May 25, 201311 yr Hi Yatkuu, It is unfortunate that I see the tread just now. I am also coming from Belgium and have experienced a few international moves. Basically, I did what was advised to you. I keep track of my sets through Brickstore (it is linked to Bricklink) and get an estimate of my set's value through it. When it comes to the packaging of my bricks, the moving companies know how to do it and I have never experienced any problems. You should really not worry about that. However, If not done, I strongly advise you to take an insurance and estimate appropriately the value of your assets. One of my colleage recently had a his container lost at sea when transferring from the US to France and had underestimated the value of his belongings. While I never experienced a transfer to the US, the shipments have always taken longer than announced mostly because they have to go through clearance. Enjoy Raleigh!
May 25, 201311 yr Honestly they did an allright job at packing, I have moved several times and had decent-to excellent moving services and the last one was over the top, I have at least 20,000usd in toys(not just lego's) so I care uttermost about any dents or scratches to the boxes, and those guys put everything in oversized carton boxes with paper all around them that way they are not lying around or get lost, plus they inventoried everything in the boxes with prices marked to the side, you must account for everything because they will play the crazy card if not inventoried up right, but that's just my experience, let's hope yours is the same, you should at least try to pack them in a bigger 5'by3' box and by the size of your pictures like about five of those boxes, I would have hated the feeling of me loosing a single item rather than a whole box full of 30 toys and stuff, but either way Welcome to America and hope for the best, where yes Lego's are way cheaper and maybe head out to SDCC to pick up them rare minifigs if you have a chance!!! PS the reason I say about packing them up in big boxes, is that when moving companies deliver, your household goods ain't the only thing in their big 18 wheelers and they could mix up some boxes, it didn't happen to me, BUT the driver of the truck did delivered me an extra 50" led tv that wasn't mine, but he thought it was mine(i have four bigger ones anyway hehe If I stayed my mouth shut I could have used it as an extra monitor)! Another suggestion you could do if you store them in big boxes, is that you can label them as a room that way you know you got everything like "study room" box 1, or study room box 2 and stuff. Hi Yatkuu, It is unfortunate that I see the tread just now. I am also coming from Belgium and have experienced a few international moves. Basically, I did what was advised to you. I keep track of my sets through Brickstore (it is linked to Bricklink) and get an estimate of my set's value through it. When it comes to the packaging of my bricks, the moving companies know how to do it and I have never experienced any problems. You should really not worry about that. However, If not done, I strongly advise you to take an insurance and estimate appropriately the value of your assets. One of my colleage recently had a his container lost at sea when transferring from the US to France and had underestimated the value of his belongings. While I never experienced a transfer to the US, the shipments have always taken longer than announced mostly because they have to go through clearance. Enjoy Raleigh! The best insurance proof you could do also is to take pictures of everything, boxes, container contents, everything, that way if you do claim insurance you have proof of what's worth and the bank can't try to say you don't own that many Lego hehe Edited May 25, 201311 yr by eldiano
July 5, 201311 yr Hi, Hope this is in the right place. Last year I moved from the UK to the Middle East but only took a little LEGO, mostly minifigs with me. I am now thinking of moving the rest of my collection out here, in total I would probably have 20 large boxes. Has anyone got any experience of having done this? What are the best ways to pack, best companies to move with, expected cost, etc. Is doing this practical or will I have to wait till I am back home to reunite with all my LEGO? Thanks, John
July 5, 201311 yr maybe you can put it in a container, or ask companies that ship to there, e.g. my brother in law ships waffles all around the world, there probably always is some space left on top of the waffles to put some LEGO boxes on it...
July 5, 201311 yr It's been discussed about a month ago: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=82452&hl=%2Bmoving+%2Blego
July 5, 201311 yr maybe you can put it in a container, or ask companies that ship to there, e.g. my brother in law ships waffles all around the world, there probably always is some space left on top of the waffles to put some LEGO boxes on it... By waffles, do you mean the food? I think this wins the award for most creative LEGO shipping idea.
July 5, 201311 yr yes, this stuff: Dutch version of course, it is even sold on amazon.com but goes around the world...
July 5, 201311 yr Stroopwafels!!! I feel sorry for the people who have never had the chance to taste them. Edited July 5, 201311 yr by Dutchy
July 5, 201311 yr Well, my brother in law will be glad to ship a truckload to them ;) but it was just an example, maybe a truckload of earl grey tea with some LEGO boxes will also work, or something else...
July 9, 201311 yr Stroopwafels!!! I feel sorry for the people who have never had the chance to taste them. In that case I hope I have the chance to eat some in the next week when I'm visiting Netherlands
July 9, 201311 yr Currently deployed to Afghanistan, and had my wife ship a few sets to me in flat rate boxes. All four got here in fine shape. Additionally, to date I have submitted over 15 Bricklink orders since being over here and I have received each and everyone that was shipped to me with no shipping issues what so ever. I have faith in the postal system....at least on the US side of the house. Best of luck in whatever you decided to do.
August 25, 201311 yr Author Hello everyone, I wanted to give you an update on the move of my collection. I am now happily installed in my new house in North Carolina… and approximately two months after having said goodbye to our goods in Belgium we now have them back at our new address… and my LEGO made it safely across the Atlantic! Here is a shot of the truck that delivered all our stuff. Although I have not counted them all I think that every brick is accounted for If anyone ever needs to prepare the move of a LEGO collection here is a quick summary of how we did it. Since I hardly keep anything built my collection is essentially made of loose sorted pieces placed into plastic drawers. Following advices from fellow EB members I had placed each piece category into ziplocs and then each drawer tower was wrapped into plastic foil. At first I thought I was overdoing it but it turns out it was definitely worth it. The moving company (Hasenkamp) placed all the towers into large cardboard boxes – see the picture below. They did their best to fill all the gaps in the boxes with either LEGO boxes (board games, unopened sets…) but even though they did a good job there were still small gaps here and there. These boxes had to be moved around quite a lot during transit and I’m pretty sure that if I had not taken all these extra precautions I would have found loose bricks scattered around in every box. I also noticed afterwards that there was no “This side up” indication on the boxes – I guess the logo made it rather self explanatory but you never know who is going to handle these during transit. I had also packed a couple of MOCs and built sets… mostly because I did not have the time to take them appart. I had stuffed the box with bubble wrap, the MOCs made it safely… but the official sets were not so lucky. The haunted house may look ok here but when I took it out of the box it was in bits and pieces. My U2 lemon on the other hand did not lose a plate! A magazine specialized in moving and relocations named “FIDI” found out about my experience thanks to this thread on Eurobricks. They contacted the EB staff which in turn sent me a PM to see if I would be interested to get in touch with them – which I did. It seems they are always on the lookout for unusual "moving stories" and they thought that it would make an interesting piece for their readers. We had a couple of email exchanges and they have now published the story in their latest issue. The magazine is only visible to subscribers so I’m afraid I can’t link it here but here is the article they wrote: FIDI Focus LEGO story – for the August/September 2013 issue Headline: Crossing the Atlantic…brick by brick Belgian Gregory Coquelz is building a new life for himself in the USA, with his partner; five-year-old son – and prized collection of nearly 200 sets of LEGO! As the Coquelz family crossed the Atlantic to settle into their North Carolina home, as well as finding a suitable new place to live, school for his son and securing his work permit, his thoughts have been on the safe transit of approximately 50,000 LEGO bricks, worth an estimated Euros 6,200. Coquelz, a keen blogger, shares photos of some of his LEGO creations and thoughts about his hobby online using fan forums and photo sharing site Flickr, under the name ‘Yatkuu’. So needless to say, given his passion, careful packing of this huge collection was a keen consideration before the international move at the end of May. Referring to the packing and images of this, he says: ‘I know it may look like I overdid all this, but sorting these pieces was painful enough and I don't want to do it again!’ At the time of writing, Coquelz was awaiting delivery of his prized LEGO in Raleigh the American south, and he commented on his blog in July: ‘This move is the opportunity for to answer all of people’s many questions about my LEGO with a single picture (of) my entire collection; all packed and ready to go! ‘For insurance purpose I had to make an inventory of everything I own… I now know that I have roughly 200 sets, for a total of 50,000 bricks. LEGO being cheaper in the U.S., chances are that these numbers will be higher when we come back!’ The international relocation was a different moving experience for Coquelz and his family. This time relocation company Hasenkamp placed the drawer towers in cardboard crates, along with their many other possessions. He added: ‘Except for the (contents of the) brown cardboard box, my entire collection is made of loose parts that are sorted by type or colour in all the drawers. The brown box contains a couple of “builds” that I wanted to keep built... we'll see how they did during the transit!’ They also included a couple of pictures of how the stuff was packed as well as 2 pictures of my latest MOCs posted on Flickr… a rather fun way to wrap-up this story! Thanks again to everyone who gave his input in this discussion and shared some advices. I know it’s not really the purpose of this topic but if anyone wants to know how my family and I are adjusting to our new life in the US I am keeping a blog of our adventures: http://usadventures.be/
August 25, 201311 yr Congratulations on such a disaster free move. I'm sure you'll enjoy your stay in North Carolina.
August 26, 201311 yr Author Congratulations on such a disaster free move. I'm sure you'll enjoy your stay in North Carolina. Thanks, I already do! Did you get a VW Beetle in USA? I did! Gorgeous car. Well, it seems everything has worked out well. Congratulations! Thank you!
August 30, 201311 yr Thanks, I already do! I did! Gorgeous car. Thank you! Awesome. It is good family car. I have the previous generation bug for my family car.
September 9, 201311 yr We are so glad that your family is in Raleigh now. Enjoyed meeting all three of you last night! Wish you well in the building competition at Graham on Sept. 21st. Fingers crossed that your yellow lemon wins! Your idea of keeping a collection small enough to be manageable makes a lot of sense. Most of us have too much LEGO to manage it well. Hmmm!
September 9, 201311 yr Author Thank you Legogal, we had a great time too! LEGO is such a great hobby... and not just for the bricks as once again it also allowed me to meet new friends. Most of us have too much LEGO to manage it well. Hmmm! hehe, really? I have no idea what you are talking about!
November 29, 201311 yr Hmmmm I'm potentially doing the same thing soonish. It's looking like I'm switching from freelancing to a regular job (with the same people). That means moving from the US to the UK, probably living in London. My collection isn't quite as big but I'm still nervous thinking about it. How much does this kind of service cost?
November 29, 201311 yr Author How much does this kind of service cost? For us the cost was around $20k... which is a lot but the company was covering it so we did not really worry about it. I heard you can find similar service for about half the price. As for being nervous, I was too but in the end it all went well! I only recommend you pack your collection yourself and you should not have any problems. Unless of course if the container falls into the ocean... Just kidding! Good luck!
November 29, 201311 yr I am also in the process of moving my LEGO collection (only interstate though, not international although it is a 4000+km journey) I have some stuff stored in the multi-compartment plastic storage containers, other stuff stored in various sizes of plastic storage drawer and then a few of the larger plastic tubs (like in the pics below) storing loose parts and currently-assembled MOCs. I also have 2 or so of the same plastic storage tubs worth of instructions. A couple of photos taken a while back showing some of my collection and stuff: http://www.cncmods.net/files/20120128_002.jpg http://www.cncmods.net/files/20111019_002.jpg http://www.cncmods.net/files/20120128_004.jpg http://www.cncmods.net/files/20120128_005.jpg Anyone got any useful advice please let me know as its the first time I have moved house using a moving company (rather than just having the stuff moved with the help of the family)
November 29, 201311 yr Author Anyone got any useful advice please let me know as its the first time I have moved house using a moving company (rather than just having the stuff moved with the help of the family) Plastic wrap your boxes and drawers (just like what they do with the suitcases at some airports). I realize this isn't exactly a very "green" solution but it's inexpensive and it will save you a lot of trouble should some of your tubs fall over.
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