Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
OTHER
• Crayons
• Footballs
• Greetings cards
• Home-schooling materials
• Magazines
• Nintendo 3DS games
• Non-Disney kids' DVDs; e.g.,
Blues Clues, Veggie Tales
• Quality children's dictionary
• Quality stationery
• Toys
Regardless of the kind of company you choose, be sure to get several quotes and check
their reputations. If you are moving a household of goods, the relocation team will probably
come to your house to calculate the quote. If the quantity of goods that you're moving is
small, however, and you know the volume, you can easily get online quotations. For extra
peace of mind, you should also check that they are members of international quality-assur-
ance groups FIDI and FAIM.
For most of us, air freight is just too expensive for anything more than just a few bulky
items, so shipping by sea is usually the transport method of choice. From here, there are
three primary ways to send your things, which you'll need to be familiar with: full container
load (FCL), less than container load (LCL), and groupage (GPG). FCL is the most expens-
ive as it involves you using an entire container all to yourself. In an LCL shipment, your
possessions are loaded into a wooden crate and shipped simultaneously with other crates
headed to the same destination. GPG is the most cost-efficient method. In this, your posses-
sions will share a container with those of other people going to the same destination. Given
that other people may not be moving at the same time as you, this may increase the total
transit time of your goods. Times for sea shipping will vary greatly, but you should gener-
ally allow 5-8 weeks, including customs.
The company you choose will need to be China savvy. Rules and regulations change
here like the wind in spring, so if your company isn't on top of things you may find your
