Shipping, Boxes, and Relocation
Tonight we've been busy reconstructing two big cardboard boxes to custom fit two of our most important pieces of equipment - an iMac and a large format scanner. These guys are essential to the work I do, as well as much of what Shannon does. So, we're going to great lengths to get them safely to Berlin. We considered selling both pieces and replacing them on the other side, but they're a few years old, so buying new versions would put us in the red big time. That led us to research ways to ship them over.
Many people who move overseas use relocation services. These are basically shipping contractors - they come and pack up your entire house or apartment, drive it to the nearest port, and load it onto a ship. A few weeks later they pick everything up, get it through customs for you, and deliver it to your new home. It's full service. And it's very expensive! In our case, it would have cost 2 or 3 grand to get our computer, scanner, and some other furniture and boxes over. Again, putting us in the red.
However, we really wanted to travel light, and not spend so much. So, we found that it was much more economical to just ship the two important electronics via FedEx, and bring everything else with us the the plane. This ends up costing less than a grand, and takes like a week (instead of a month or more with the relocation guys).
The thing is, there are no boxes for sale anywhere that perfectly fit the items plus the appropriate amount of bubble wrap, etc. And, of course, we had discarded the original boxes long ago (whoops!). So, we had to call around until we found a place that sold boxes large enough for us to deconstruct and rebuild (using our genius level high school math skills). With lots of measuring, cutting, glueing, and loads of tape, we are successful box makers. Call us for a quote.
(Don't.)
Days to Takeoff: 13
Many people who move overseas use relocation services. These are basically shipping contractors - they come and pack up your entire house or apartment, drive it to the nearest port, and load it onto a ship. A few weeks later they pick everything up, get it through customs for you, and deliver it to your new home. It's full service. And it's very expensive! In our case, it would have cost 2 or 3 grand to get our computer, scanner, and some other furniture and boxes over. Again, putting us in the red.
However, we really wanted to travel light, and not spend so much. So, we found that it was much more economical to just ship the two important electronics via FedEx, and bring everything else with us the the plane. This ends up costing less than a grand, and takes like a week (instead of a month or more with the relocation guys).
The thing is, there are no boxes for sale anywhere that perfectly fit the items plus the appropriate amount of bubble wrap, etc. And, of course, we had discarded the original boxes long ago (whoops!). So, we had to call around until we found a place that sold boxes large enough for us to deconstruct and rebuild (using our genius level high school math skills). With lots of measuring, cutting, glueing, and loads of tape, we are successful box makers. Call us for a quote.
(Don't.)
Days to Takeoff: 13
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