Monday, April 19, 2010

Moving a Family from Singapore to Kansas: Part 2

The movers showed up at just a hair past the crack of dawn this morning.

Actually, that's a lie.

They got there at 9am. It just seemed like the crack of dawn to me because we were up until 2:30 in the morning getting things ready for them to arrive.

We are fortunate as a military family to have the government pay for and arrange for our things to be packed and shipped back to the States.

You'd think this perk would take the stress out of moving.

But it doesn't.

The movers they hire are professionals. They pack stuff up fast. And they pack everything. No jokes. If it's out where they can find it, they will pack it. We've heard stories of ladies' purses getting packed, the family hamster getting packed and even a girl's sandwich was packed when she left the room.

So we spent the entire night last night grouping together anything and everything we'd still need until the day we get on the plane. This means all toilet paper, shampoos, and plane tickets needed to be out of sight.

We, unfortuately, forgot about the plane tickets. They are currently in a crate somewhere headed off to a big boat.

Oh well. At least those can be reprinted.

To illustrate the speed in which they work, here's a visual. When they first got here, I called my mom on Skype. By the time our 30 minute conversation was over, this is what my house looked like.

I was a bit taken aback. This was also around the time I realized the plane tickets were long gone.

So I started paying a bit more attention.

The coolest thing that I found that these guys did was this:

Many people in Singapore live in multi-story buildings, so I'm sure stairs start to really suck after a while for movers.

I really liked their solution.

They had a guy at each landing to intercept the package and send it along to the next guy. It was like watching a well-oiled machine.

So even though packing hasn't been completely smooth sailing, at least I was entertained.

Not that it's a hard thing to do.

4 comments:

Brad Farless said...

I remember reading about a family whose trash can was packed, with the trash still in it. They said you can't imagine the stench that enveloped their new house when they opened that box!

I think what these guys did for the stairs is completely awesome. Whoever came up with that should have been given a bonus for the amount it must save in medical bills for busted backs.

I'm glad to hear you're well on your way! We went to a shipping office yesterday and requested boxes be sent to our place so we can ship our own stuff. It'll only take 14 days to receive in Manila. Luckily, we don't have furniture that needs to be moved.

Cori said...

I'm currently dancing in front of my computer. :) :) :)

So, does Aaron stay there after you leave? Where is all his stuff? Tell him that I'm sorry he's got a delay. :(

Love you guys!

Megan said...

Brad, I envy the 14 days you get to wait. They told us to wait about 60 days give or take a couple weeks. Ick.

Sis, we get another small shipment right before Aaron leaves. So his clothes, shoes and stuff will go in there. He gets to stay in our place, thank goodness, and they gave us some loaner furniture. Not too shabby! CAN'T WAIT TO SEE YOU!!!

Brad Farless said...

Well, hopefully that's an accurate projection. There are quite a few Filipinos sending stuff home all the time, so I guess the boat fills up faster, so to speak.

That's a shame that Aaron got delayed. I'm sure he wasn't happy about the news, but it gives you the opportunity to get things set up back in Kansas while waiting on him. At least you'll be busy right? And you'll be able to hang out with your family!