Together We Did It

We did it. It’s a done deal. We packed out and our stuff except for our furniture is on the way to our next destination. We kissed goodbye to our furniture and who knows when it’ll be the next time to see it.

Over the past two months, we have prepared for this pack out little by little. Everyday we made a progress. The last one week was intense. I was up until 1:00 or 2:00 a.m. every night to prepare for the pack-out after our kids went to bed. The preparation for packing-out is harder than the actual pack-out. For this move I used a lot of small, medium and large boxes to organize our belongings so that packing and unpacking will be easier. In the time of moving, there is so much to prepare beforehand. No matter how much you prepare, it feels like never-ending. Finally the day of our pack-out came. At this point, we just had to let the packers take care of the rest whether we are done preparing or not.

During this move, four of my friends took care of our girls. Special thanks to Nami, Mine, Kyra and Sarah. We could have not done this pack-out as smoothly as we did without your help. My girls loved playing with your kids and it made everything easier for us. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

We had a little bit of drama yesterday about our pack-out. Surprise, surprise. We were scheduled only one day for our pack-out despite my phone calls trying to change it to two days. In the previous two international moves we always needed two days. The company’s coordinating office insisted on getting it done in one day. The decision was based on the moving survey.

The day of our pack-out came. As soon as two packers walked into our apartment, the leader guy had a look on his face as if he had seen a ghost. Here it comes! He said he could tell by looking at our stuff that he and his coworker would not be able to finish this in one day. It is a bit of a hassle to pack-out from an apartment especially a high-rise as movers have to use elevator to transport stuff. Anyways, they did it. They worked their butt off. We ended up spending two days to pack out. In the end, it all worked out.

We’ve been staying at a hotel during this move. The company is called Bridgestreet. It is a temporary housing (for long-term business trip, etc.) which you could use for a short-term stay as short as one day just like a hotel. It’s great for families with kids like us since we were able to have a two bedroom two bath apartment with a full kitchen. The rate for a room was not that much different from a regular hotel. It was certainly nice to have this haven in the midst our pack-out mess.

I enjoyed the whole process of pack-out. It allows me to imagine our adventure in a new country and reflect on the time we’ve spent at the place and at the same time we can go through and organize what we own. It was hectic and tiring, but it feels so refreshing and great after you complete a pack-out. This is why I love our nomadic life style. My husband and I thrive in it. We have become a better team by planning and executing our moves together.

Now we’re off to our vacation. So long, Virginia. Until next time.