D and I packed up what we thought we needed for a year and squeezed it into 1 pullman, 1 cardboard box, 1 giant duffel bag, 1 large duffel bag, 2 rolling carry on bags, 1 messenger bag, and 1 backpack. It took about 1 month of packing, re-packing, re-evaluating and a LOT of space bags. This is what the finished product looked like...minus the carry-ons and backpacks...
Wow! We weighed, re-weighed, added stuff, took stuff out, and I may have cried. It was after taking the Bar, I was still very emotional. It was perfect, each bag was at or (a little) less than 23 kg (50 lbs) and, of course, less than 158 cm of L+W+H . We thought we were being brilliant by putting the heavy stuff (books, etc.) in our carry-ons. I said "I've flown a thousand times - they never weigh the carry on stuff." Then I ate my hat.
On 1 September we get into the car and drive from D's parents house to JFK. Getting the stuff into/out of the car was a challenge. Getting the stuff onto the smartecarte was even more of a challenge. The biggest challenge? The scale!
We get in line while enduring a lot of stares. People were probably thinking 'These Crazy Americans - they have too much stuff!' D and I see that there are 3 women and 2 men, all quite frazzled. In my head, I repeat 'please let us get one of the guys' over and over. We (luckily) get one - and he's nice, and he's Filipino! We tell him we're moving to Switzerland, that we're nervous, and just chat him up. He weighs or luggage and I see EVERY SINGLE BAG BUT ONE is OVERWEIGHT! But he says nothing. He just takes them and puts the sticky tag on the bags. Then...
Awesome Swiss Air Employee: How many carry-ons will you be bringing?
Me: Two each, one roll aboard and one personal item - a backpack.
Awesome Swiss Air Employee: OK, put the roll aboard on the scale
Me: .....k
Awesome Swiss Air Employee: Um, they are overweight.
Me: (close to tears 1:1 ratio of pretend to real) ...so what do we do now?
Awesome Swiss Air Employee: Well, you can't bring them on board, you will have to check them.
Me: (close to tears 1: 2 ratio of pretend to real) ...how much will that cost?
Awesome Swiss Air Employee: For you, nothing.
Me: (tears come, 100% real) THANK YOU!
Luckily, he doesn't ask us to weigh our personal items - D's backpack is bulging with stuff sticking out, my shoulder is about to fall off and various items are sticking out of pockets. And we go on our merry way. Thank you Swiss Air Employee, wherever you are!
My tips on packing up to move to another country:
1. Buy space bags. We used the ones by Packmate and compressed our down comforter, duvet, winter jackets, and various clothes. You don't need a vacuum, just someone willing to lay on bag and roll back and forth while you hold the seal.
2. If you pack in the summer and are moving to a relatively cool climate, don't pack an inordinate amount of summer clothes. Silly me, I thought I could wear tank tops in October. Wrong.
3. Ask people who live in the country you are moving to (if possible) what they miss or can't purchase - I brought measuring cups and spoons. Had I known, I would have also brought brown sugar, almond butter, and cupcake liners.
4. Ask you mom for help - moms are fantastic packers.
5. Don't let your husband convince you that you only need a few pairs of shoes. I brought SEVEN PAIRS for the whole year. Then I bought boots here.
6. Bring stuff that reminds you of home - when we unpacked our down comforter (given as a wedding present from D's amazing sisters) it was like getting hugs from them, and a wonderful taste of home. A good friend brought me a real cinnamon stick from Saigon. Stick being a vast over-generalization. Real cinnamon = bark of a tree. She brought me bark from Saigon, gave it to me in Chicago, and I brought a bit of it to Europe. It was one well traveled piece of bark, and I love it.
7. Buy a Magic Jack. I know it looks cheesy but I think it was one of the best things we purchased. It looks like a usb stick and you plug it into the computer to make a call. You get a US number that you can choose (we have a NY number) and it is like calling the States from the States. Anyone can call the number and leave a message if its not plugged in. And it's only 40 USD to purchase. This has been very useful to call credit card companies, etc.
8. Get Skype. It's wonderful seeing our parents, sisters, friends, etc.
9. Pack in stages - otherwise you will get overwhelmed.
10. Have an idea (or if you are OCD like me - a list) of what's in what box. I knew we were moving to temp housing for a bit and made sure that we didn't need to dig through every bag to get what we needed. I packed 'stuff we wouldn't necessarily need in the first month' in the cardboard box, 'stuff we would definitely need all the time' in the carry-ons, and 'stuff to wear for our 1st month' in one of the duffel bags.
11. Know about the country to which you are moving and pack clothing appropriately. Europeans dress up much more than Americans. They don't wear shorts, generally. We've been to 3 countries in the 2 months we have been here (not a huge feat, considering D commutes to another country for his work everyday). But it looks to me like Italians > Swiss > French. Regardless, you won't see anyone walking around in sweatpants. (I prefer black yoga pants anyway!)
12. Pack light (ha) because you will buy stuff. I know we're already going to have to ship stuff back to the States!
0 comments:
Post a Comment