International moving question

[Amira]

I've moved internationally a lot so I don't need general moving tips, but this is the first time that we have had movers/packers when we've been leaving another country and I really want to make the process go as quickly as possible. We're scheduled for two days to get everything packed and loaded on the truck. When they packed this same stuff in the US to come here it took about six hours so I hope that it could be faster than a full two days (unless, of course, the movers are paid by the hour).

 

I am boxing up anything we have a box for, sorting stuff into different rooms depending on where it will be going so there is no confusion, and taking apart furniture. What else can I do to make things go as quickly and smoothly as possible?

[Aiden]

In my experience with overseas movers (and with movers in the States, actually), it would be better if it takes a long time. That means they're paying attention and packing things carefully. When they go quickly, that's when you arrive at your destination to find that the boxes had empty space instead of paper at the top, so things moved around and broke inside the boxes, or that things were squished into spaces too small for them and became permanently misshapen, or that heavy ceramic trash cans were placed on top of irreplaceable made-just-for-you coffee mugs ... I'm still a little bitter about that one.

 

It sounds like the things you're already doing are great for helping to speed the process along. However, when the movers actually come, I'd focus on slowing them down enough for you and your family to supervise the process well enough to ensure that things are packed correctly.

 

Also note that a lot of that two day estimate may be for things that will happen after your belongings are already packed up. In some overseas locations, a full afternoon can be spent building the lift vans on site and then loading your boxes into them; in other locations, the lift vans are made before they're brought to your home--and it varies whether anyone is at your home packing boxes, or if all the movers are away from your home working on the lift vans. In some locations, they can't get the lift vans to your home at all, so they take the boxes away and that last day of work is completely away from your home and not in your presence at all. I've had moves where the time estimate was dead on accurate, but only half of that time was spent inside my house packing things into boxes. There's nothing you can do to hurry along that part of the process.

 

One more tip, though: the movers may have been instructed to wrap everything in paper. If that's the case, they will wrap every last pen in a sheet of paper, adding both time and shipment weight. I usually use up an entire box of gallon size Ziploc bags putting small things like that together, so that they wrap 30 bags instead of 3000 pens, post it notepads, hair clips, combs, forks, random wires and cords, etc.

[Jaybee]

We had really good experiences several times with the same company for international moves. With this particular company, it was NOT a help for me to pre-pack. They repacked everything, making a detailed inventory list down to the exact number of books in each box, etc. This was helpful for customs. (And the next time, I knew better and saved myself the trouble.) I did have to make sure I did not have anything lying around that they might pack that I didn't want packed, such as candles, etc. They were fast, professional, and efficient. I can't remember--their costs might have been a little more, but it was worth it. So I would do my research and get good references before I chose the company, then I would ask them about the repacking, etc.

 

The last time, we did put some things into boxes for organizational purposes, but let them do the actual packing.