not shipping anything, taking it all on the 'plane... has anyone done this?

[ArabellaBeaumaris]

I'm starting to look at costs for our proposed move overseas so we can get on budget...

We would be moving into furnished accommodation. 2 adults & 2 kids (5 & 2 yrs), taking general clothes/personal gubbins/some toys.

We'd have 80kg allowance on the flight, which seems like plenty

Is this absolute crazy talk?

sorry link went wrong this is the link

Thanks for the feedback.

I am leaning towards shipping a few boxes of stuff & taking everything else on the plane. I hadn't really considered that it was possible to do that - was hung up on the container option. Apart from anything else we will be living hours away from major shopping centres so it will be a pain in the arse having to shop for stuff at the other end plus pretty dear, might as well spend the money at this end.

I think you are brave! We have just emigrated as a family of 4 (for 2 years initially) and were allowed 120kg on the plane, which didn't go very far at all! I managed 8 weeks worth of clothes, a few toys, and a few other personal items.

We didn't bring car seats but have never had any problem taking those or pushchairs as extra items not included in the allowance - excluding flying with easyjet.

What about your kitchen items and towels, bedding etc? We also didn't bring any of that as we are in a fully serviced appartment until our container arrives.

I also think it would have been very hard for my kids to leave all their toys behind - and expensive for us to replace them all here plus presumably you have to store all your things somewhere until you return?

We moved to another country with just 80kgs and hand luggage when our 2 DCs were 3 and 5. Its doable, cheaper - but you will definately need to be RUTHLESS as a previous poster said. If things are easily available where you are going my choice would be to sell up and replace when you are there - but that wouldn't be right for everyone.

I quite liked getting rid of most of our stuff and taking the essentials - and if you have family/friends who are likely to come and see you, they can always bring things gradually for you as well?

Aspects of your decision depend upon the ages of your children I think. If they are older than toddlers, please read some literature about third culture kids and the effects of moving and ways you can support them. This move will not have been their decision. I'd they are still very little, be prepared for disturbed sleep and clingy behaviour for a while and take items to amuse them. As a previous poster said, shopping in a new country is usually a dismal memory for children. Mine have lived in 5 different countries. It is very easy to forget their feelings and experiences in the excitement. Hope you have a successful move. Good luck

Any recommendation for books slipshod? Might start a new thread for that actually.

Thanks to this thread & further pondering I think I will budget for shipping some boxes of toys, kid books, bedding & kitchen appliances. We are moving ourselves so can't afford to be extravagant on the matter but do want to make it easier for ourselves too!

This book by Marion Knell is quite good, and I think we've got this one too (although I don't think I actually got round to reading it

Yes the
Dave Pollock/ Ruth Van Reneken one that Thanksamillion has linked it the most well known.. Also some free resources and useful links may be found on www.expatexpert.com , although the site is being wound down. The children will benefit enormously, but do need special consideration to make it easier I think.

Raising Global Nomads. By Robin Pascoe is good.

We didn't ship stuff, but took extra bags so had 9 bags between the three of us. We wanted to recreate dd's bedroom so pretty much took everything. we also had 3 sets of grandparents visit in the first year and they all brought an extra bag of stuff out. And everytime we go home we bring loads back. Since arriving, we have had a baby, so I don't think we will get away without shipping when we move on from here.

Went we went we took everything on the plane - but we were only 2 adults.
We had 2 x 20kg allowance - and had 3 suitcases, one of which I was fully prepared to ditch.
People in front of us were charged excess baggage and it was such a faff (15 years ago), we were thinking "oh fuck".
Put our bags on, 80kg+ total "double fuck".
Check in looked at it, looked at our tickets - UK: Papua New Guinea - 1 way, and just booked us through.

I can't imagine doing it now, and definitely not with 2 kids - but part shipping, part plane sounds like a good idea.

We used our full baggage allowance just on the stuff we needed for the first six weeks whilst we waited for our container to arrive (dh and me and our 7 and 8 year old). Having our own stuff was for us hugely important. I pared down a lot so we could just use a half container, but rebuying everything I'd given away wasn't at all cheap. Might well have been cheaper just to ship everything. But we do have quite a lot of stuff (especially books :))

I agree that having ones own familiar things around is important to the family - especially children- but if going for only a year or so then it is trickier to move a lot of stuff. Moving with children is vastly different to travelling and moving as a couple.