Packing to Relocate Overseas

The moving process begins the day you hear your husband say: “There is a position for me in India, what do you think?” From then on your mind is not only handling the day to day living thoughts but then the “what if” and “I wonder” thoughts, as well . This move has been more challenging than our last expat move… When we moved to Belgium Joey was 3 and Jamie just barely turned one. Belgium is a very different country. And now we have 4 kids, Joey, Jamie, Alina (7) and Anna (5) And India is a very different country.
For the past 4 months I have opened every closet, draw and cabinet and thought “what do I do with this & why do we even have it?” Why do we have soooo much good junk??
For the person who says – “don’t worry about it, you have packers to do all of your packing” I say: HA! … Here’s the reality of overseas moving: You don’t really take it all with you, like in a domestic move. The trash you forgot to throw out from the trash can and gets packed – well, 8 weeks later – you really don’t want to see it! You get to sort, sort and then sort again…There are 4 different levels or phases of your packing:

1. Your suitcase: this is what you will survive from for the next 6-8 weeks. I’m really thankful we don’t need bulky winter clothes!! The kids will get to choose some “special” toys which must fit in their backpacks. Also need to keep in mind jewelry, important papers, cameras and all those chargers for ipods, games… and so far – this feels like carry-on! Good news - we'll be travelling Business Class so we each get 2 suitcases!!

2. Air freight: this is what you would theoretically pack to survive in your “temporary housing” at your destination. Typically you would take the bare necessities for cooking and sleeping, extra clothes and toys for the kids. Considering we are going to spend most of our “temporary housing” in the good ole USA - we will be using it for stuff we really don’t want on a ship in the container on a boat rocking through the Mediterranean ocean and Suez canal! The packers want to pack this first and get it out of the way…

3. Storage: This is the stuff that won’t work “over there” electronics of sorts, and furniture that is too much to fit into the sea container. And lastly – those nic nacs and china sets that you really don’t want but are too guilty to get rid of… and the box or two of baby toys that I’ll keep for the grand kids – that’s way in the future!! Oh, and the yearbooks...

4. Sea: This is what we will take to live in India… our first expat assignment relocation coordinator did me the best service by reminding me that we are going to live there – not camp there. We need to be comfortable. The catch with this is we are a huge family – 6 people have lots of stuff. Actually – 6 Americans have lots of stuff. Not everything is going to fit into that container – so we need to prioritize – store or get rid of stuff.

So our packers will come in less than 2 weeks. We have been evaluating the stuff. Mentally I think I am ready - until I open that next closet door!!