– A Short-term International Move with Two Young Kids
These were the two questions uttered most often when we shared the news of our short-term move to Australia. Many laughed and then stopped when they realized we weren’t joking.
I get it. It does almost seem laughable – it’s a long, long way. And it’s not exactly an easy move, there are lots of logistics and it’s a ton of work for a relatively short time. However, as I found, the internet is full of ex-pats who want to help you with your own move. And it’s not as odd as it sounds…others have done it. If they did it, you can too!
Here are the top tips we learned in preparing and actually making the leap.
1 – Decide what you are bringing and what you are leaving
There are a lot of different things to weigh as you decide how much to bring and whether you will ship any of your belongings. This is a great time to experiment with being a minimalist! You can always pick up whatever you didn’t end up bringing – you just might pay a little more for it.
Here are some of our thought processes:
- We were only planning on a 1-2 year stint in Australia.
- Due to Covid, it was taking 3-5 months for shipping companies to ship a container on an ocean liner. And it was excessively expensive to ship via Air Freight. It would have cost more than our items were worth.
- Because this was only a short-term relocation, we didn’t want to move ALL our things (sentimental, winter clothes, kitchen appliances, furniture). We rented a storage unit in the States (make sure it’s climate controlled) to store items.
- Bed measurements are slightly different in Australia, so unless you are bringing mattresses, don’t pack your linens.
- The voltage is different, so unless you are also packing voltage converters, don’t bother bringing your appliances.
2 – Decide How You Will Pack
- We opted to pack in suitcases and duffle bags and check our luggage via airplane. This way, we always had everything we needed and it was ultimately the cheapest way to travel.
- Check your airline requirements. This might be a good thing to do as you compare prices. I just assumed that international travel meant two FREE checked bags with every ticket. However, Delta only allowed us one each and the other bags could be checked for a $100 fee. However, it’s still less expensive than shipping them with a company.
- You could also look into Send My Bag courier services. We didn’t know where we were going to be assigned to quarantine, so had no address to send luggage ahead.
- We ended up packing in three large hard-sided suitcases, two carry-on suitcases, and four large duffles. I asked an ex-pat community on Facebook what type of bags to use for a move via airplane and received amazing input! We ended up with THESE. Spoiler alert: They survived the trip.
3 – Pack Your Bags
- The best two things we bought before packing were a bag scale and compression bags for our clothes.
- In an effort to put a cap on the items we were packing, we divided our bags into different categories. Once a suitcase (or duffle) reached its weight capacity, we had to stop adding things or begin to trade out items.
- We had a Kitchen Suitcase, a Homeschool Suitcase, a Kids’ Toy Suitcase, a Tech/Books carry-on, a Day of Traveling Carry On, and duffles of clothes.
Look Inside our Kitchen Bag:
- Two good knives
- Plastic cutting boards
- Measuring cups and spoons
- Silpat
- Rolling pin
- One plastic plate and bowl for each child and child-size utensils
- One water bottle for each family member
- Silicon smoothie straws
- 1 cookie sheet and 1 muffin tin
- Aeropress and filters
- Small travel-size dish soap
- Laundry detergent for 10 loads of laundry
- Two yeti mugs
- Two kids’ mugs
- Hot chocolate mix, Starbucks Blonde Roast ground coffee, Mason’s Marks and Spencer’s tea, Kraft macaroni and cheese, and peanut butter
- Various utensils for cooking: meat thermometer, Wine/Beer opener, can opener, cooking spatula
- Bose Speaker
Look Inside our Homeschool Bag:
- Luke’s 1st-grade Math, Language Arts, and Handwriting curriculum was purchased before leaving the United States. You can order American curriculum from Australia, but be prepared to pay a much larger shipping cost.
- Chloe’s handwriting book, letter and number flashcards
- Science Curriculum
- Select educational books that no one could say goodbye to for the year
- The New City Catechism for Kids
- Jesus Storybook Bible
- 2 small dry-erase boards
- dry erase markers
- sticky notes and pens
- Watercolor paper and watercolors
- Coloring supplies
- Nature Journals and colored pencils
Look Inside our Kid’s Toy Bag:
- Scooter for each child (Pro Tip: You can take them apart to fit in a suitcase for travel!)
- Magnatiles
- Legos
- Books
- Lovies and 2 stuffed animals per child
- Sarah’s Silk and clamps for fort building
- Art supplies for crafts (glue, googly eyes, yarn, etc).
- Odds and ends that couldn’t be left behind and that fit among the scooters
Overall, we were happy with the decisions we made in packing. I almost felt like we took too many clothes, but it’s so hard to know exactly what a climate is like until you actually get there. And we had the added twist of a Covid lockdown, which means we left the house far less than we might have under other circumstances. The only thing we really regretted not having (and we couldn’t easily find in Sydney) was our cheese slicer. Which, isn’t that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things!
All things being equal, I would likely pack in the same way if we were to do another international move – unless the company wanted to pay for our move.
What would you pack in your bags for an international move?
Katie Evans 