Good to know. I have also got a quote from John Mason & White and Co. and AP was the cheapest by far with W&Co the most expensive by several hundred and JM in the middle.

But the wife is moving several large pieces and a LOT of clothes - enough to fill a bedroom - so the quote are in the £2300 - £3100 range. sigh.

Ask how much free storage you get. White&co provide 8 weeks free and its about £30ish/week after that for my quoted amount. So it might work out cheaper to store in UK and when you are ready ship it over.

Thanks. The only reason why I thought it might be easier to store it in Canada is because it gets any potential customs or shipping delay hassles out of the way in advance.

Then it's something you could ask your preferred company about getting a quote from their Canadian partner on storage. Best to do that lest you get a shock when you land.

Lots more experience people on here than me who can advise.

Very true!

You mentioned earlier not being able to drive and thus not being able to clear customs and move the boxes out of the bonded warehouse yourself - (or the airport cargo department, check as that may work out cheaper if you can get them to the airport in the UK).. there are 'man and van' type business's who could transport once you have cleared them from customs, if that is of any help.

I must admit I found having a storage unit (an indoor one, they are dry and humidity controlled, something to bear in mind in the climate) was a blessing as it meant I could go and pick up a box or two - which will all be numbered and with a master list of what is in each, so easy to get the box with what you need - (in a taxi if necessary), rather than having to get everything delivered at one go from the shipping agents.

Shipping Agents normally charge quite a lot for storage after a standard period of inclusive cost, so perhaps work out the logistics and the financial costs of both self storage and shipper storage?

When you do your shipment, you should ask what the cost would be 'door to door' and also 'door to storage' and ascertain what storage they offer - you want dry and climate controlled if you have any items that could suffer from damp, hot, humid conditions for an extended period of time (bearing in mind they will have been in storage prior to sitting in a container at the docks both ends, plus the voyage across if you ship by sea).

One advantage of shipping by sea is that your shipment will likely take around 3 months anyway as they will need to wait until they have a full containers worth before it actually leaves the UK.. then the voyage is around 6 weeks.. plus the journey either by train or ship to the Customs bonded warehouse in Mississauga / Toronto area.

Edited to add, might be worth looking at this company (and check reviews) - they appear to offer everything you said you need http://www.moveroneintl.ca/our-services/
Best of luck, all I can suggest is 'research, research, research' !


You might find some helpful threads in this post in the wiki : https://britishexpats.com/wiki/Shipping-Canada

Fantastic, thank you. I'll be honest, this is the one big job at the moment. I've been making a spreadsheet of things to do and this looks like by far the most complex and daunting task on it considering that we're still fairly young and don't have kids etc.

My plan atm is to get us the upgraded Air Transat economy package which allows you to take 2 suitcases each since Transat Club Class costs the Earth these days (around £1k+ pp one way). The rest could then be shipped by land and sea because I'm expecting us to rent a temporary apartment for the first 4 months or so and slower shipping would also mean lower temporary storage costs unless I'm mistaken. It would definitely be helpful if we could dip into a few boxes that we'd shipped once while they're still in storage as well to retrieve kitchen stuff etc.

I would ideally want us to have a lease signed on a decent place to live within around 3 months of arriving, with a view to move in shortly afterwards.

I just had a look at the Air Transat option also. It seems cheaper if you book a return ticket. Check via skyscanner as prices are fluctuating currently. IcelandAir also is coming up as an option with a direct flight but are not giving you the option for the luggage (optional extra). It sounds as if they are using the EastJet model.

Air Transat gives the 23kgx2 option for the economy max and then 32kgx2 for Club class. The price as you know is a lot cheaper for the economy max option and with the option of purchasing more luggage to send if required.

We would be flying from Manchester rather than London so that always narrows the possibilities and bumps up the price a bit.

I'll look at IcelandAir because we flew Transat economy for our landing trip last month and the service left quite a bit to be desired. The Transat flight from Manchester is regular, direct and fairly quick and simple though.

I don't mind changing planes somewhere in the UK or Europe but changing in America is out of the question as far as I'm concerned. It's just more hassle than it's worth.

I'm the same as yourself. Being a manc means London it not really an option unless I can get a direct flight or connecting.

I've travelled a few times to Vancouver via various airlines. KLM seem to be the best if you have kids, British Airways has okay service but offer a few different connecting flights from Manchester to London throughout the day. Their plane to Vancouver seems to leave in the evening and you have to negotiate the terminal change at Heathrow. They can be quite pricey like KLM. I've enjoyed the Air Canada flight I took about 6 years ago with family. The only issue being a crap customer service via the telephone and Indian call centre wala's! The flight was good via London again with a connection on a BA flight from Manchester. All three are pricey but the service as you've mentioned is better than Air Transat. I'm yet to fly with Iceland Air. It would be nice to get someone take on their airline I suppose.

I will only travel on a non stop flight to Manchester. Travelling from London adds so much extra time onto the journey. Too much...especially after an all night flight.

You could pay to take extra baggage - you could make 1 bag with towels, sheets, basic kitchen bits, anything essential -- or you could just do what most people do and go to the $1 store and pick up basic kitchen bits n pieces, t.towels, cutlery, plates, cups, glassware, bowls etc., that you can use until your other boxes arrive... if you need kettle / toaster / coffee maker etc., then Canadian Tire or Walmart both have some reasonable prices. I've honestely found Amazon.ca great for reasonably priced sheets, duvets, duvet covers etc., or if you need them faster then Walmart is another quick and easy option at not too high an expense. OK the ones from Walmart won't last forever, but they will do you for a year or so

Exciting times!

The extra luggage would just be for stuff that we need to last a few months really plus some valuable and semi-fragile items that I'd prefer not to send. The last time we moved to Canada we ended up buy a load of stuff from Dollarama and WalMart not long after we arrived. A lot of the short stay places on AirBnB seem to include white goods anyway though.

As someone who travels to East Asia occasionally I can see why a good and comfortable service between the UK and Vancouver would be important. However Manchester to Toronto is only around a 6 hour flight nowadays so it's not too bad doing it on Transat really even if the food is appalling.

They fly direct from Manchester T1 as well whereas the likes of KLM, Air France and American Airlines all fly from Manchester T3 and Manchester T3 is an abomination.

It was long overdue I think.

I have to say though, I was very impressed by Toronto airport when were there last month and the new dedicated rail service they've created to connect it to downtown was excellent.

I've moved the off topic posts about Manchester Airport to a thread of their own in the Maple Leaf.

You can find it here: https://britishexpats.com/forum/mapl...irport-914560/