We came over with two big suitcases each, plus carryons, plus big purses. My carry-on was full of things like my spices, sugar substitute (got pulled aside in SandyEggo by the scanner people for having that. Thankfully it was still in the sealed pouch and obviously a purchased item!), legal documents, flash drives with all our records, my laptop, and sentimental items wrapped in bubblewrap. The first stowed suitcase had my old stove-top coffee percolator, a frying pan, some some pillowcases, photos (wall-sized), a couple of towels, etc. The other stowed suitcase had a couple of pairs of each of the essentials - jeans, undies, socks, shoes, and more sentimental stuff. When we got to our hotel here we were on the fourth floor. No lift. Narrow stairs. Tiny room. We managed but were climbing over the suitcases.
Schlepping them up to the room was a killer, though. If memory serves, I had the flu at the time. No bueno. But it all worked out.
We gave away most of the furniture, and a whole lot of other stuff I'd collected over the years before we left. I made MANY trips to the Salvation Army drop-off shop to unload clothing and household goods. AmVets had to come with their truck like four times to empty out our carport of the bigger stuff! I kept my books, my LP records, stereo, desktop, a few good pieces of furniture that could be broken down for packing, a vanity/dresser/bookshelf from around 1910,the Daughter's sewing/knitting stuff, some heirloom things, a couple of good-quality room-rugs, our quilts, my cast-iron cookware and kitchen essentials, etc., and boxed and shipped them slow boat. We got here in early May and the stuff arrived in mid-July, on schedule. In the meantime, Ikea provided what we needed. Basically furnished the whole place on one shopping trip the same afternoon we signed the lease. It was delivered for 25 quid two days later. (Felt sorry for the delivery guys, we're a few floors up!) We were hip-deep in cardboard boxes for a while there.
I kinda enjoyed the "camping out" bit, ordering pizza in. We're now well-settled and starting to have too much "stuff" again - no room in my kitchen for anything else without getting rid of something. Most of it has been procured from charity shops, but it adds up. Plus we did have a lot of boxes of kitchen "stuff" - entertaining sets, etc., that we wanted to hold onto. The Daughter just loves setting out a "company" table of food and having people over. Thankfully we have a nice place and it's good for that, so she can now.
The transition to "settled in" came a lot faster than I expected - it was a few months, rather than a few years. Which is good!
