"Bare Bones living"

Hi All!
Have just had a recent upheaval of plans and have decided to move up our moving plans by several months.  My question is has anyone moved in a hurry, ready to go as bare bones as possible on what you took?  We are going to be moving in the next two months, and are prepared to live from a few suitcases for awhile but am racking my brain trying to figure out what the absolute necessities should be.  Am planning on taking enough clothes to last a bit and all of my little ones favorite toys that will fit in an oversize suitcase, but what else would you take?  I am going to have my mum ship some things over in a couple of months, but we will be without any of it in the meantime and im trying to figure out what the necessities are.

Basic linens.. sheets, towels
Kitchen supplies.. sauce pan, sautee pan, knives, can opener, wooden spoon, spatula
things to pass the time.. cards, a few books, a journal, camera

2 months is plenty of time to pack several boxes and get them shipped via slow boat.  USPS can get stuff to you in 6-8 weeks by surface.  Airmail is much more expensive.  Ship clothing that's off-season and trust me, you won't need nearly the amount of clothing you think you do, especially summer stuff.

Kristi-
thanks for the tips on shipping and what to take, am just feeling a little overwhelmed at the sudden change in moving plans.  I leave this Friday for two weeks there and am planning on packing some linens and towels into my suitcases (had thought of sheets, but not towels doh!), Looks like we will be moving by the last week of February, so i will probably get there before any boxes i ship after i get back.  Will just have to make sure not to put anything too important in them.

Did you ship anything really fragile?  I have some statues, small ones, and a really heavy jade Buddha (about 8" x 10" x 10") and some other items that i would really like to take over or ship over, but am so worried i'd get the box or my suitcase and find everything shattered.

thanks again!
Sandy

If shipping it is your only option, bubblewrap that thing like theres no tomorrow! Whenever I had to move anything fragile thats what I did,also put all my linens in the box as well so it had a cushion
You might also want to consider insuring it if its valuable

If shipping it is your only option, bubblewrap that thing like theres no tomorrow! Whenever I had to move anything fragile thats what I did,also put all my linens in the box as well so it had a cushion
You might also want to consider insuring it if its valuable

I thought of taking some things with me, but still have the issue of things getting broken in luggage. Has anyone taken fragile items in luggage?  Putting linens in the box is a great idea.  Don't know that i'd insure it, as the real value is mostly sentimental.  Would just be nice to start a new home with a few things from my old one.  We are going to be moving into a flat that may just be temporary until we find a more permanent place, but a few things from home will certainly help the adjustment.

I thought of taking some things with me, but still have the issue of things getting broken in luggage. Has anyone taken fragile items in luggage?  Putting linens in the box is a great idea.  Don't know that i'd insure it, as the real value is mostly sentimental.  Would just be nice to start a new home with a few things from my old one.  We are going to be moving into a flat that may just be temporary until we find a more permanent place, but a few things from home will certainly help the adjustment.

If you are going to bring anything fragile in your luggage, I'd recommed having it in your carry-on. Every single time I ever had anything that wasn't clothes in my check-in baggage it always ended up smashed or broken.

Edited to add: by the way I loooooove your quote... I'm a huge fan of Pink Floyd

hi sandy, Im moving by the end of february to be with my hubs.  Shipping my stuff by mid january (oye) in an ocean container (takes two months).  And Carly is right about the bubble wrap, I bought rolls of it!  Im bringing alot of stuff with me, using an ocean container is great because they charge you for cubic feet, not weight. 

Im going with this company, http://www.upakweship.com/sharedcontainer.htm

Good luck on your move, I dont know how Im gonna make it through two more months!

If you are going to bring anything fragile in your luggage, I'd recommed having it in your carry-on. Every single time I ever had anything that wasn't clothes in my check-in baggage it always ended up smashed or broken.

Edited to add: by the way I loooooove your quote... I'm a huge fan of Pink Floyd

The luggage thing was what i was afraid of, i'd hate to get there and realize everything was destroyed.  Guess i'll have to ship it and hope for the best. Also...Wish You Were Here has sort of been my theme song for a long time, love Pink Floyd!!

hi sandy, Im moving by the end of february to be with my hubs. Shipping my stuff by mid january (oye) in an ocean container (takes two months). And Carly is right about the bubble wrap, I bought rolls of it! Im bringing alot of stuff with me, using an ocean container is great because they charge you for cubic feet, not weight.

Im going with this company, http://www.upakweship.com/sharedcontainer.htm

Good luck on your move, I dont know how Im gonna make it through two more months!

Aww keep your chin up, two months will go quick, but trust me, i know how hard it is.  We finally decided to just go for it, not worry bout having loads of money in the bank, the perfect place to live, all my things packed and shipped because we just couldn't take it anymore.  The only thing saving my sanity is that i leave in about three days for a two week visit and then back to start some mad sorting of all the things i'll leave behind. If you ever need to vent or need a shoulder, send me a message or email!  Good luck, i hope it goes so very quick for you.

I'm gonna check out the ocean container, thanks for the link!

Re moving something very fragile and dear to you, when I made my move to Sweden, I had some small glass plates that were my deceased mother's and some porcelain tea cups.  I wrapped them in bubble wrap, put them among some sweaters in a heavy-duty trash bag, got a vacuum cleaner and sucked all the air out of it and duct taped it like crazy and then packed it in my hard-shell suitcase.  Everything came through without a crack.

The only thing I lost in the move was a coffee mug and one piece of glass from a framed piece of art.  All my breakables were fine.  Bubble wrap, newspaper, linens, sturdy box.. all what was said before. 

Don't pack it in your checked baggage.  It'll be busted.

I've actually had good luck with fragile stuff in checked luggage, but judging from the response I guess i'm lucky! I brought a framed poster with me last time and I stuck it in a box, surrounded it with styrofoam peanuts, and packed the box between a duvet cover and some other cushioning items and it was fine.

You know you can take more than 2 suitcases if you pay the excess baggage charge - I did that on one trip over and it ended up being well cheaper than shipping....

I have done a smidgen of research into excess baggage fees and this is what I have found out:

The North American airlines seem to have all dropped their international luggage allowances to 2 bags at 50lbs each and most want you to call and get an excess baggage quote. BA, Virgin, Air France, Aer Lingus, (and prob some other) airlines allow 2 70 lb checked bags. BA and Virgin both charge $140/$100 (Los Angeles/New York) per extra bag. Aer Lingus only charges $70 for an extra bag! (Those are all based on economy flights btw. You do get more allowance if you fly business/first class but that's not my plan.) Not sure if that will be helpful to anyone but there it is.

Good luck!

I'm thinking of taking a sort of trial run and putting a couple of fragile items in one of my suitcases.  The item i am most worried about is a jade buddha i spent way too much money on years ago, its quite heavy for not being very large, and i have a box that was built to hold it, i may try to double or triple box it with loads of peanuts and things before i ship it.  It's been so helpful to see the varied results from others experience on shipping vs. luggage. 

I'm flying on BMI this trip, but not sure which airline i'll end up for the final flight over in Feb.  Someone at work today mentioned that some airlines offer a sort of freight service on some international flights.  You would basically bring whatever box you were wanting to ship and it would be taken on as freight on the same flight as you, you pay the fee and pick it up when you get to the other end.  Has anyone ever heard of this?  I tried looking on the web today, but couldn't find anything to tell me its true or not. 

Some airlines do offer freight service at lower rates but none of them allowed shipments from the US. At least not the ones I found. Not sure why.

Anyone else know anything about this?

For my own curiousity I was looking at flights on ba.com and aircanada.com and what their excess baggage rates are. 

Air Canada looked the best at $50 each (for your 1st 2 checked bags) that are oversized and overweight.  For every bad past your two it jumps to $175 dollars a bag.

So......I am contemplating when I make the trip to use 4 (2 for me 2 for the princess) large rubbermaid boxes and pack them full.

And maybe even pay the 175 for a 5th bag.  What do you all think?   Do you think this is the cheapest and most efficent way to move stuff?  That will be roughly 375 dollars.

Christina