getting worried that, because the house transaction was taking a while that maybe my brother-in-law was getting cold feet - although he assured me that it was just because of living in Thailand.

In the end we had to bite the bullet and we organised the shipper to collect our stuff, but to keep it in storage until instructed to ship, just in case everything went pear-shaped. We then booked our flight tickets for 4 December, this was all paid for on our credit card, taking us right up to the limit. We had already been out to Australia for a reccie trip in 2004 and we had kept in contact with the holiday apartment owners. We kept them informed all along of our plans and they had an apartment free for when we arrived. Of course, by the time we did leave the UK our house sale had gone through and we were able to clear our credit card bill. However, the last couple of weeks before leaving did get manic, suddenly everyone wanted to take us out for meals and visit! We had two parties to organise, luckily my friends organised our main leaving do.

I do feel for you, and it is easy for me to sit back here in Oz; but there were many times in the last couple of months before we left the UK that I had to calm myself down and look at each problem individually.

You said that your mother is bitter about you going? What about your other half's parents, would they be willing to put your bills on their credit card; just to ease the pressure?

What will you do with all you furniture and effects that you originally wanted to ship? Would you be able to ship them at a later date?

I have seen on here that Excess Baggage will do air frieght, but I don't know what their costs are. We used them to ship all our furniture out.

Also I don't know about booking tickets 24 hours before the flight, I suppose it would be possible, maybe give them a ring. We phoned Qantas direct for migration flights which allowed us 40kg each.

Anyway, I know this post won't solve your problems, but I hope it might help a little bit.

Hazel

Xgeminix

Thaks HB

I don't drink maybe that's my problem I need to go and get hammered, but I can't now I'm on the tablets

We wanted to head off as soon as we completed but for some stupid reason I thought the money would be released on exchange..duh. So we've had to arrange temp accom between parents and if you knew what my mum's attitude is about OZ you wouldn't want to stop a minute longer than necessary.

See post
http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...thers+reaction

Maybe we'll see you out there...just look out for the mad woman mumbling to herself..lol

Xgeminix

We are on a DMP so are not allowed to get credit, which would have solved all our problems. I assume this is how most people get around things but unfortunately it's a no go for us.

Cheers Jude xx