We are moving! My family and I are leaving Turkey this summer after what will be a five-year stay here. We love Turkey and have many Turkish friends, but it is time to move on. During the next few months this column will catalogue the process of our move as well as the emotional roller coaster that we will experience. Hopefully this diary will help other people make successful international moves. If I leave anything out, or do something wrong, please write to me and let know what I should be doing, so that other people will not make the same mistakes and my own move will go more smoothly.
Only if your destination country is close enough and the route safe enough for your local removal company to drive their lorry to your new home is your move going to have any resemblance to a domestic one.
We are moving to Europe, but the Balkans are in the way. This means we have to choose whether to send our shipment via air, or sea. Fortunately for us the choice was relatively simple, we have a lot of stuff and we want a holiday before we move into our new home. Sending our shipment by sea freight is therefore cheaper and slower, which reduces our direct costs and also reduces storage fees at the destination.
The biggest decision for us will be finding a removal company that we can afford to use and also feel comfortable entrusting our belongings too.
Because our shipment will be sent from Turkey by one company and received/delivered by a separate one in France, I have contacted large and reputable removal agencies in both countries.
By approaching a large French company I can be sure that they know the French import regulations and I can check out the company at the Turkish end more easily too. With the Turkish companies I have approached I will have to look up their French partner in the International Federation of International Movers directory (www.fidi.com).
So far, two local companies I approached have been to survey our belongings and also the local company sub-contracted by one of the French companies I contacted. A second local sub-contractor is coming soon as well.
A third international company (based in the UK), but with offices in France, contracted an agent in Turkey that does not have an office in Ankara and who phoned me up to ask how much I wanted ship! And this local agent is actually the in-country office of one of the world’s largest removal companies.
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