Relocation from the U.S.

[ttuguy421]

Hello all,

My wife and I will be relocating to Singapore around Jan 1 2010 for my work; we will be staying at the River Place Apartments.

My question is this, does anyone have any advise they wish someone had told them before moving that would have made relocating easier?

Also has anyone had any experience with the River Place Apartments?

Any preparing to move/moving tips and advice would be greatly appreciated. We are new college graduates and have never traveled outside the U.S. for business before and only to places likes Bermuda and Jamaica for vacation in the past.

Thank you in advance for your time and replies!

Chris

[ttuguy421]

Thanks for the info, I appreciate it. We are going to have a rental car that my company is paying for and they are also paying for the Apartment at River Place. I have heard nothing but good things about Singapore and my wife and I are excited to come ASAP!

[joliefemme536]

Hi Chris,

Make sure your wife brings all of her favorite toiletries and hair care (Victoria's Secret body sprays, lotions etc.) They are pretty hard to come by in Singapore as well as being overly expensive.

I don't know if you plan on cooking in your condo, if you do, make sure there is an oven in your condo. My boyfriend's condo didn't come with an oven. I was disappointed...

Alcohol is extremely expensive and a lot of the brands sold in the US are hard to come by in Singapore. If you have favorites, bring them with you! lol

Heavy clothing is a no no. It's humid there just like Houston.

I guess that's all I have for right now Happy Relocating!!!

- Jennifer

[ttuguy421]

That is all good advice.. Thank you very much and my wife will certainly thank you!

[Sunset Mountain]

HI There,

I am a local. I have friends who come here from places like Australia. The experience that they have is that SIngapore is a safe and clean country. You can go out on the streets way past midnight and feel absolutely safe, even the ladies do. =)

The only negative part of it all is the crowd. Too may people everywhere and people are always in a hurry and stressed most of the time. So you can expect to see tired faces on public transport and walking on the streets. SIngaporeans do not smile very much and are quite shy with strangers. SO when you guys are here, try not to take it personally when someone brushes into you while they are rushing to board the trains for example. They dont mean to be rude but of course I understand that they would seem very rude doing something like that.

Have a nice day.

[hbw65]

We are from the States as well. The biggest adjustment for you all will be the heat and the lack of seasons here.

Leave all cold clothing at home UNLESS you plan on a ski trip to Japan in which case, bring it. As someone mentioned before bring toiletries - load up on deodorant as it's just not the same here as in the States. Wine is extremely expensive here, but if you need new furniture wait until you get to Singapore as Asia has a great selection! Bring any medicine, contact lens stuff you might need. My husband always brought over a year supply of solution etc...as you might not be able to find the same brand over here.

[boffenl]

All great advice so far--can't second the toiletry discussion enough (also personal feminine care items too!--at least a years' supply). Don't worry about sheets, towels or furniture (unless you're a Wal-Mart or Target shopper like me--then stock up before you come) there are plenty of good brands here if you don't mind the price.

Expect to pay at least double on your "American" foods, cereals, milk, hot dogs, ketchup, pickles, etc. Stock up on some cereals before you come and send it over in your container. Also, soups and salad dressings are also very expensive. Get ready for some price shockers.

[TXinSingapore]

Hi Chris,

I used this forum a lot while preparing for our move to Singapore (we just got here a little over 4 months ago). We're from the states as well, and to be more specific, we're also from Houston (we've met lots of expats from the US that are from the same area).

While this forum is a GREAT resource for asking questions, I have to say that in many ways it overly-prepared me and made me worry about a million things that I didn't really need to worry about in the first place.

So here's what I found: There are very few things that I can get in the states that I can't get here. After perusing the boards over and over, I ended up stocking up on shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, lotions, cleaning products, medicines, etc. from Sam's Club and having it all shipped over. I don't necessarily regret doing that now since my husband's company paid for 1000 lbs of shipping (so it didn't cost us anything to have it sent over), but truth be told, we can get every bit of it here, including brand name stuff we're used to from the states. Yes, things are more expensive, but honestly, I've never suffered quite the sticker shock that others seem to. There are some items I refuse to buy here (certain cereals are really pricey along with things like American cheeses or like many others have mentioned, feminine care products), but the great news is that there are great alternatives to everything that has a high price. Anyway, by stocking up at Sam's Club, I probably saved us a good $300, but in retrospect, I added a lot to an already very full plate prior to moving here.

One bit of advice that I wish we HAD paid attention to before moving over is to buy a cheap grill from the US and have it shipped over with the rest of your stuff. Grills here are insanely expensive (thats one of the things I have had sticker shock for) and we miss being able to grill!

Like I said before, there are few things we can't get here, but two of the things we miss and have our families send us are Crystal Lite packets and Cheeze-its!

Weather wise, you'll be just fine. Summer is actually hotter in Houston and even more humid at times than it is here. The difference between living here and there (and the very reason that it seems hotter here) is that we walk everywhere here as opposed to driving a car like we do at home.

This was our first overseas job too and its already proven to be a fabulous experience. I think y'all will really like Singapore!

If you have any other questions for a young-ish couple (we're in our mid-late 20s) that are from your area, feel free to email me at [email protected]

[sundaymorningstaple]

Like I said before, there are few things we can't get here, but two of the things we miss and have our families send us are Crystal Lite packets and Cheeze-its!

In my case it's Crystal Lite and Triscuits! However, occasionally Triscuits can be found in "The Marketplace" but not very often and not the variety found at home! And no, there is not an alternative for either one of them.

[boffenl]

Gotcha both there--Crystal Light and chocolate twizzlers. I did find strawberry twizzlers at Cold Storage for Halloween at $13. I bought them and loved them anyway!

[sundaymorningstaple]

Yeah but we both gotta go back to Ocean City to get Thresher's French Fies off'n the boardwalk! Had me some - special trip just for them.

[TXinSingapore]

Oh Triscuits...I miss them too! Not quite as much as Cheeze-Its. I just wish they had both here. I have seen the Rye Triscuits at Cold Storage, but those just don't do it for me b/c I like the original.

I was in Ocean City MD this summer and had Thrasher's fries twice

[boffenl]

Where did all there Marylanders/Shore Birds come from? I feel right at home! I also admit to a quick 28 hour trip to OC this June (in between business travel to FL and NYC) and had two buckets of Thrashers too! Miss Candy Kitchen/Wockenfuss Candies too!!

On the grill issue--unless you have a big enough patio/balcony, grilling will be a no-go. We also thought of bringing a grill (since there are HUGE deals on grill with Thanksgiving coming in the US) but we don't have a private pation (just a shared corridor) so it would be VER strange to be making dinner in the hallway.

[wkwoods]

A long time ago, I tried grilling using a charcoal weber in the open laundry area not realizing that I was smoking all my upstairs neighbours' clothes that were hanging out to dry!

Most condos have a charcoal barbeque pit so unless you live in a house, you may not need one for the occasional BBQ. The high end condos have pricy gas grills like Vikings at their BBQ areas. Weber gas grills are insanely expensive here, but the Australian brands can be quite reasonable and work well. If you import, get the natural gas version rather than propane. Butchers here are top notch and stock very good meat though it can get expensive.

[jpatokal]

Alcohol is extremely expensive and a lot of the brands sold in the US are hard to come by in Singapore. If you have favorites, bring them with you! lol

Wouldn't recommend this -- if you get busted for more than your duty free allowance, you'll be paying tax until they're at Singapore prices and fines on top.

That said, if there's some obscure wine/spirit you're addicted to, it may be marginally cheaper to import and declare it yourself (tax is S$70 per litre of alcohol, so eg. S$28 for a 1L bottle of 40% vodka), as opposed to buying it in Sing.