Moving out of Singapore

[hobo64]

Hi,

I might have to leave Singapore, and I am looking for a non-insane-expensive way of relocating my belongings to Europe. Any suggestion ?

[jpatokal]

Well, there's 20 kg of free checked baggage included with your plane ticket...

Shipping anything halfway across the world will cost you a bundle.

[hobo64]

<troll> thanks for the impressive display of knowledge </troll>

...anyone with actually _something_ to advice ?...

[Guest]

[font=Comic Sans MS] [/font] Although I have to agree that jpatokal gave quite a cheeky response, you didn't mention how long you have been living here nor how much you will be sending back your belongings etc etc....Naturally, you were given a "general" recommendation.

Perhaps you can try sending by sea if you don't need your stuff urgently. Check out with Singapore Post for prices. If you have a lot of stuff to bring back, I am afraid you will need to check out one of the relocating companies paying your so-called "insane" prices.

Hope this recommendation sounds "interlligent" to you.......

Cheers

[jpatokal]

Beware of my cheeky responses, they may seem rude but the advice is serious

Having moved more times than I care to count, I can tell you from vast experience that there is no magic bullet to moving your belongings around the world cheaply. Almost all removals are done by sea already as shipping by air is really expensive... the only things I can advise are to think long and hard about what you really need to ship, most furniture and nearly all appliances are effectively disposable (ie. they are replaceable and the cost to buy new is often less than the cost of shipping). If you have elite status in a frequent flyer program, you may be able to get up to 40 kg baggage allowance free, perhaps even more if heading to the US/Canada. For books, inquire about "book rates" which can be much, much cheaper than normal postage -- although I'm not sure SingPost supports this.

For the hardcore cheapskate, you can actually rent your own container or portion of one and cut out the middleman for the long journey home. This isn't really feasible though unless you have a) a lot of stuff to ship and b) lots of time on your hands to fight through the bureaucracy; the one guy I know of who did this was building a house in Japan and imported half the materials from the US this way.

[hobo64]

Thanks. For the advice.

As myself, I also moved a great deal of times, but in ol' Europe whatever the distance
one can always drive. I had a rule: no more than what fits in the car. Now I can hardly
apply it (I do not have a car any longer anyways ).

I shall try to check what can be moved through the post office. Thanks for the hint.