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@Bizet Cottage

Hi

Just wanted to say hi, and welcome. I too am a Kiwi married to a Bulgarian National ....... we lived and worked in the U.K for many years, and have been in Plovdiv Bg,聽 going on 6 years now. Hope all goes smoothly for you.

Regards,

Alex.

My two cents-worth is: "bring as little as possible". I blanch when I think of all the stuff that I brought over at comparatively great expense that's now been stored for well over a decade. I can't imagine what it costs to ship stuff over from NZ these days but my advice is to be absolutely ruthless when deciding what you "can't bear to part with". You can buy pretty much anything you need here in BG and whatever isn't available or costs too much can be found on Amazon Germany (often shipped to BG for nothing) or bought from other German suppliers or ones in the UK and shipped over surprisingly cheaply by the specialist shipping companies.

@Sticky59 Thank you! We honestly can鈥檛 wait to make the move.

Hubby is wearing two hats at the moment. He lectures during the day and then, after work, puts on his author鈥檚 hat and writes fiction. I think he鈥檒l really enjoy being able to focus on his writing and finally having a bit more time for himself.

Our family is spread all over the world. His children are in Scotland and Switzerland, while mine are in Western Australia, the Gold Coast, Auckland, and Wellington. They鈥檙e all busy building their own lives, which is exactly what we hoped they would do. We鈥檒l visit them, they鈥檒l visit us, and with Europe on our doorstep we鈥檒l also have plenty of opportunities to explore.

We鈥檙e both looking forward to a slower, more relaxed pace of life, becoming part of the local community, and embracing everything that comes with living in Bulgaria. 馃槉馃嚙馃嚞

@JimJ Thank you. We鈥檝e moved quite a bit over the years鈥攆rom New Zealand to the UK, back to New Zealand, and several times within New Zealand鈥攕o we鈥檙e fairly familiar with the relocation process.

We won鈥檛 be bringing much in the way of whiteware or furniture, but we鈥檒l definitely be shipping a Full Container Load (FCL) and perhaps a few additional items via (LCL) if needed.

We understand there鈥檚 a limited three month window after arriving in Bulgaria to import our household goods, so we鈥檙e planning around that.

One thing we definitely have to bring is our books! I write, my husband writes,and both his daughter and his late sister are/were prolific writers, so books are very much part of who we are.

We鈥檒l also be bringing our quality bed (our wool-filled mattress is far too comfortable to leave behind!), kitchen and dining equipment, tools, security cameras, and a few other things that have taken a lifetime to collect and mean a lot to us.

We鈥檝e given away far too much during previous international moves, and this time we鈥檝e decided not to do that again. I鈥檓 sure relocating won鈥檛 be cheap, but we鈥檇 rather take the things that are important to us than spend years replacing them. Whatever we don鈥檛 take, our grandchildren will be delighted to have, and anything left over can be donated.

My passions are cooking and painting, so those are definitely coming with me!

I鈥檝e already started sorting through everything and slowly packing (it鈥檚 a big job). One advantage of having worked in international relocations is that I know how to pack for overseas shipments, prepare a detailed inventory, and photograph everything before it goes into the container. It takes a little longer, but it can make a real difference to the overall shipping costs.

I鈥檝e found the FIDI website really helpful for understanding what can and can鈥檛 be imported. I鈥檓 also planning a few trips over beforehand, so I鈥檒l take some clothing and other essentials with me each time, and purchase a few things in Bulgaria until our shipment arrives.

I suspect our most expensive piece of 鈥渃argo鈥� will be hubby鈥檚 cat! 馃槀 He may cost us an arm and a leg to relocate, but some things are simply priceless.

@Bizet Cottage

If your cat is a real member of the family, be prepared to keep him indoors. Pet poisoning is endemic here, and you'll very likely have to contend (as we do) with neighbours who think that cats are suitable airgun targets.