What to bring or leave behind

Our family will be moving to the UK later this summer and I have NO idea what we should bring with us or leave behind. I guess my main question is what furniture should I ship and what to store. Am I safe to bring our beds? ANY help is appreciated. 

Question #2...what about bringing a dog? The thought of giving away our dog kills me.

Welcome, SuzanneIN!

I can help with Question #2.  My cat is just sitting here waiting for May 24th, when I take him to my sister's house in Scotland.

It takes about 7 months to do everything, but most of it is waiting.  ASAP, take your dog to the vet for a microchip (Spucky has a Home Again) and a rabies vaccination.  About a month later (ask your vet), the dog needs a blood test to be sure rabies antibodies are present.  Once the blood is drawn, you wait six months.  Two days before we leave, I have to take Spucky to the Angell Memorial Hospital for the PETS certificate required by the UK and to be wormed and fleaed.  Then, paperwork in hand, we fly to Heathrow.

If you will be coming to the US around the holidays, you could take your dog back to the UK with you.   Please take a look at
http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/quarantine/factsheet/vetfactsheetusa.htm
for what to do and when.  I'm here if you have any questions.   Chris

Can't offer too much advice; just support as I am in the same situation...

re dog -- We happen to live on the East Coast; so I contacted Virgin directly and there doesn't seem to be any issues with flying with the dog even during the hottest time of the summer.  Many airlines will restrict pet travel in the hot weather due to issues with the dogs on the tarmac.  The dog does need to be microchipped and seen by a vet; but nothing major.  The dog will fly in a special cargo area on the same plane we are on.

re furniture -- I will be moving 3 kids (1 of which is still to be born) and a house of furniture.  We have decided to only bring a eating set; family room set; the bedrooms and possibly 1 other sofa sleeper.  It depends on where you will be moving -- this move we will be in house in Gloucestershire.  We lived in a roomy flat in London and all that furniture NEVER would have fit!  We are planning on bringing a king size bed; which can be easier to manuver than a queen size (due to the box springs).  We are choosing to bring all the bed/bedding with us to keep everything the same (so I don't end up with multiple sizes of sheets).    I am planning for small rooms and skinny hallways.  Many of the 'kids' rooms are VERY tiny -- only big enough for a twin bed.

Your furniture choices will depend upon the size of place you end up with and the amount the company is willing to pay for your move or storage.  We will be storing very little and giving most of our stuff to a not-for-profit since this seems like a 5+ year move for us.  Many of our Expat friends have said; they regretted storing lots of the stuff -- after so many years of not using it; it just didn't seem as important.

Electronics -- I am still working on that issue -- seems to be lots of conflicting info out there about what can run off a transformer just fine and what you will do damage to.

So many decisions to be made; I can relate to all the caos you must be going thru.

   Well electrical goods unless they run on 240 volts which is the UK power, will not work very well.   TVs will not work as the american system having only so many lines per inch screen is not compatable with UK.    The same goes for DVDs and Video tapesa you run on an entirely different system.

     Furniture to move is quite expensive, and i think unless you are moving to the UK for life then the cost is too much far better to sore and buy new what you need in the UK.

    Animals to UK has been covered by others and i think if you look for the PETS scheme thread on the forum it will answer all your questions.

Found this neat link that seems to explain the PETS process....

http://www.aphis.usda.gov/vs/ncie/iregs/animals/UK%20PET%20SCHEME%20flow%20chart.pdf

Thanks to some other posts on these boards, it pointed out that I may be in a pickle; since we haven't done our baseline blood work done yet and we want to move within 4 mos.  Although our dog has been vaccinated against rabies annually since it was a puppy! - seems like they still require the 6 mos waiting for the blood work.  Guess I better call the vet on Monday! 

Also, there are dual-voltage; dual-system - televisions, VCRs and DVD players.  I have heard they may be a bit cheaper in the US than in the UK.  I found a 21" dual-voltage/system TV for about $300.  (again depends on the funds whether corporate is paying for the move otherwise I have heard you can get a TV in the UK for about $160 USD.)  We are looking at getting a dual system b/c of all the kids videos and stuff.

   Well your TV bought in the US, will NOT pick up british television programmes, as in UK it is 625 lines and in the US considerably less.    You could play your american videos and watch em on you american tv but that is about all. sorry

waterg Help....

OK.... you managed to completely confuse me (which is very easy to do with this subject.) 

It is my understanding that a multi-system tv is 'a tv capable of receiving and displaying different video systems like PAL, SECAM and NTSC.'  Several of our friends have used these units when moving from Europe/US and made the suggestion.

Doesn't the UK TV transmit in the PAL format and the US in the NTSC format?  The multi-system televisions can handle either format (I thinK?)

Also, I am assuming that UK satellite transmissions would be done in a PAL format so the TV can receive them..... or is there something else with that (if we choose to have satellite in the UK).

thanks for you insite on this subject -- has been VERY confusing to me!

    Yes UK runs on PAL and most of Europe on SECAM, and as long as you can switch not only the system but the power intake then you will be OK.   Just a thought by the time you ship it, and i take it that it will by sea, it will take approximately 6 weeks from door to door,  British TVs are not that expensive and you wont have the cost and risk in shipping.    If you can receive PAL system then you can have satellite (Sky) and the cost is similar to the US. 

If you buy a TV in the UK and a PAL/NTSC VCR and a multi-region DVD player, you'll be able to play all your videos and DVDs from both the UK and the US.  And, like G says, it's probably much cheaper/easier to buy the TV in the UK.

peedal and waterg thanks[/font]!!!  I like the idea about getting the multi-system VCR and DVD players hooked to tv.  Final decisions on all the electronics will have be with my husband -- I would be happy with any old tv; but he has opinions about brands and quality.  I am just the family researcher!

Another question --- any opinions about the success of using transformers?  Last time we lived in UK my transformer from a UK electronics store burned out w/in 3 mos thankfully only a curling iron was attached.  I am getting different stories about bringing over elelctronics -- computer monitor, color printer, sewing machine.  I am looking into having my desktop power source rewired for the UK.

I was told b/c of the Watt difference -- motors only run at 5/6 speed in the UK which is while some motors burn out (e.g. hair dryers).  However, I would not have any problems with my sewing machine b/c it is meant to be run at various speeds......  would would I have problems bringing over a food processor or a blender?  (I realize a transformer only transforms the Volts not the Watts).

(suzanneIN hope this info is helpful to you also)