Does anyone have any experience of packing up home to move across the pond?

When we leave we will be taking some personal stuff - pictures - books - everything but furniture so need to find the best company to transport our belongings. I expect it will travel by sea so does anyone know how long it takes and which companies do it at sensible prices?

Jenny

I have made quite a few calls to different companies about moving my things (everything apart from furniture). The best price i have found is from excess baggage.com...it takes approx 8 weeks by sea and they do door to door..hope this helps

This is who i used too, there service is great, they will send you all packaging stuff, e.g bubble wrap , boxes, what ever you need, will then send DHL to pick the stuff up when ever your ready can be up to a month before you want it sending, just to get it out the way!!
I flew my stuff as it was only an extra 100quid more than the "by sea" option
Oh & the paper work is easy too

I'm hoping to use them as well - Euro - did you get 'enough' boxes? Or did you need extra..or indeed did you order too MANY?
I was wondering what you do when one of those scenarios happens..
I got an online quote from them..and I know I need to call and talk to them but figured Id ask here too
Im just not sure Ive guessed the right amount of boxes correctly

I actualy got too many boxes, tea chest size, there a bit like the Tardis , 50 quid deposit for whatever amount you get them to send, i even got packaging for rugs,pictures etc, tons of tape, lol, BUT back to what you asked, when they collect your packing they just take away the unused boxes & stuff at the same time

I have looked into this and found a site that shrink wraps your boxed stuff on pallets and then puts them in containers. They charge by the volume and it was like 600 quid for 2 cubic metres and that was the minimum. I might check out this other place though.

Ahh cool - thanks so much for that! I got a quote on 5 2cuft boxes, 4 3cuft ones and 3 teachest - but I have no furniture really - just 'stuff' (inc about 400 books) - the quote was for around £500 - I guess if I use less boxes they charge me less (I hope! lol)

We found a place that we think we are going to use. We were really impressed with the way they shrink wrap all the boxes on pallets.

http://www.shipit.co.uk/index.html

They have given us a quote of £1200 for 6 cubic metres (not including insurance.) They also have given us an "on water" transit time of 16 days, which means we will have our things delivered in less than a month!

We are choosing to pack our own boxes, but they do offer that service for an additional charge. I'll post after the move to let everyone know how they did. (please let this go smoothly!!)

Would be very interested to hear how you got on with this company as we are thinking of using them as well. We are taking some furniture with us and they quoted £4500 for a 20ft container, that is with them doing all the packing and the container leaving our house and going straight to the ship.

Thank you guys for everyone's input - I'll get busy and check it all out. I'll let you know how I get on.

Jenny