Swissterical: RETRO BLOG--Boxes, Boxes Everywhere

Occasionally, CW needs a time machine. Not simply for taking over the world, which would be incredibly handy, but simply to go back and enter blogs in their proper order. Since he doesn't have one of those, consider this a blast from the past!

Kitchen

It's hard to believe we're actually in Geneva, but here we are. At times over the past weeks, CW felt like we might never make it. Why, you ask? Let's start with some background.

If you've moved before, this will be old hat, but at the time you schedule your relocation, the movers come and do an estimate of how much space will be needed. They measure this space in 'cubes.' The estimator walks through the house and presents an estimate of how many cubes you'll need to have for your container. In our case, we got the news that we had 2,590 cubes of stuff.

Dining Room

Problem: the standard 40' container paid for by the company holds 2,300 cubes. The moving company suggested we needed part of another 20' container to hold everything. But at our cost, which meant about $10k. Not a good way to start the day unless you like feeling your blood pressure soar to 200/120.

See how tall it is?

After it came back down and SoulSwisster stopped hyperventilating, we got creative. Firstly, we hadn't really pared anything down. So we resolved to get serious about simply not taking as much stuff. But secondly, SS discovered there's such a thing as a 40' tall container. And wouldn't you know, this size holds 2,600 cubes! Hallelujah! And was only about $2,500 more, which seemed much more reasonable. We were still going to pare down, but we felt much better because we figured we didn’t have to lose much at all.

You should also know we had four categories of stuff: on the plane (the 15 bags/boxes and 10 carry-ons), air (500 pounds), sea (in the container), and long-term storage (everything else).

The packers for air and sea arrived on Wednesday and went to work. We really can't say enough about them. Great attitudes and incredibly efficient. By the end of Thursday, everything was packed except the long-term storage items. We had a lot of boxes and we were starting to get a little nervous again. But they would be back on Friday to load and we'd know soon enough. Except they weren't. They couldn't get the container in time to come. But first thing Saturday, they were there.

Part of the garage

Game room

From the beginning, it was tense. On the one hand, we thought we were fine with the high cube. Except when it arrived, it wasn't that high—only about 9” higher. Now remember, that’s 9” x 10’ x 40’ (no, we’re not using metric yet), so it is quite a bit of volume. And on the other hand, we had a lot of stuff. And the packers were not very committal about fitting it all.

Extra baggage!

And it didn't. It became clear when the container was half full and we still had mattresses, furniture, the piano, the grill, the patio furniture, etc. Snap decision-hold the piano. We had to have mattresses and the bedroom furniture. The other items weren't necessities. We triaged, but to no avail. The patient didn't make it. When the container pulled away, after a not inconsiderable amount of tears and stress, we were left with the piano, the grill, the patio furniture and some boxes that were supposed to go, but didn't. Of it all, the piano caused the most sadness. Ok, the grill was a close second. But the kids have all been taking piano for several years and this was a big disappointment. Still, for the price of the extra container, we can buy a piano. And a grill, and patio furniture. But it was very emotional.

Fortunately, the long-term storage folks came after the sea shipment. So there went the piano and patio furniture. Also my Christmas tree. CW had known that was a problem when we picked the house--the ceiling is too short. That's a huge bummer. But this, too, shall pass.

So that's just the saga of the packing. Of course, there's more: