Pack it up, red-blue-box, ship it out

The first question we mostly get when the Big Move comes up, is "What will you do?" (as in: What job are you looking for? You have a job right? My god, you don't?! How will you support yourself?!!). A life of crime seemed like the right career move, but people reacted sort of poorly, so now we say that we have a load of savings and that we can support ourselves comfortably for more than a year and that does get a lot of appreciative smiles (if only we had known that sooner). No worries, we have some skills and when we are good and ready, a job will probably find us, like it has always done so far.

The second question is always a tie between: What about your family? and What will you take with you? 

We answer both of those at the same time: not the family and not most of our stuff. Downright disbelief and/or a lot of well-meant advice on the essentials of migrating then follows. Most people agree readily on leaving the family behind, but some cannot for the life of them imagine that we could live without our complete household as it is now. This post is for you guys.

Filling up a 20ft or 40ft container is not an easy task and most of our furniture came when we bought the house. So it's between 8-10 years old, in need of repair (thank you furry critters) and sometimes cheaper to leave and buy anew then to ship because of the weight. When we moved in, we did not have a lot of stuff from the old house, which was a lot smaller (try 45m2) and we like new and shiny things as much as the next person. Then we had to consider that our current furniture might not fit into our new housing and then we'd have to store it and pay monthly fees for that, all the while having it grow older waiting for a spot to clear. Finally, shipping a container halfway across the world, have it gas-treated and bonked around by a well-meaning but slightly hamfisted crane-driver doesn't really add quality and lifespan to whatever is in it, so we came up with a different plan. Red.Blue.Box.

We'll take most of our clothes and other essentials to a max of 32 kgs in our two red suitcases. Laptop, tablets and other electronics we'll carry in our hand lugagge. Then we have two blue suitcases that will go by airfreight (muy expensivo, but they'll be waiting in Sydney), filled with another 25kgs of mostly clothing and shoes that we might not need immediately, but we either don't want it gassed (wedding clothes,Italian shoes and suits) or we don't want to wait for 2-3 months to have the use of them again. Also, it's sort of hard to figure out what to wear as the seasons are inverted. (it's summer there now and still will be as we arrive).

That leaves the box-category. Before we're done packing, we'll probably have 15 boxes (books, admin, cook ware, souvernirs, mementos and pictures) 2 bicycles, 2 divebags and 2 pieces of art. This will all be put together in one big custom-built wooden crate and put into a container with other crates to be loaded on a ship. As you can see in the online store, most of our stuff is already spoken for, all according to plan.

We've now found a mover  we feel comfortable with (Passies) and the initial date is set for the 15th of January for our boxes to be packed, tagged and shipped. Doing it this way saves us about 3,000 EUR on freight cost and provides us with the opportunity to start life anew with some new, undinged, unscratched, shiny things, while we still have the things that matter most to us both close by.

See?! Easy as that.....

Meanwhile in Poortugaal...

A lot has happened since the last post, some of it in preparation of the to trip, but most of it appears food related somehow. We seem to be eating out with friends and family all the time and we have at least 12 more diner dates planned before we leave. At this rate we might as well leave all our clothes and buy them plus-size on arrival.

Please take a moment to check out the timeline page, it's been updated and inverted, so recent events are now at the top.

In the meanwhile, here's a summary of the most relevant changes for our big Oz adventure. We've already packed up most of our stuff which seems to fit in less than 20 movers' boxes (that is just soo weird!). We've also opened a bank account in Australia, and yes we do accept donations to the cause in most currencies (including bitcoins). The webshop is quite the success and we've also managed to get rid of a lot of additional big and small stuff already. The quarantine procedure got remodeled, making it less long (30 vs 10 days) and costly (about a 1000 bucks) so good job DAFF! That leaves us with two cats, two pieces of art, two dive bags, two x two suitcases, ten x two boxes and two bicycles to send over. The connecting number seems to be two....while our house is getting more empty every day.

We've also secured lodging for the first couple of days: Our initial base of tactical operations will be here: https://www.airbnb.nl/rooms/928233 . As soon as we've conquered most of Canberra, we plan to look for more permanent rented space, but for our first strike, this will do fine from 6-17 February!

The coming week will probably be somewhat emotionally draining and painful (for Gil) as there's numerous people to say goodbye to and things to leave behind. Yuum's farewell party will be the 16th, Christmas party on the 17th and her last day will be the 20th. Gil wil be saying goodbye to 4 kung-fu groups and end up in the circle of death as many times during the week and if he's still alive, will then have his official work farewell on the 20th. By then we'll probably be emotionally unstable, out of tissues and humbled by all the kind things people have said to us, as some have done already, which we'll share with you later.

Online Yard Sale

With a little over 70 days to go, it's about time we get this yard sale going, if we want to end up with 30 boxes instead of 30 m3. Two tabs to the right you can find the page that holds images of most of the stuff we're ditching. We might be sorry later, but for now it's yours to have and hold and it eases our mind if we know that someone else is putting our belongings to good use.

The 40+ items are available at no cost,  but we've noticed that giving stuff away is not as easy as you might think. There's feelings of embarassement, inequality, indebtedness and suspicion of returned favor expectations apparently right around the corner. Here's what we think: "When life hands you a freebie, don't be an idiot, just take it!"

If you still feel that you should pay something, make a donation to Brooke's Hospital for Animals and help the donkeys, one day they might rule the world and remember your kindness. http://www.brooke.nl/?gclid=CO_837uF_roCFUbKtAodQ0kAqg

Have fun shopping!

Leave nothing behind, take only memories.

Preparing for the big move we've come to realise that we're not what some might call materialistic. Most of our stuff gets left behind with friends, family, friends of friends or disappears into the mystifying void that is Marktplaats.
The sum of our worldly possessions will fit in less than 30 move boxes (we're selling the car and not taking the furniture)

Right now it feels like we're erasing our life bit by bit, until we're left with nothing but two cats, some cash, 4 suit cases of clothing and a paper slip that says that in 6-10 weeks, 15,000 kilometers away, there might be 30 boxes of stuff waiting for us (or not ) to build a new life on.

We've started to cancel most of the things that connect us to Holland like health care, insurance, media, subscriptions, charities, parking, utilities, taxes and so forth. The required phone conversations show an eerily similar pattern, which makes us think that there is just 1 company in Holland that trained large organisations in dealing with departing members/customers. They are always sad to see us (our money) go, although we did not particularly feel the love from most of them when we were customers (with exception for Proteq Animal Insurance and our veterinarian of whom we are sure that if there is a heaven, they've got reserved parking and free membership waiting for them). However, if we decide to realize our mistake and become customer agains, we're welcome back any time. "Thanks, but are you sure you want to provide cable/internet/insurance in Australia?" Confused silence (that was not in the script!) "Ehm, no, that won't work, but good luck anyway!" The best one so far was DELA, where the lady on the other side (trainee of the month, no doubt) was trying to assure me that they could send an 'acceptgiro' every quarter so I could mail it back and keep paying the fee until my 65th birthday. Stunned silence on my side (Booyah!). Note to family: if we get eaten by sharks, crocs, dingos or oversized hamsters, there's a 1,000 bucks for drinks in it for you, courtesy of DELA, they'll send you a check. If we live to see 65 before that fatal hamster encounter, there's 1,250 bucks (added interest, so you can order snacks as well. Really, treat yourselves, go all out!).

The rather unexpected and seriously unpleasant part is having to explain over and over that the stuff that really matters can only be carried in memories and is not in things. For example how Rotterdam smells, looks and feels at 5 in the morning when most people still sleep, but the summer sun is already up and the city belongs to the birds and weirdos. The comfortable silence of the Helmond house, the Rotterdam harbour where Gil used to work with his dad, Oostvoorne, the Zuidpleinflat, seeing our friends become parents, feeling surrounded by people who care for us, schools and universities, the walks around Poortugaal, the bond forged with the kung fu brothers and sisters, the house in Neuilly, driving to and from Paris...

The list is nearly endless and still all items on it have 1 thing in common; as soon as we leave, they are out of reach but only a thought away. We'll go by the divers creed: leave nothing behind, take only memories.

And to your left.........The point of no return

Finally, what a tremendous relief! Yesterday, the buyer called and informed Gil that the bank has agreed to the loan and will proceed with the deposit payment to the notary. Woeeeeeehoeeee!
Oh wait, we're gonna be really busy now...

Not to worry though! Now "Move to Canberra Masterplan part II" will be put into action. Time to cancel subscriptions, select a moving company, arrange a quarantine facility, book airplane tickets, rent a temporary accomodation, plan a farewell party, start getting rid of our stuff and do about a million other things.
We are sooooo looking forward to it and at the same time it makes it all very final now.

And to your right.....Exiting times!

I'm sorry, how much is that?!

When people said that our emigration would be quite expensive, we said: "Ofcourse, it can't be cheap moving to the other side of the world" and thought: "Meh, can't be that bad, right?" Wrong.

Now, in all honesty, if you are some sort of government super-special agent with a master's degree in bureaucracy and wicked skills in sign-of- approval-getting, you could probably save a few hunderd bucks. We are not that type of super agent (yet), so we hired an agency for the brainy stuff. Smart move, but for a price.

Getting a visa, will set you back about $4,500 all  costs included. Then there's the cost of the agency, another $3,500. You have cats, dogs, a mongoose or platypus? Okay, that's quarantine for you buddy. Oh, and 20 vet visits, another 50 stamps of approval, a month of quarantine, blood tests (for the cats, not us) 15 document checks and 10 checks on those checks, an import permit, airline freight cost and 5 government agencies getting involved. And before we forget, here's your bill (check please) to fork over another $3,000 bucks please, no worries, we take credit cards.

You want to take your stuff? Sure thing, here's the paperwork. No, that is not the Canberra phonebook you silly, that's much thinner! Don't want to figure it out for yourself? You already have a job, you say? Okay, then hire an agent! Okay, there goes 5m3 of our stuff for another $3,000.

Then there's your tickets (one-way is ofcourse not half-price, but only 80%) so that's another $2,000. Are we keeping up boys and girls? That's $16,000 over 2 years! Most of which we fortunately paid before the AUD started dropping in value. When we paid up, the AUD was at 80 cents to the Euro, it is now at 69 cents. Yes indeed, that means we paid about 15% more then, than we would now, but hey, who's keeping score huh, who needs money anyway?

One of Gil's nickname's is The piggy-bank and The piggy-bank says: "This is about as much as my slot can take, no more, please!!). Funny thing is, we still think it's worth it. Gil is trying hard not to think about what will happen to the piggy bank savings once we get there (ouch!)

Take it or leave it

We get asked a lot about what we plan to bring with us when we move. We've thought about this long and hard and for a number of reasons we decided to bring only what we feel we can not or do not want to replace. 

We never cared much about material things anyway and it saves Gil a lot of heavy lifting once we get there. Hiring a private shipping container door-to-door costs about 6,000 euros and we simply do not have 40m3 of stuff to fill it up with. Which leaves us with consolidation (container sharing). It takes just as long (6 weeks) to sail across the great big blue, but costs about 1/3 and prevents the secret hoarder in Yumi to just have Gil pack everything and store it somewhere once we get over there. 

Will we miss some stuff? Maybe. Can we buy it anew? Most likely. To get our old stuff over there would cost us between 6,000 and 7,000 euro, to buy everything we want brand spanking new (with extra shiny) will cost us $15,000. 

As with many things, at some point we had to make a choice and we realised that most of our stuff is 7-8 years old and bought with the house. Some of it would probably not survive the trip anyway and then we'd have to wait and see if it would fit our new house and requirements. Then there's the logistics of needing most of it until one week before departure and needing most of it again one week after we get there. Do the math and you will find that we need to bridge a 4-5 week period. That's like camping. We do not do camping.

So, what will we take? About 30 boxes worth of the below materials

Admin, Art, Diving books, Divekits, Bicycles, Photoalbums, Tools, Wooden vase, Kitchentools, Kita's urn,Gil's Clothing,Yumi's Clothing, Clock, Suitcases, Cookbooks, Laptop, Knives, Ovendishes, Small umbrella, Travel guides, Shoes, Cuttingboard, Extensioncords, Studybooks, Tablets, Handbags, Souvenirs, Alarmclocks, Healthcare products, Placemats and last but not least Gil’s Playstation. 

Gil considers it a challenge to his legendary packing skills to fit all this in just 24 boxes, let's see how that works out...

What gets left behind, sold to the highest bidder, donated to a cause or bonfired?

TV cabinet, Pots and pans, Water cooker, Dining table + chairs, Blue chairs + pillows, Book cabinets, Desk chair, Commode living room, Kitchen side table, Clothing racks, Garden recliner chair, Shoe cabinet, gardening tools, Garden chairs + table, garden hose, Small cabinets, Fitness devices, Desk lamp, Commode bedroom, 2-seater sofa, Dryer, Washer, TV, Clothing cabinet, Printer, Microwave, Printer, Magnetron, Mixer, Buckets, Vases, Curtains, Side tables, Kitchen scale, Kung Fu knives, Kung Fu staff, Books, Umbrella's, Lamps, Plants, Cleaning stuff, Tableware, Cat dishes, Clothes hampers, X-box360, Glassware, Christmas tree, Christmas decoration, Clothes hangers, Suit case, Circular saw, Black bicycle, Toaster, Iron, Bed, Toilet and bath mats, 3-seater sofa, Bed linen, Doormats, Cables, Litter boxes, Travel pens cats, Tosti maker, Dustbins, Ironing board, Cutlery, Pillows and blankets, Towels, Stereo, Scale, Matrasses, Large mirror, Small mirror, Nightstands, Table from study and Yumi’s Car. 

Some of this will be sold to the house buyers and some things have been spoken for by friends and family already, the rest is up for grabs for those in need.

A house to live in

Rent or Buy
People keep asking us: "...but where will you live?!". Let me reassure you, there's houses in Canberra, most are pretty nice and people seem to live comfortably in them all the time. Our daring plan is to follow their lead and rent a house or duplex.
The housing market in Australia is very different from the Dutch market. House ownership is the norm (70%), there's no "hypotheekrenteaftrek", mortgage rates are at 7%, the auction system is fairly common, many people own and rent out second or third homes as additional income and the average listing time for a house is 28 days. Oh, and the country is 185 times bigger, leaving them just a bit more space to build. All this makes for a fast moving market, that requires for us to physically be there to actually claim a house.

More on the differences between Oz and NL: http://bit.ly/HksSNG

Work Instruction on How to find a house
We found that the best website is: www.allhomes.com.au (because they have... all homes, which realestate.com.au does not). Then the fun of filtering starts:

• Select buy or rent (choose rent, buying is to lengthy a process and too expensive right now)
• Choose search view (suburb view is just too confusing)
• Choose the area (all ACT)
• Laugh at the district names and realize you cannot seriously consider living in Jerrabomberra, Quenbeyan, Yarralumla, Tuggeranong or Wanniassa (clearly, drinking on the job was not an issue for the naming committee of Canberra Municipality)
• Select rent per week $375-$500 (yes, that is per week)
• Select property type House+Duplex (or All, if you have nothing better to do)
• Under bedrooms select 3,4,5 and 5+ (we want 3, but sometimes 4 is cheaper)
• Under features select "pets allowed" (this will get you from 380 to just about 40 listings)
• Find out that the differences are pretty amazing between houses amd appearances are deceiving
• Sit back confused and consider flipping a coin on it

$380/week will get you this on Yarrawonga Street in Ngunnawal (Seriously, not making this up)

3 beds, slightly outdated, two big gardens and enough space for Yumi to consider starting an alligatorfarm

$450 will get you this on Clement Place in Macgregor with the same # of beds but much more modern and so much space you could run for 30 minutes without leaving the backyard. 

We're still very much undecided at this point. Yumi wants the cats to be able to go outside, where there's about 300 insects smaller than your pinkienail that could kill them in a heartbeat, not to mention snakes, dingos. crocodiles and Bigfoot. Gil wants an apartment with a balcony because he hates gardening and anything resembling plants that keep growing and shedding leaves. Besides, the cats can still go outside and be safe. I mean, ever see an alligator climb up a second floor balcony? Exactly! 

We'll probably end up somewhere in the middle as we always do and post the pictures of our alligatorfarm once we find the right house. Either way, as long as we're together, we'll make it a home, Bigfoot or no Bigfoot.

The whole is greater than the sum of its parts

Gil is writing this (because it is 3.14 in the morning and Yuum is a normal person who sleeps), but be sure that we've discussed this many a time and "I" means "We".

No use in hiding from the fact that it will hurt like a b*tch when the above people are no longer as close as they are now. We wanted to at least spend some time and words on what these people mean to us.

I never had the patience nor the smarts to be anything close to a philosopher, but fortunately the internet has lots of quotes from people that say funny and smart things all the time.

“Friendship is everything. Friendship is more than talent. It is more than the government. 

It is almost the equal of family.”  ― Mario Puzo, The Godfather

I find it impossible to translate emotions into words, while typing this choking up every now and then, but here's our best try on what these people mean to us, from left to right as well as the picture allows:

Roos: because she is the supermom-rolemodel, who found and walks her own path and lovingly organises four lives in the process
Little man #2: because he always wants to bigger, has a unique perspective on life and is a pint-sized super trooper
Kenji: because he's my big brother with a big sharp brain and a big kind heart, great taste in food , clothing and movies and a weird affection for Arnold S. and othe rthings that are 'just wrong'
Little man #1: because he is such a dreamer and invites us to his imaginary world where all is possible
Gil's mom: because she is my mom in most things and a friend in all others
Gil's dad: because he was my hero when I was young and a friend when I grew older. Best. Dad. Ever.
Samantha: because she's my small big sister who is nothing like me and alike in all things that matter
Yuum's mom: because she has her own way of doing things (including her own language) and a heart as big as a house that has a place for many things (but mostly cats)
Yuum's dad: because he's there when you need him or feel like eating pie. Wherever, whenever for whatever, always in the background, close to our hearts
Julia: because she is such a little firecracker, makes us laugh, brings out the best in her parents and gives meaning to the phrase "best of both worlds"
Alex: because I love him like a younger, better looking and smarter brother
Suzanna: because she has wicked listening skills, a redhead can-do attitude and a sense of humor to put it all in perspective
Marit: because she has the patience, heart and idealism to work with kids and achieves what she wants through hard work and an ambition that is only surpassed by her potential and determination
Just: because he is what I am not and a balance to my Gilbertness
Hester: because she is and will be so much more than she thinks herself capable of, with the best social skills ever and a lovely mom
Aschwin: because he is always positive, allows people their own pace and space,  is a radio dj (Gil's secret dream), fellow gamer, movie lover and the best thing that could have happened to Hester
Sophie: because she is too small to know it, but she gets kudos for connecting two lovely people for life, by just being there.

Okay, two hours gone and I am choking up again. I'll leave you with a nice quote from a book that I never enjoyed before, because a bear in a red t-shirt is just silly, but somehow this struck a cord:

“Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind. "Pooh?" he whispered.
"Yes, Piglet?"
"Nothing," said Piglet, taking Pooh's hand. "I just wanted to be sure of you.” 
― A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh

We love you and we'll miss you

Yumi and Gilbert

http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/81466.A_A_Milne

The bear necessities, those little bear necessities...

Things we think we'll miss:

People

• Family (most of them anyway)
• Friends (yeah, that probably means you)
• Kung fu and the kung fu brothers and sisters (osu!)
• A few colleagues

Locations and Experiences

• Rotterdam (the harbours, Zuid, the City, the skyline, the mentality)
• The AH XL Supermarket and its customers (hey, free entertainment!)
• Everything being just 15 minutes away
• Did I mention Rotterdam?
• The streets and fields of Poortugaal for our many, many walks
• My parents' garden

Food

• Lays Paprika chips
• Calve Yofresh
• Zuurkool with rookworst
• Liquorice (kicked the habit, but....)
• Cheese (don't give me that 'yeah we got Gouda" crap! Gouda is a city, not a cheese!)
• Bread that needs no toasting
• Maggi and Knorr meal mixes for the salt, colorants and preservatives
• Eierkoeken

Things we'll have to try and live without:

• 020 (everything aside from family, they is allright!)
• Helmond (just everything basically)
• Our loudass neighbours
• Screaming kids and trampolines in general
• Rain-Wind-Snow-Hail all-in-1 day- package

To be continued....

In the beginning

Blue Sky, Blue Sea, that's how it all started for us. With no immediate goals other than aiming for a meaningful and happy life, we decided that at some point we would try and live in another part of the world.
Maybe for a few years, but maybe forever, who knows....

That was 2009, This is 2013 and the end in nigh, well the end of life in Holland and life as we know it.
This blog will keep you posted on our plans, successes and less fortunate events. This way, we hope to keep the ones we hold dear close across the distance and share our experiences.