I know from experience that preparing to up sticks and move to another country can be a nightmare of lists of things to do. A friend of mine got a post as Assistant Professor in Russian at a University in the Southern States of America – they decided to move house and she went off to start her new job whilst my husband and I helped get the household goods ready to move. There was a lot of throwing away; a lot of giving away; many visits to Oxfam.

A number of container shipping companies offering services for shipping my items to the USA were approached for advice and quotes, and one was chosen. It appears that the companies prefer to do all the packing themselves so things had to be got ready for them to pack. One of the things that was nearly overlooked was the shipping insurance – our friend had thought that this was included in the shipping charges. [Read more...]