Singapore Expats

We are relocating from Greater New York to Singapore in couple of months. The company agreed to pay 10K on actuals towards - moving & airfare expenses for 4 of us. No other allowances, just 10K. I am not sure whether to use Movers or sell everything here and leave just with our bags.

If the moving cost is not so exuberant, it would be nice to take children's toys, clothes, essential kitchen items and some personal stuff. I am planning not to take any furniture or any big items. Wondering how much will it cost to move? Any thoughts?

Have you checked the cost of flights? My guess is it would be in the neighbourhood of 10k for 4 people...

We've rented a furnished apartment (though these can be hit and miss) and when we came over brought the children's toys. I strongly recommend this in easing your children's relocation. My daughter still talks about her 'toy home' back in Canada where she imagines some of the toys we did't bring are still waiting for her.

My relocation package was USD $2000 for 4 people. We used this towards having movers pack the stuff we weren't bringing and move it to our in-laws basement as well as purchase around 600lbs of excess baggage allowance to bring stuff with us. In the end the company surprised us and re-imbursed my total cost of about USD$2700.

Most stuff is easily purchased here. Other then Children' toys and some personal effects we bought most things after we arrived. All of the normal home type stuff you may want / need are available here and easy to purchase.

Are you also being put up in a Serviced Apartment when you first arrive?

On that amount I'd suggest you sell as much as possible and just repurchase in Singapore. In most cases, it will cost too much to ship to be worth it if it is your own $$.

The flight ticket cost comes around $800 USD per person. The company is not providing any accommodation. It is a contract work, Singapore employer and not an American company. The pay seems to be really good but with no bonus and nothing covered.

@zzm - I am planning to sell all my furnitures but still have some personal stuff left and would like to take it along!

ras5 wrote:

@zzm - I am planning to sell all my furnitures but still have some personal stuff left and would like to take it along!

Will it fit into checked luggage? Do that. Airline status can be very useful here, as a lot of status tiers allow significant amounts of extra baggage.

Unaccompanied (pre arranged) baggage might be all you need.

Like the others said it might be cheaper to keep USD5000 for a shopping spree at Ikea.

You can easily rent furnished apartments in Singapore .

Anyone know how much max. I can carry on Plane even after paying for extra luggage? I have some stuffed toys, not so big, but odd shape like panther, not so huge Elephant and it is impossible to convince our kids to let go. I might have studio or small one bedroom worth of stuff (I am bringing no furnitures or any beds). Anyone moved from NYC to Singapore. How much will it cost? Could you please provide reliable Shipping companies to get quote? Thanks.

I'm surprised and envious how low your plane tickets are. I can't comment on shipping companies as I didn't use any. But in terms of excess baggage....

It will vary by airline, but most of the ones I looked at would allow as much extra baggage as your willing to pay for. Prices did vary a lot but most had a fixed price per bag @ 25-32kgs per bag.

We purchased 10 extra bags, about 600 lbs of allowance on top of the 2 bags per person that come with the tickets. So close to 1000lbs all in.

We then bought 48" hockey bags and packed everything we were bringing in these. This covered a family of 4 (2 adults and 2 children under 3).

Where are you staying once you get here? It tooks us about a month to get moved into a condo. Is your accomdation on arrival part of the 10k or covered seperately?

Btw, we've moved countries 5 times and we've found the hockey bag method to be the most reliable and hassle free. We've used a shipping company once a long time ago and the problem is anything at a reasonable price is a shipping container which can take a long time.

ras5 wrote:Anyone know how much max. I can carry on Plane even after paying for extra luggage? I have some stuffed toys, not so big, but odd shape like panther, not so huge Elephant and it is impossible to convince our kids to let go. I might have studio or small one bedroom worth of stuff (I am bringing no furnitures or any beds). Anyone moved from NYC to Singapore. How much will it cost? Could you please provide reliable Shipping companies to get quote? Thanks.

It's amazing the information you can obtain by Googling for:
"[airline name] baggage allowance"...

Thanks ZZM, will google. Thanks Brian_Singapore. Hockey bag suggestion was awesome! One more, I have few 1 Oz gold coins, which I bought it as an investment. Is there a way to take it along? Is there any restrictions on how much you can bring in. I read somewhere, in 2010 the VAT was 7% for any precious metal which you import and in 2013 they eliminated the tax. I am quite unclear (:lol: - I did google)

I don't want to pay hefty safe deposit fees here.Thanks!

No problem. One other tip - for fragile items we just packed them in standard packing boxes and put those in the hockey bag. We then clothes and stuffies around the edges of boxes in the hockey bag for extra protection.

We completely understand the last minute hair pulling that comes with relocating like this.

nouvesingapore wrote:Though, it is difficult to move from one country to another. But in One country it also becomes difficult to choose right resources to relocate your home furniture or interiors. I think it will take extra as it has to suffer travelling issue of home's interiors.

Mods is there a single place that regulars can report spam crap to?

JR8 wrote:

nouvesingapore wrote:Though, it is difficult to move from one country to another. But in One country it also becomes difficult to choose right resources to relocate your home furniture or interiors. I think it will take extra as it has to suffer travelling issue of home's interiors.

Mods is there a single place that regulars can report spam crap to?

You can always PM any mod with the screed to which you object, and generally, we'll catch spam within a few hours of posting. You want a forum dedicated to reporting spam?

Strong Eagle wrote:Mods is there a single place that regulars can report spam crap to?

You can always PM any mod with the screed to which you object, and generally, we'll catch spam within a few hours of posting. You want a forum dedicated to reporting spam?[/quote]

No. Just if I see egregious stuff it's useful knowing where to send it. I could PM to one mod who is on holiday for a month, I'd have no way of knowing. So the 'goodwill element' is rather lost before it might happen...

I suppose this would usually usefully fall under a 'Report this post' link. No matter, it's not that enough of a deal to worry about...