Expat Blog - Moving to the UK to Reconnect with Family

Expat Blog – Moving to the UK from South Africa

Can you let us know where you’re moving from and to, and why you’re making the move? Also, we’d love to hear about any personal experiences or stories you have about the moving process.

We are moving from South Africa and joining our family in England so that we have input into our grandchildren lives whilst they are still young and before they reach an age where grandparents are no longer cool. We are both over 70 years and we were offered accommodation and other support by our son and his family: who could resist?

We were satisfied with the packing and removal process but have yet to experience the delivery and unpacking process. We hope our goods will arrive intact, especially the folk harp which is to be crated for shipping.

Finding the ideal moving company can be a daunting task, and we understand the stress that comes with it. How did you manage to find the best mathcing one among the thousands?

We chose Biddulphs as they have a presence in Zimbabwe and we were considering moving some of our possessions from there for shipment to England. They also estimated a higher cubic meterage for our goods which we thought more realistic than the other two companies who.provided quotations. The company was founded in Zimbabwe and is well-established. Biddulphs was recommended by our son and daughter-in-law who had used their services on two occasions recently and were satisfied with their moves. Both their moves were within South Africa.

Can you walk us through what happened on moving day? Did everything go as planned?

The removers arrived on time with a team of four for packing our goods. For the most part I was happy with their work. I should have packed some of the fragile and precious items myself into suitable boxes as I was not satisfied with their care in handling those items. I should also have supervised some of the work more closely as a few items were packed that were not intended to be packed. However that is not a big problem. The packers only took 4 hours to pack up our goods and load them into their van.

Based on your personal moving experience, what tips would you offer to others? What are your top recommendations to ensure a smoother moving process?

1. Please make sure precious and fragile items are packed individually into suitable boxes or their original packaging before the removers arrive.
2. If you want to use all risks insurance decide ahead what items you wish to insure and research their replacement value. Most of our goods were family memorabilia and irreplaceable.
3. Get several quotations for comparison and ask for site visits without obligation as it is very difficult to estimate cubic meterage yourself.
4. Make sure you are on hand to answer any questions from the packing team. One item had to be taken out of its case and shown to the packer.

Any last words or tips?

Start downsizing and sorting the goods you want to move well in advance!!

Disclaimer: the views shared on this blog belong only to the client. Sirelo is an independent platform and the expat testimonials provided are intended for informational purposes.

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