Moving to holland with a 2yr old & 5 week old- help!

[dutchwifey]

Hi, dh has just been offered a job in the south east of Holland. He is Dutch but from the north but has lived in England for the past 6 years. I am English. We have 2dc's. We will be moving as soon as we get a house sorted over there. Any advice, tips, hand holding would be greatly appreciated!! Thanks

You will need to pay import duties and depending on the car might not be worth it and you may need to go to eindhoven for an "mot". The actual tax office dealing with imports is actually in Venlo (or roermond) I believe.

Yes, small white goods all fine. My slow cooker/baby monitor/etc., etc. All running on adaptor plugs. So much electrical cheaper in UK including somewhat bizarrely Philips products!

Yes Floriade is on, I keep saying I ought to go because you can see the cable car from the motorway and it looks fun.

My oven is a teeny tiny microwave combo. I'm amazed that I've got used to it! My toilet has an inspection shelf, but it also has a basin.

It doesn't have a hot water tap though! And I've noticed lots of friends have toilets without basins anywhere near them.

I think as well as the import taxes you may have the have the driver's side of the car changed if you have it here so long. I must have imagined that though, it sounds crazy.

We have lots of things running on adaptor plugs too.

All the light fittings, flooring etc. were left in our flat, but the previous owners were Italian so that may be why.

My parents went to Floriade, they weren't hugely impressed. It was raining that day though.

It makes sense to take small and possibly even bigger white goods (most rental houses come with nothing, so you will need washing machine/dishwasher/fridge/freezer/hob/dryer basically everything). I would not use adapter plugs - they are not made for long term use.

I would take a few UK extension leads and replace the UK plug at the end of the lead with a continental plug (Dutch DIY stores like HUBO, GAMMA, PRAXIS etc or ironmongers) sell them. For stuff you use a lot, I would cut off the UK plug and replace with a continental plug. Voltage is not a problem.

In this way, you can also take your lights/radio/digital TV and use them in the Netherlands.

Personally I would not take a UK car, more likely to have an accident as you don't have such good vision with steering wheel on the wrong side, also more difficult to get components and insurance will be more expensive as it is more likely you will have an accident.

If you take UK beds and was considering new mattresses - then buy these in the UK before you leave as Dutch bed sizes and mattress sizes are different (you can get UK sizes but at a premium as they have to be specially made).

Books are very expensive in the Netherlands and English books even more expensive, so worth stocking up on children's books.

If your furniture is in decent condition then I would take it (get a number of removal quotes and you will find they vary wildly). Furniture in the Netherlands can be excellent quality but it is eye watering expensive. Basically, it is a very expensive country compared with the UK.

Thanks for the info on the white goods. I should probably have explained that it is likely we will only be staying in Holland until may/June next year- and then we will be moving on again! Which is why taking our car is quite crucial. Will get dh to try and find out exactly how much it will set us back
Our house in the UK is being let out fully furnished and so us takin over our big furniture is a no no. Are there ikea's around that we could buy things like drawers and a cot for the baby? DH seems to think that there is a website where you can rent furniture if we get a house that is unfurnished, does anyone have any info on this?
I have joined Amsterdam mamas now so thanks for that tip!

There's an IKEA in eindhoven and one in heerlen. Don't know anything about furniture rental I'm afraid.

One of my colleagues brought their UK car over when they first moved back to NL. They had to pay to register it and get a Dutch plate as it was for more than a few months. They kept it for a few years iirc before going totoally Dutch. I'd imagine that you'd get used to being on the wrong side of the car after a while, but dikkertje is right, visibility may be an issue (especially with all the pesky cyclists!).

For English books Amazon is your friend (free delivery on orders over 25 pounds).

Any money you might save on car/white goods/utilising Amazon will be lost at the Roermond outlet shopping centre. They have a Mulberry outlet.

I think that most furniture rental companies are aimed at people trying to sell a house which is empty and that by putting in very nice furniture they are more likely to attract a buyer.

However, there are a few companies who actually rent out furniture for use, like this one. I don't know much about them, never used them and don't know anybody who actually has rented furniture. With this company you will be locked in for 1 year.

Quick one on English books - bookdepository.co.uk - FREE delivery and mostly cheaper than Amazon, ALWAYS cheaper than Bol (Dutch site).

Our library in Alkmaar has a reasonable collection of kids books in English, you might be lucky in Venlo too?

Thanks dikkertjedap for the link, will check that out.

For some reason I assumed I wouldn't be able to use amazon due to being in a 'foreign' country, glad to know that is not the case!

Alpinepony i plan on spending a lot of time in Roermond!! dh has already been there and the first thing I did was google a directory of shops!!

Thanks Engelsmeisje for the info about the car, I'm going to leave most of the driving down to dh as driving on the wrong side of the road scares me- a lot! I'm hoping to get everywhere by bike

Katiepoes I'm hoping venlo has a well stocked library as all the English books I have for my ds are so heavy so will only be able to take a few with us (as I will need the baggage allowance for more important things like shoes!)

Oh I was just about to mention shoes, buy enough for your kids for the foreseeable future, they are UNBELIEVABLY expensive over here. I ran out of time to buy my boys new shoes when we were leaving the UK so thought I would just get some when I got here. I nearly collapsed in Clarks here when I saw the price of the same ones they had in UK. Ended up settling for a ?50 pair of trainers and waited til next trip to UK.

Ah the sinks in toilet thing (or lack of) so that's why a lot of my friends houses have those funny little sinks with teeny taps which look more like a garden water feature. We are the only house I know of that doesn't have the observation deck in the toilet. We have a normal oven but it is small, it only has one tray. I have a combi microwave thing as well now.

I don't have much help for the car, but if your not here long sounds like it is probably just as well to keep it.

I have friends who hire all their furniture, I've no idea of the companies or prices but I think they kind of choose a package and colour scheme and they get a loungeroom that all matches, so sofa, coffee table, lamps etc.

Oh and kids sections in Libraries are great here, as well as a decent amount of English books they have a lot of comic style books that my boys like to look at and other books for them to look at. They have loads of 'chapter books' in English so we haven't bought a book in that style for sometime, and our local one even has a coffee shop inside, so while the boys 'read' their books, I top up my caffeine levels. Does your husband speak Dutch to the kids?

You can get Clark's in Bristol or Brantano - brantano had a BOGOF deal last year - there's always some offer on. In "normal" shops I've seen Clark's for upwards of 80 euros holymotherofgod!

I didn't know Bristol sold Clark's yay. We do have a little independent shop around thr corner that sells other brands of shoes at ok ish prices (ie still expensive, but not atomic proportions expensive) and they over size the kids feet by a decent amount so that they last a while. My first son grew out of shoes about every 6 weeks, if we'd lived in NL then we would have had to remortgage to keep him footware. Thankfully my DS2's feet don't grow so fast.

Alpinepony, I've just realised who you are. Bit thick me. You changed your name.

So have you it would appear! ;) mother of two boys in NL narrows it down though.

Our library has no English language books, child or adult! It's a major city centre one too, I asked about it and they said they used to have them but they just never got taken out. It does have a great children's area though, with a slide. They also have a section of cloth books for babies.

I buy Elefanten shoes in Van Haren, they fit DS better than Clarks. They're not cheap, but they are good.

There is a Clarks in Nijmegen with a children's section. I picked up shoes in the sale for 13 euros a pair and waited for DS to grow into them. There are other branches round and about too, but you'll have to check the website, and some only sell adult shoes. Actually, I'm pretty sure there's a Clarks in Venlo!

So, Alpine and Vagola, who did you used to be?

BTW We have hot water in our downstairs loo. We piped it through from the kitchen. Finding a small enough sink with a big enough boor to take a double feed tap was challenge! I'm still awaiting the oven I was promised for the bijkeuken though. It's been five years so far. :(

I used to go by the very exciting handle of Veggiemummy. It was far too boring so moved onto my current incarnation which is intriguing without giving away my dietary persuasion.

It sounds like an euphemism for "Trick Vagina"!

I'm not telling you my previous incarnation Baroness as you were absolutely vile [tm] to me!

Clearly not the kind of intrigue I was expecting then.

Absolutely vile?

I've never been vile to anyone!

I don't get it.........

But you were - you were 'orrible and very condescending! I didn't cry though - because I'm a big girl now! And I've got to keep on your good side as I believe you're an expert wafel maker.

Really? Sorry. I've never meant to be horrible and definitely not condescending. that's my mother's speciality I must have come across badly. Oh, god, it's like when text messages go wrong. I'm good at that one too.

Alas, I've never made a wafel in my life, but I am an expert wafel eater. I have one now, which is your fault, as I'd managed to stay off them for months. You have your revenge on my waistline.