Air crates

2 “air crates” are included as part of the relocation package. They are smaller than “sea crates”, but they are supposed to arrive much faster — in 2-4 weeks (depending on how fast it takes to clear customs). I am not eligible for a sea crate, since my apartment is “furnished” (more on that in a future post). Now that I’ve got my sea crate contents sorted, I’m comfortable that the size is fair. Plus, it’s good to have limits — I was starting to feel like a hoarder as I was preparing stuff for shipment!

There are certain prohibitions on what can be included in an air crate (e.g., no alcohol, no liquid household cleaners – even organic ones, no jewels, no porn). And EVERY last thing has to be inventoried. Don’t think that one could cut corners on that because the shipping company inspects — they call it a “survey”. I have my survey tomorrow morning. Then the company packs everything themselves (I guess that’s their second inspection point), into the crates at my house. That’s scheduled for Thursday. Anything not in the crate Thursday comes in my luggage or stays home.

Despite instructions not to pack (which were shared with me rather belatedly), I needed to see what I was working with – and how much I could squeeze into the crates! I used tape to draw the dimensions of the crates in my basement (including twine around some vertical columns to keep me honest about the container height). Here’s what I got so far (special thanks to Maria who helped me enormously with the inventory!):

May 7 2013 Update: The on-site inspection went well & the contractor estimates that I have space for even more stuff. I’ll get some paper towels etc to fill the space, maybe pick out some hats from my closet to take along, revisit some things I had earmarked for my suitcases but which I can probably shift around since I don’t need them urgently…