Florida to Queensland
Mar 8th 2010, 1:51 am
#1
Forum Regular
Thread Starter
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 57
Florida to Queensland
We are trying to arrange to ship some of our belongings, but the quotes seem astronomical.
The alternative is to re-home our furniture as well as the appliances that we had already realised would need converters and adapters etc
If anyone is local and needs a good start, we have everything you may need, pm me for details!
Or has anyone any ideas on shipping about 400 cu ft of household goods at a price that doesnt cost more than the items in the container.
TIA
The alternative is to re-home our furniture as well as the appliances that we had already realised would need converters and adapters etc
If anyone is local and needs a good start, we have everything you may need, pm me for details!
Or has anyone any ideas on shipping about 400 cu ft of household goods at a price that doesnt cost more than the items in the container.
TIA
Mar 8th 2010, 6:44 am
#2
MODERATOR
Joined: Nov 2006
Location: Hong Kong, mostly.
Posts: 5,214
Re: Florida to Queensland
We just shipped about 500 feet of stuff to Hong Kong for $7,500 I think. I doubt the value was anywhere near that much but we weren't paying so we didn't really consider that.
Forget the appliances. We didn't take anything with a cord (unless it is a computer-related, 110-220 ready device). We didn't take any furniture to speak of (well, a coffee table and a nightstand). We are going to look like an Ikea catalog as we pre-ordered a few rooms full of stuff so when we get there we'll have furniture. We did take a couple of mattresses because good ones are hard to find over there.
We did look at 'plan b'--ship nothing by sea and simply take clothes in suitcases and pay excess baggage fees for the flight. Many airlines actually let you carry upto like 8 suitcases but the cost of an extra suitcase vs. UPS shipping often works out pretty well. I actually have a friend in Africa who 'excess baggages' spare parts for the business he owns because it is cheaper and more reliable to bring them on the plane everytime he visits than it is to send it by UPS/shippers.
We were lucky in that we had a recon trip over and a couple of business trips planned prior to the move (such that we could have taken over some excess suitcases and dumped them there for our arrival). It wouldn't have been that expensive overall, but it would have meant also buying pots and pans and new kids toys when we arrived, which would have been a bit of time and annoyance.
But in the end the piecemeal move option was just too much of a hassle for us to organize, and we had the movers come in and take out well over 50% of our non-furniture "stuff". Funny thing is we're getting along without it for now while we wait for the boat to sail. Guess we have too much junk.
Forget the appliances. We didn't take anything with a cord (unless it is a computer-related, 110-220 ready device). We didn't take any furniture to speak of (well, a coffee table and a nightstand). We are going to look like an Ikea catalog as we pre-ordered a few rooms full of stuff so when we get there we'll have furniture. We did take a couple of mattresses because good ones are hard to find over there.
We did look at 'plan b'--ship nothing by sea and simply take clothes in suitcases and pay excess baggage fees for the flight. Many airlines actually let you carry upto like 8 suitcases but the cost of an extra suitcase vs. UPS shipping often works out pretty well. I actually have a friend in Africa who 'excess baggages' spare parts for the business he owns because it is cheaper and more reliable to bring them on the plane everytime he visits than it is to send it by UPS/shippers.
We were lucky in that we had a recon trip over and a couple of business trips planned prior to the move (such that we could have taken over some excess suitcases and dumped them there for our arrival). It wouldn't have been that expensive overall, but it would have meant also buying pots and pans and new kids toys when we arrived, which would have been a bit of time and annoyance.
But in the end the piecemeal move option was just too much of a hassle for us to organize, and we had the movers come in and take out well over 50% of our non-furniture "stuff". Funny thing is we're getting along without it for now while we wait for the boat to sail. Guess we have too much junk.
