How many suitcases did you take on the plane when you relocated? And how big?

[feckity]

We move in a month. I need to buy suitcases for the move - we only have a couple which DH has used for work travel.

For DH, me, and two dcs - 7&5. 35kg luggage allowance each. Air freight and shipping following us.

The last time DH went away he weighed his full (but not to bursting) suitcase and it was 18kg. I can't imagine lugging almost twice that per person to the airport. Having ditched most of my winter clothes and bought new climate appropriate stuff I think I could pack my whole wardrobe in one medium sized suitcase.

We'll take some of our towels and bedding with us, but will put most of it in the air freight stuff. And I've stocked up a bit on things like suncream and toothpaste which I've been advised to bring from the uk.

What else aren't I thinking of that we could use the luggage allowance for? How many/what size suitcases should I buy?!

[KP86]

It's a bit of a pain to lug them through the terminal, but if you have 0-4 harness car seats, and children who are likely to want to climb everywhere, take the car seats on board! They can be installed on the plane using the regular seat belt and then you can strap DC in. My DS sleeps really well in his seat and I'll be taking it again when we travel long haul later this year.

[GreenSand]

If you (or the company) are paying for air/sea freight, don't pay excess luggage for the trip out.
Pack toothpaste. A year on, my two are complaining about middle eastern toothpaste. It looks identical to the UK Colgate, but tastes different.
If it helps muddify things further, I've come back for 8 weeks with 40kg, ie 10kg per person. Neighbour was struggling to get under 23kg per person. Everyone is different, but I suspect those taking 13 suitcases didn't ship.

[SavoyCabbage]

I made the foolish error of taking more hand luggage than I could manage on my own. I had a buggy to push and a wheelie case to pull ;. and a five-year-old to manhandle As Well as a two year old who did not want to be in the Buggy.

I haven't made that mistake again and check in as much as I can now.

[MyFriendsCallMeOh]

Re toothpaste ... we used Elmex toothpaste in Singapore, as recommended by our dentist, it's a German brand, tastes very normal like UK stuff. Brought a stock of it to the USA when we left Singapore, now we've run out and have to manage with US toothpaste (sometimes I buy the wrong one when I'm not paying attention - it tastes like surgical spirit )

[Farandole]

We're moving to HK in 3 weeks (yikes) and I think we will have 9 suitcases. I haven't started packing but I think this will hold :
clothes
Blankets
Some bedding
Toys
Lots of toiletries including mosquito repellent as I get bitten senseless
Quite a few wines bottles and other spirits
My spice drawer
Toys and books for the kids
Lots of shoes
Snacks the kids will be familiar with for first few days.

Airfreight is 225kg and will hold:
More bedding and towels
Kids' bikes
One big box of toys for each kid
Fair amount of kitchen stuff (plates, crockery, knives and so on)
Sentimental/irreplaceable stuff (art pieces mostly). The risk of losing airfreight or it being damaged is much lower than sea freight.

Sea freight will hold everything else.

Now need to start packing 😳

[feckity]

Good luck Farandole! The 'yikes' aspect is definitely starting to ramp up for me now

Thanks for the toothpaste tip MyFriendsCallMeOh :)

[mrsmortis]

And don't pack all of one type of thing you are going to need in a suitcase. When we flew here we had five cases between the 4 of us (we knew we were going to be in furnished and that the GPs would bring us a couple more cases of stuff out before we needed winter coats) plus the car seats. And the airline lost 2 of them! Including the one which had everything we needed for the girls to start school (water bottles, trainers, plimsolls, pencil cases, sports kit, etc.)

We knew they were going to start school without everything they needed (uniform orders took 2 weeks and we moved with 10 days notice) but not that they would be missing everything. In the end we were lucky because it all arrived at 9pm the day before they started school.

[MyFriendsCallMeOh]

No problem, German toothpaste (and the best chocolate advent calendars not to mention Milka choc and European washing powder, so much better than Singaporean) from German Marketplace on Bukit Timah - very good butcher (Meat the Butcher) and organic shop a few doors down too and excellent frozen yoghurt at Sogurt along the same row - used to live round the corner....

[feckity]

Excellent, we're going to be just across Bukit Timah Road from there, cheers

[ShanghaiDiva]

Also recommend Elmex toothpaste. We used it in Germany and Austria and as we are now in China DH has to stock up when he is back on business.
He also brings back advent calendars and lindt bunnies :)