LOL you'd better see if they've an office at LAX then as well
you may end up having a spend up there as well!

We're thinking of using these too - only for 10-20kg worth of stuff - but as we'll only have 20kg each when we emigrate until our container arrives we might send a few bits in 1 or 2 bags to Hobart with these guys... I'm going to get a few quotes.

lol cant buy anymore will get shot

if you fly US way you get more baggage, never looked into the emigation allowance not sure if you can still have it after you've validated? but apparently you can get extra baggage when you emigrate. Others may know more about it

Hi Kay, this is something we've looked into already...once you've validated though you're limited to the 20kg each with most of the airlines, the ones that would allow slightly more were the ones that were not in our kind of price-range for a flight to Oz! You can get 40kg if you're going via the US - only problem is that's only on a flight to Melbourne/Sydney or Brisbane - so unless we were getting the ferry over to Tas - we'd then be hit with excess baggage charges on the short flight over from one of those places...
A lot of the airlines have changed their rulings this year as well - not sure of all the changes coming into effect - but i know we were told at Luton when we went away recently that from 1st october i think the maximum one individual case can weigh is 23kg...so you have to be careful with "big" cases not to overfill them as they'll be refused...
We're still unsure what way we'd come out to Oz anyway - as we'd love to kill a bit of time somewhere...we do have friends living in Maryland USA so the US is an option but we'll have to wait and see how much we get for the house 1st

But if anyone does know of any airlines that do allow over 20kg if you've already validated i'd be interested to know!

Cathy,
Sorry had a busy week - back to work for me and back to school for the children so we're all exhausted now.

We hope to move as soon as we get ourselves into gear really........we are not great ones for planning ahead at the best of times but with any luck will be there either before or shortly after Xmas. We have decided (finally) to put the house on the market when we move and leave it up to the agents to sort it out. We did the same thing with a relatives house when she moved to perth and it was just fine. It helps that one of my closest friends is also our solicitor! property here seems to be selling really well again at the moment - next door has just sold before the agent had even finished the details so hopefully it won't take too long to sell.

We are planning 4 weeks of accommodation when we arrive so the we can have a little holiday too without worrying about finding something more permanent.

What about you? Are you planning to sell your house first? When do you think you might move?

Anna

Hi Anna, no worries. I don't think people go on here quite as often as everyone used to...it's very quiet on the thread nowadays.
That's good that you are able to go ahead with your move and leave your house sale to be sorted out after - that's very handy having a close friend that's a solicitor! at least you know the matter's left in safe hands then.

We're just waiting ourselves to put the house back on the market - we've been doing a few bits indoors - & have changed our kitchen since the last time the house was up for sale (we took it off in April), hopefully we've increased the value very slightly doing that, and we know prices have increased slightly again in our area during the last month or so. Just waiting now for a weekend when my OH doesn't have to work saturday - then we'll get the agent around to take pics. Hopefully that'll be before the end of this month. Unfortunately we haven't been in a position to come over before selling as we need some of our equity to fund the move, otherwise we would have been tempted to just rent out our house - altho my OH thinks that i would be tempted to move back if we did that!

We were considering renting here for 6months after selling our house just to save extra money as we'd both still be working, but time is ticking and we've wasted a lot of time waiting already so i doubt we'll consider that now. Hopefully we will come over once we have sold our house...Which i doubt would be before Christmas now - so i guess hopefully sometime in the New Year. Hopefully we'll get a buyer as properties are selling fairly quickly in our area now - the only thing i'm still not sure about is whether people are getting near their asking prices as people are still trying their best to get bargains and i can't blame them as i'd do the same thing!

Anyway, good luck with sorting out everything for your move... I know you were asking about schools the other week - did you have any luck finding out what the school's in the area's you're interested in are like?

take care, bye for now.
Cathy

hey all...

I havent been getting notifications of the thread updates so didnt realise there were any new posts... I'll give Gary/Vikki a call and see how they are during the week.

Cathy - Singapore airlines is 30kg checked in luggage allowance (I went a bit over but they didnt charge me for it). I looked into the excess baggage but it was 130 pounds for 10kg so I decided to take a punt and see if I could bring it all through with me. I then arranged for a friend to post a box to me from Melb (for $25) - by far cheaper than excess baggage charges domestic. Virgin Blue also have 23kg luggage allowance on domestic flights (as compared to Jetstar 20kg - but you can purchase extra now on Jetstar)

We've been really busy, am still disowned by most of my family, have only spoken to one sister since I got home but am not willing to 'give in' this time to keep the peace. Its something too fundamental.

On the bright side, we have a new kitchen, floors are being sealed and sanded tomorrow

Back soon - maybe I might get notifications now that I have posted again in the thread.

Hi there I think sometimes the site doesn't notify you when you've not logged in for a while. That's good if Singapore allow 30kg - i never realised that - does that include your handluggage allowance though?
I was looking at the prices for Excess Baggage myself - still not bad if you have to use them though - compared to what the airlines would charge themselves.
Sorry to hear you had some family problems during your visit to the UK
Cathy

Cathy - 30kg (or possibly 29kg?) + hand luggage with Singapore... + any 'baby items' carried free. Have to say they were fantastic with our flights, they held meals for me and did everything possible to help... we booked a bassinet but DD was too big for one and on each leg they managed to get us an empty seat at the gate. I think I had about 32kg + hand luggage (the trunki and a bag for me!)

Hi there that's a good allowance you got then, when our time comes i'll definitely be phoning around all the airlines to see who i can get the biggest allowance with. When we came over in Nov 07 our son was 11months old and we knew he wouldn't fit in one of those bassinet's as he was fairly heavy (10lb 1oz at birth so he was always a big boy!) - so we did pay for him to have his own seat for the UK - Perth leg of the journey so we were lucky we had that extra luggage allowance but didn't really need the 80kgs for a holiday, especially as we were staying with Andy's family in Perth and could easily wash & iron clothes. The internal flights we did from Perth to Melbourne and Tas and then Tas to Sydney and Perth my OH had him on his lap. I am very glad that he will always now have his own seat now he's over 2. You were very lucky to get that extra seat - it does make a world of difference to be able to spread out a bit - even if baby stays on your lap the whole journey!

I wanted to ask on here actually, now that it's looking like my son will be 3 by the time we come over, what kind of playgroups / organised things tend to be available for that age? He's shortly starting a playgroup over here for 3 mornings a week so by the time we leave the UK he will be used to being left and doing activities with other children during the week, so i wont really want this to stop. I know we're more than likely heading to the South of the Island so i dont need specific details of places - just wanted an idea of the kind of thing that people do go to. Thanks! Cathy

Cathy - DD and I do a music class once a week and probably once she is 3 will restart swimming lessons (I'm waiting for her to get old enough that she doesnt need me in with her as I dont want my fear of water to transfer to her)... but she is at daycare 4 days a week and one thing I did find was that most activities seem to happen during the day so I didnt look into them any further.

Generally now only Emirates and Singapore will do extra baggage for migrants, and only then on an unvalidated visa. Other airlines tend to increase the price of the ticket in return for the larger allowance. Worth asking Singapore and Emirates though, they can only say no!

Hi there, thanks for your reply. I think it'll be a case of seeing where i end up and what's available in the area i guess . My daughter went to nursery 3 full days a week when she was the same age as my son. With him i have found it harder to keep him occupied lately whilst we're waiting for the playgroup he's joining to finish some building works and be signed off by ofsted before they can open...I would imagine that if we can do things like swimming and somekind of playgroup thing a couple of times a week that he'll be fairly happy.

Hi Pollyanna, I had a feeling that was the case - i will ask though when we eventually book some tickets! like you say - if you dont ask you wont get!

afternoon all... how is everyone?

Just thought I would post and see how people are doing

Hi, i didn't think anyone was going to come on the thread anymore! It's been very quiet.
We're fine here, hope you're well. We're just waiting till next week now for our house to go back on the market. Hoping for a quick sale this time so that we can get moving asap - although we would prefer it if the AUD rate would improve during the next few months!

Cathy