Moving
from New York City
to Tallai Australia
I'm not an amazingly gifted writer, but I do think this is a moment in my life worth capturing.
My husband and I live in the 28th largest city in the world with a population of 8.8M, and we are moving to the other side of the world to a town with the population of 3,765.
I've lived in NYC for 17 years, and my husband has been here 6 years.
It's time for a change.
He's Australian and he has family in Tallai, hence that point on the globe of all possibilities.
Below, my plan is simply to document my discoveries.
Pre-Move Stress
January 30, 2019
We have movers scheduled for tomorrow - the last day of the month, and yet there are a couple of loose ends that are making me stress.
We were told when we signed the contract for the international movers that we'd need insurance. I said, "Sure. Just tell me what to do. Send the forms or point me in the right direction." But I didn't receive any information immediately. I followed up at the end of last week, and finally Monday night - as in the sun was down and it was past normal business hours - I was sent 3 sets of documents and told to have them filled out "48 hours before the movers come." That would be before 9 a.m. Tuesday morning. That hour came and went, but not by long. Before 10 a.m. I shot back a list of questions to help me fill out the opaque paperwork. Am I the co-signer? Am I the "forwarder"? Am I the "shipper"? Or are those the companies doing the work? Among other questions that I just don't know how to answer. Tuesday came and went. I sent 3 emails copying various people and left voicemails with the only phone numbers I have. It's now 4 p.m. on Wednesday, and I have not heard anything further helping me fill out this paperwork.
Stressful factor #2 - I own a Vespa that I love but admittedly don't ride. My parents very graciously agreed to let me keep it at their place. I have an advantage here. My father also has a motorcycle that he hasn't ridden since 1981, so he's sympathetic to the desire to keep this kind of thing, even if it's not used. In early December I found a recommended motorcycle mover. I had some scheduling conflicts on my end, so here we are at the end of January dealing with this. And the polar vortex is delaying the movers' schedule. I need this thing gone by tomorrow. I had a very nice conversation with the owner, who assured me that it will happen, but as the snow falls here in NYC on this late Wednesday afternoon, I am nervous.
Unexpected Hurdle
January 29, 2019
What's been truly surprising about getting ready to move is how difficult it is to get rid of furniture in New York City.
We got zero bites on our furniture from Craigslist. We got plenty from Facebook Marketplace, but about 90% of responders were disingenuous time-wasters. For example, one person wrote me a message responding to one of our ads and simply wrote, "I'm in Elmhurst." Uh..okay? What am I supposed to do with that information? One person's very first message to us was "Too far." My husband was fed up with people and just wrote back, "Next time we sell a TV, we'll make sure to move closer to you."
Many, many people low-ball us on already super cheap furniture. I am talking offering us 5% of the posted price. We've had several people name a day and time and also not show up. So, then we figured that out and we asked that people give us a deposit, so we don't sell it to someone else, and then they just don't show up either.
We haven't been able to find any charities who can pick up this month (2 months from now is the earliest). Junk removalists have quoted us amounts to the tune of $900. I already paid to get this furniture in my home. I really don't want to also pay to get it out. Especially because if I was in that business, I would charge for taking it out and then re-sell it - making money from both ends.
So, in our pre-move preparations, furniture has been absolutely the hardest part to deal with. It's no wonder that so many people leave so much perfectly good stuff out on the sidewalk, instead of what seems like so many other reasonable options.
I think I have a solution. Fingers crossed. But I won't know until Friday before we fly out on Saturday. If things fall apart, we will put things out on the curb and leave the country.