Hi all,

I'm wondering if anyone out there could offer any advice about moving to Montreal. My partner and I are moving there in September for his work and I'd love some advice! He will be working on Bélanger street which is north of Montreal centre and in between and off to the right of areas St Michel and St Leonard.

We don't have any kids so there isn't really that much stuff to transport for us... Def don't need a shipping container etc.

How did others get stuff there from the UK? Is it costly to send a box via air or sea from the UK? We will only need to transport one fridge/freezer size box I think (on top of the suitcases we will take on the plane as official luggage)! I plan on getting rid of most furniture etc here as its not keeping stuff anyway.

We hope to rent a furnished apartment in Montreal for a month or so until we can work out where is best to live. Any ideas regarding where would be good for us to start out that is quite nice, well priced and close to Belanger street and the city? Possibly a nice furnished apartment complex or an area someone knows of?

Ideally, for the long-term, I would like to live between my husband's work and the city centre so that life is easy for both of us. We will be there for minimum two years and will get a car within the first few weeks (not sure whether best to rent or buy a cheap one).

I would love any advice about where we should live, how we could get a small amount of stuff there via the most cost-effective means and anything anyone knows about whole the process that might be beneficial!

We are keeping our place in the UK and renting it out, although I am worried that there will be black periods when no one will be in it/paying the mortgage off!

Thanks everyone!

Hi there,

We used an international shipping company (one of the Brittania group) for our stuff.

We were sending some boxes and furniture (including 2 beds, welsh dresser, sofa, armchair, diner table). Not enough to justify a whole container. Ours was sent as a mixed container of other peoples belongings, and took just under 3 months to arrive by sea to BC. We collected it ourselves from the shipping agent to save money.

We had Brittania come and pack our belongings as we only arranged our shipping 5 days before we departed, and wanted the help in packing. However, I think you're allowed to pack your own stuff as long as you keep a very detailed list of what's inside each box. The shipping company will tell you about it.

It sounds like you have less stuff to send than we did. Ours cost about 1500 UK pounds 3 years ago. We're glad we brought basic furniture with us, as we've been quite skint and couldn't afford new furniture. Montreal will probably give you better furniture buying options than our bit of BC.

Here's a link to a thread I contributed to about decluttering before the move:

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...25#post6209725

All the best,

Sarah

Oh great, thanks for the advice and the link! ...I was beginning to think that I'd posted my thread in the wrong place/way as no one had replied (i joined so as to put that one up!).

After reading your reply, I'm thinking of taking my bed as it's a king size and it might be expensive to buy one in Quebec or find a furnished place with a big one... I got it for £1800 (60% off) in the Fenwick's end of year sale. Would it be more expensive and more of a hassle to take it or should I just ebay it and rent a place that is furnished? That is really the only piece of furniture I have that is worth keeping. We had planned on renting for the two years fully furnished.

I've now studied a map and know where we will be needing to live! Anyone out there know a good place/complex to rent an apartment for a couple in the north of Montreal near metro stops Viau or Assomption (green line) or St Michel (blue line). Perhaps near Boulevard Pie IX or broad vicinity?

Thanks for your help!

Hi,

If you can, I would take the bed. It sounds a really good quality one.

By the way, send your bedding with it. We have found bedding in BC (e.g. duvets and duvet covers) to be very basic and expensive. They still like the comforter and sheets idea, which I think is far too much faffing around!

All the best,

Sarah

Hi and welcome to BE

Sorry I cannot assist with info on Montreal, however you may want to post a thread entitled Montreal and you may get some further replies from members that are familiar with the area.

Good luck