MarsBar

Hiya everyone!!

My name is Sarah (USC) and my husband is Martin (UKC). We're planning on moving to the states soon (both living in UK at the mo) and it's looking like such a massive job!

In general we're looking to make contacts and perhaps get some tips and hints about moving.

We'll be moving to Houston, Texas. Anyone out there in Houston that'd be up for a pint or two when we settle in??

Currently we're filing through DCF at the London Embassy. Interview date is Oct 21st, should I look out for anyone?

Recently Ive been looking into shipping our entire household to the US and Im not exactly cheery about the costs lol. Can anyone reccomend a few good moving companies or methods? Ive looked into Sterling Relocations, Simpsons, Briittania, Monarch, and British Airways Cargo (yeah cos thats an option for a 3 bedroom house!)

Oh and if anyone out there knows anyone in the UK who wants an entire video collection of Star Trek Voyager, or any of 42 Doctor Who videos PLEASE PLEASE let me know. Theyre for sale!

Hope to get some feedback
Sarah

Yosser

Hi Marsbar,

congrats on coming to the states with the other half, I believe Yorkieabroad (a member on here) is located in Houston, there are alot of us Brits in Dallas and the surrounding areas.

I can't help you on the cost of moving, cos all I had when I moved here was a backpack of clothes and a few $$$ in my pocket
There are plenty on these forum that can help you out though.

Good luck with the move.

Yosser

Maggs

Hello Sarah

I used Pickfords, but it wasn't a complete house move, only 13 boxes and a few pieces of furniture. The price is horrendous as I'm sure you've already found out. I found Pickfords very good, but I'm sure there are others who mayor may not agree. They packed everything in my house in the UK for me very well. I was told it would be at my US address 6 - 8 weeks later. True to their word they phoned and wrote to me at my US address saying my household effects had arrived in the US and had passed through customs ok. They then contacted me about two weeks later to arrange a suitable day for delivery. On the day of delivery my things were unloaded and would have been unpacked in my house. I chose not to do this as we are moving addressess and I'd only have to re-pack it all. However I have looked through all my boxes and none of my wedgewood china has been damaged. There was lots of communication in the UK and US by phone and letter throughout the move.

Have a search on the forum. There was a particularly long thread about moving back to the UK. I know you are moving to the US but there was a lot of helpful advice about removal firms.

Hope this is helpful.

Maggie

PS...if it's any use, my dog came as excess baggage on the same flight as us.

MarsBar

Thanks Maggie!

I'll look into Pickfords. Theyre in partnership with Allied which my family has used in the states before.

The cost of moving has forced us to consider selling all our furniture save for an antique piece or two. We have an awful lot of china as well and Im glad to hear yours made it without any problems.

Also glad to hear you brought your dog! We have two cats that will be coming with us, also by excess baggage. We'll be flying BA and I almost want to fly out of Heathrow just so I know our cats will get to meet the Animal Welfare guy from Airport (TV series) lol.

What kind of experience did you have bringing your dog through?

Sarah

NC Penguin

My husband and I didn't have any choice in the movers used when we moved from London to NC in 2002. My husband was being repatriated to the US.

The company was Allied Pickfords. Since my husband's employer picked up the bill, I have no idea how much the move cost (the two packers/movers on the day said we broke the record for a one bedroom flat. 73 boxes!!)

I was very happy with the quote, packing and delivery. The only problem was with the Allied Pickfords office who didn't return my phone calls and weren't very customer service orientated when I spoke to them on the phone.

I would hasten to add that our shipment was sent by air and delivery was prompt. It left our flat on a Wednesday and we took delivery two weeks later (it was in storage for 3 days).




NC Penguin

Duncs

We flew Delta airlines with our cat from London to Atlanta. If you book ahead they will let you carry a small animal in the cabin with you, but only 2 per flight. Then we hired a car and drove the rest of the way from Atlanta to Jackson Mississippi. A bit long winded but this way she only went out of sight for a short period. Now she is here, very happy with the enormous yard she has to play in and is learning to climb trees. i am learning to climb a ladder and get her down a lot as well. also i would say whilst technically you dont need a rabies innoculation for entry to the USA because blighty is rabies free each state has its own rules, so for instance the USA doesnt require it but the State of Georgia does so we got one just in case. It takes around 10 weeks to get it done. 4 weeks after injection they take a blood sample then 6 weeks to test if enough antibodies present. There are 2 types active and inactive, in the UK the norm is inactive but some states require active so you would need to check with the state you are going to. we got an inactive innoculation for her and that was fine for us. You will also need a vetinary certificate to travel to say the animal is healthy. not diffcult just get one from a min of agriculture approved vet within a few days of travel.

The furniture cost to ship is terrible. I paid £2000 to ship our book collection, around 700 books, my computer and a few bits and pieces of china. basically i went through all the big objects we had and figured out the cost to ship against the cost new in the USA. So eg. in our case the sofa would add £900 to the cost of shipping we sold it and got back £700 so thats £1600 back towards a new one in the USA. we did that sort of calculation on everything and ended up pretty much emptying our house. Its up to you but really unless the object has a very high monetary value or sentimental value then i would say sell it used and buy new in the usa.

There is a lot of planning needed to get organised in my experience and some things take a long time to get done so make a good list, start early and you will find the whole thing much easier in the long run.

good luck anyhow,

regards,

Duncan & Lacey.

Maggs

Hi Sarah

Yes the US side of Pickfords is Allied. I still have a house is UK where my two grown up children live so I couldn't bring much furniture but I don't think I could have afforded it anyway. I have an antique chair and some antique china too and that arrived fine. My household effects went by ship which is why it took so long compared to NC Penguins going by air.

There are some regulations for animals especially if you intend to return to the UK at some time. DEFRA is the website for UK. For entry into the US look at the Center for Disease Control web site. It has the regs for bringing an animal into the US. They don't actually require a rabies shot but I would advise it as it was the first thing the Public Health Officials asked for at Chicago Airport. Also look at Brits in the Us website and the US Embassy London website A - Z, as they have info about bringing a pet into the US.

This is what I did for my dog.

Jan 03 had microchip done
May 03 had rabies injection
June 03 bought travel crate & left it in living room
Amused all visitors to the house at this time!!
June 03 had blood test to say rabies injection had worked
July 03 Vet signed certificate/letter for travel
July 10th drove to Heathrow
Checked luggage and dog in to United

They were very careful and made sure all documents were in order. We then had to go the departure lounge and leave our dog near the check in. They board animals last so they are first to get off on the other end. It was very hard to leave her there looking at us walk away. When we boarded the plane we asked the cabin crew to inform us when our dog boarded.

I got worried because the plane was taxi-ing and nobody had told us if she was on board. Before take off three cabin crew came to tell us that our dog was on board!!! Of course I was convinced she would be dead on arrival at Chicago!! Hmmm, she was absolutely fine and when my husband went to get the car from the car park, I got her out of her crate outside the airport and you'd think she'd had a nice long sleep and been here all her life!

Hope this helps,

Maggie

Patrick

After getting lots of quotes we used these guys

http://www.the-eurogroup.com/

They where very good and there prices weren't bad either. If you ask the other removals firms who they use many of them will say this company as they shippers and not just movers.

Give your furniture 6 weeks to cross the pond, we talked with these guys and arranged it so the furniture would be picked up and shipped in the same week (its all about timing) so we where without furniture in the UK for a few weeks and again in the US.

Good Luck

Patrick

HunterGreen

Partrick, I went to this site and I'm sorta lost. They seem so much cheaper than all the quotes I have so far that I'm thinking I'm reading it wrong... lol.

Do you have any idea if they will ship from the Netherlands to the US as well? I found Amsterdam listed somewhere...

Like I said, I'm lost... tell me what you know! (Please. )

Elaine

BritSteve99

We used Allied to move our stuff from the UK, and were very pleased. The packed everything and absolutely no problems at either end.

It was expensive, but we sold as much stuff as we can, gave the rest of the furniture away, and then kept going through the remaining items and weeding out the non-essentials.

Steve

Patrick

We moved our house for £1700, It was one of the best quotes mostly because these guys are the shippers, they only pay for delivery in America.

I lived 15 miles from Mildenhall and went to the facility to drop of the cheque (so that I could have a nosy) and their place is immaculate. I know that something looking clean and pristine is not always and indication a good job will be done but it always give you a warm feeling, especially when they are dealing with your smalls.

As for the Netherlands, I have no idea - you can always call these guys.

Patrick

HunterGreen

Thanks Patrick . They had an email address listed for info from 'elsewhere in Europe', I think I'll try that one before calling. It's a good thing I've started looking into all of this stuff very early, because I still have lots of time to find the best deals etc...

Please accept my apologies for calling you Partrick earlier.

Elaine

excpomea

We used Allied/Pickfords to move from Plymouth to Ft Lauderdale.

Yes it was expensive, but they did a really good job packing everything into 2 containers.

Our biggest problem was that once we got to Ft Lauderdale we decided to move to Tallahassee about 400 miles North.

That small internal move cost almost as much as the move from the UK.

Moral, make sure you negotiate where you want your belongings shipped to before you move.