My impending Italian Ex-Pat adventure is ***Official*** 2024-25 v3.1 (1 Viewer)

[Chemical X]

so, things starting to move fast now. we’ve got the main house here pretty much 90% thinned and packed up. the moving company does most of not all of the packing, since this is going on a container for international, but we have taken care to clear crate most of our items and unmentionables. after some fluctuation with prices and locations, we found a public storage in a great location (near the airport and in the direction of our beach condo) for only $109/mo. this is for a 10x20 unit, like a single car garage. public storage is month to month and i have seen prices in the $200 range and they fluctuate monthly kind of like surge pricing. $109- is crazy low. so….i prepaid 1 year at that price to lock it in and not worry about it. too good of a deal based on what i’ve seen. we will have some items in storage we decided not to send over, mostly pictures, some collectibles i have, my mom’s leftover stuff. i learned to disconnect the negative battery terminal so the car battery won’t drain and other things for car storage. fuel stabilizer, over inflate tires, top fluids, pull up blades. my BIL is flying down the night before our container comes and he is taking stuff we are not bringing. container is 6/1, house sale is 6/4, fly to NY 6/19 and fly to Rome 6/24. i am trying to book the car now and will knock our private insurance next.

You may want to jack the car up off the ground. This would be better for tires.

i read this, but really don’t have the ability nor bandwidth to figure this one out. i know i risk creating tire flat spots, but i’m gonna try over inflate and pray to baby jeebus.

 

[DA RAIDERS]

so, things starting to move fast now. we’ve got the main house here pretty much 90% thinned and packed up. the moving company does most of not all of the packing, since this is going on a container for international, but we have taken care to clear crate most of our items and unmentionables. after some fluctuation with prices and locations, we found a public storage in a great location (near the airport and in the direction of our beach condo) for only $109/mo. this is for a 10x20 unit, like a single car garage. public storage is month to month and i have seen prices in the $200 range and they fluctuate monthly kind of like surge pricing. $109- is crazy low. so….i prepaid 1 year at that price to lock it in and not worry about it. too good of a deal based on what i’ve seen. we will have some items in storage we decided not to send over, mostly pictures, some collectibles i have, my mom’s leftover stuff. i learned to disconnect the negative battery terminal so the car battery won’t drain and other things for car storage. fuel stabilizer, over inflate tires, top fluids, pull up blades. my BIL is flying down the night before our container comes and he is taking stuff we are not bringing. container is 6/1, house sale is 6/4, fly to NY 6/19 and fly to Rome 6/24. i am trying to book the car now and will knock our private insurance next.

You may want to jack the car up off the ground. This would be better for tires.

i read this, but really don’t have the ability nor bandwidth to figure this one out. i know i risk creating tire flat spots, but i’m gonna try over inflate and pray to baby jeebus.

My sister stored her car for over a year I would drive it every 60-90 days. It was fine. Had to reset the tpms once.

 

[Chemical X]

so, things starting to move fast now. we’ve got the main house here pretty much 90% thinned and packed up. the moving company does most of not all of the packing, since this is going on a container for international, but we have taken care to clear crate most of our items and unmentionables. after some fluctuation with prices and locations, we found a public storage in a great location (near the airport and in the direction of our beach condo) for only $109/mo. this is for a 10x20 unit, like a single car garage. public storage is month to month and i have seen prices in the $200 range and they fluctuate monthly kind of like surge pricing. $109- is crazy low. so….i prepaid 1 year at that price to lock it in and not worry about it. too good of a deal based on what i’ve seen. we will have some items in storage we decided not to send over, mostly pictures, some collectibles i have, my mom’s leftover stuff. i learned to disconnect the negative battery terminal so the car battery won’t drain and other things for car storage. fuel stabilizer, over inflate tires, top fluids, pull up blades. my BIL is flying down the night before our container comes and he is taking stuff we are not bringing. container is 6/1, house sale is 6/4, fly to NY 6/19 and fly to Rome 6/24. i am trying to book the car now and will knock our private insurance next.

You may want to jack the car up off the ground. This would be better for tires.

i read this, but really don’t have the ability nor bandwidth to figure this one out. i know i risk creating tire flat spots, but i’m gonna try over inflate and pray to baby jeebus.

My sister stored her car for over a year I would drive it every 60-90 days. It was fine. Had to reset the tpms once.

can you fly to nc every so often and drive my car?

the storage unit is so weird for me. never thought i’d be a storage guy. maybe i’ve seen too many cartoons where people are living in their units or doing weird stuff with them. i think each cartoon i watch has had at least 1 storage unit episode.

 

[DA RAIDERS]

so, things starting to move fast now. we’ve got the main house here pretty much 90% thinned and packed up. the moving company does most of not all of the packing, since this is going on a container for international, but we have taken care to clear crate most of our items and unmentionables. after some fluctuation with prices and locations, we found a public storage in a great location (near the airport and in the direction of our beach condo) for only $109/mo. this is for a 10x20 unit, like a single car garage. public storage is month to month and i have seen prices in the $200 range and they fluctuate monthly kind of like surge pricing. $109- is crazy low. so….i prepaid 1 year at that price to lock it in and not worry about it. too good of a deal based on what i’ve seen. we will have some items in storage we decided not to send over, mostly pictures, some collectibles i have, my mom’s leftover stuff. i learned to disconnect the negative battery terminal so the car battery won’t drain and other things for car storage. fuel stabilizer, over inflate tires, top fluids, pull up blades. my BIL is flying down the night before our container comes and he is taking stuff we are not bringing. container is 6/1, house sale is 6/4, fly to NY 6/19 and fly to Rome 6/24. i am trying to book the car now and will knock our private insurance next.

You may want to jack the car up off the ground. This would be better for tires.

i read this, but really don’t have the ability nor bandwidth to figure this one out. i know i risk creating tire flat spots, but i’m gonna try over inflate and pray to baby jeebus.

My sister stored her car for over a year I would drive it every 60-90 days. It was fine. Had to reset the tpms once.

can you fly to nc every so often and drive my car?

the storage unit is so weird for me. never thought i’d be a storage guy. maybe i’ve seen too many cartoons where people are living in their units or doing weird stuff with them. i think each cartoon i watch has had at least 1 storage unit episode.

If my FIL was still alive, he’d have loved to do it. He probably would have changed the oil and given it a little tune up while he was at it. Good dude. My sister had no issues with her unit. But I live in the land of milk and honey. Not too much storage living in these parts. She definitely chose a nice place with good security though.

 

[Chemical X]

so, the jets have 6 prime time games for some odd reason. i mean, they haven’t done anything for 2 decades so now i have at least 6 games that will start around 2:15a local time.

 

[DA RAIDERS]

so, the jets have 6 prime time games for some odd reason. i mean, they haven’t done anything for 2 decades so now i have at least 6 games that will start around 2:15a local time.

A. A. Ron. He’s a clown that attracts a lot of flies. The nfl will probably regret it.

 

[Chemical X]

Wife had gall bladder removed today and we are hoping this will alleviate her pain….lord knows, she needs to be able to eat pizza and pasta.

 

[DaVinci]

so, the jets have 6 prime time games for some odd reason. i mean, they haven’t done anything for 2 decades so now i have at least 6 games that will start around 2:15a local time.

They are doing you a favor. Subscribe to NFL Plus and watch the condensed games the next day. Get your misery over in about 30 minutes.

-signed Falcons fan living in Japan

 

[Chemical X]

so, hard pursuing the most cost effective option of buying a vehicle. sight unseen of course. VW Polo, well equipped. The polo does not exist in the US.

 

[Chemical X]

i gave my boss on 5/20 a 2 week warning that if my job won’t allow me to work remote, then i will have to give notice by EOM, likely thru 6/28. he was bummed and willing to work this out, but i fear upper mgmt. and security won’t allow me to work from italy. i can, it’s not really difficult, but takes 2 to tango. waiting to see what they have to say…..

 

[Chemical X]

talked to moving logistics team today. goal is to have my container leave savannah 6/11 and arrive port of naples 7/23. i avoid duty tax, since i will be an italian resident. let’s hope we don’t hit a bridge!!

 

[WVU Alum]

Very jealous. My wife won’t even consider moving out of this school district.

 

[Chemical X]

1st P.O box has been obtained.

 

[Chemical X]

So, we decided to maintain our US cell numbers for a multitude of reasons, but i couldn’t support ATT cost at over $160/mo. Went over to TMobile today on the over 55+ go plus plan and got in at $110/mo, including taxes. They gave us 2 new iphone 15s and we have included international roaming with unlimited text and data. I hate paying monthly for something we won’t use, but this was really the only logical choice for now. Plan comes with airplane wifi and other perks. 2FA is a key.

 

[Alex P Keaton]

i gave my boss on 5/20 a 2 week warning that if my job won’t allow me to work remote, then i will have to give notice by EOM, likely thru 6/28. he was bummed and willing to work this out, but i fear upper mgmt. and security won’t allow me to work from italy. i can, it’s not really difficult, but takes 2 to tango. waiting to see what they have to say…..

Any reaction from employer yet?

 

[Chemical X]

i gave my boss on 5/20 a 2 week warning that if my job won’t allow me to work remote, then i will have to give notice by EOM, likely thru 6/28. he was bummed and willing to work this out, but i fear upper mgmt. and security won’t allow me to work from italy. i can, it’s not really difficult, but takes 2 to tango. waiting to see what they have to say…..

Any reaction from employer yet?

nothing last week….maybe i get an indication this week.

 

[Chemical X]

so, found a needed workaround for something i didn’t think about. in italy, we are likely not going to pay for tv. maybe just use some freebies and specific apps. with nordvpn, i’ll be able to access geoblocked content, but……i just realized this weekend that to watch tv via an app, like food network, it asks for your TV provider to link. we won’t have a provider. my SIL has DTV and is nice enough to give us her login and password, this way we “have” a carrier. i am giving her a 2 week vacation destination in july, so it works out.

 

[Chemical X]

holy sh!t

 

[Ilov80s]

Sunday I head out for 2 weeks in Venice and Rome. So excited!

 

[The Z Machine]

holy sh!t

Wha happen?

 

[The Z Machine]

My wife got her work visa for Switzerland today. She leaves for Geneva tomorrow.

 

[Chemical X]

My wife got her work visa for Switzerland today. She leaves for Geneva tomorrow.

i see wife, her and she but nothing about you…..

 

[Chemical X]

Finally found a moment to sit on the deck, stare at the atlantic and catch up….been a hectic 2 weeks or so. over this period, we shut down and sold our house, moved to the beach temporarily and loaded a container. first off, my company said once i leave the country they really can’t figure out a way to make things work, so i gave notice that 6/21 is my last day. no regerts (sic). my BIL came down 5/31 and rented a u-haul to take our leftover items. he hired moving help for 4 hours, we don’t load anymore at our age lol. 6/1 was supposed to be my movers and then his guys but, saturday night my movers called that their truck was down and they were trying to get a uhaul, but could they come sunday…..we relented. so, saturday went smoothly. we even went out to a nice meal. since we moved all the beds out we stayed at a springhill that evening. sunday comes around and my BIL hits the road at 9a then my guys show up and i immediately get the “you have toooo much stuff for our truck and a 20 foot container”. problem is, they did the estimate based on a video tour, more in this later. they start boxing and wrapping everything. a bit haphazard, but this is what they do. truck starts filling up too fast. it’s a 20 ft u-haul which holds less than 1,000 cubic. they have a van that can hold another 500-800 or so, but we need to start making decisions on items that won’t make it….of course on a sunday no one is around but we try to call our sales mgr, who is none too happy we call on a sunday and he is already on the phone with the move foreman. i basically tell them i will go up to a 40 ft container, no problem, but how did we get here? sales guy tells me and my wife we put HIM in a bad spot because we provided the estimates and weight…..huh? so, a decent amount of items didn’t make it. exercise equipment, power equipment, small storage items and chatchkas. IVL never had the decency to even call me, they just sent me a bill for going from a 20 to a 40. issue i have is that i paid for a 40 now and the truck didn’t have space for a 40 and items got left behind. not sure how IVL doesn’t have a contingency for this. but, moving forward…..i got a neighbor of mine to take many leftover power items and 800-got-junk for the remainder. we hoteled sunday and finished up the house monday. left some wine and a nice congrats card for the new owners. i think this is a nice thing to do. oh, did i mention that we had our own u-haul 10 footer for items that we were moving to the beach and not italy? that was loaded up by my BILs guys. drove that to the beach monday evening and my wife followed in the SUV, which had a bunch of bins. man, you don’t realize how much stuff you have and guys, check the amount of bags and shoes your wives have, you’ll thank me at some point. tuesday morning i had more moving help come to the beach to unload the u-haul. they were awesome. returned the u-haul and got blitzed at a mexican place on chips, ceviche and margaritas. since then, this week, we’ve been unpacking, consolidating and getting used to a 1 bdrm condo. we eat on the deck overlooking the atlantic each night. so much garbage and so many boxes to dump. we are cleaning the condo as if we won’t be here for 1 year….maybe wife’s family will come by for a trip, but need to make sure everything in the cupboards are dated to last. tuesday afternoon we are heading back to our old neighborhood, as i have an ortho appointment at 4p. hotel overnight and wednesday i see my doctor for the last time and she sees the endocrine doctor. we will likely make a quick public storage unit run, as we have many empty plastic bins to store and not enough space at the beach. head back to the beach wednesday…..saturday the 15th we need to complete the shutdown and sunday we head back to our old area for 3 nights. leaving on a sunday as my wife has to work and losing monday traveling and settling will disrupt her schedule. wednesday 6/19 we fly to ny for a 5 night layover. wife can visit family, cemetery, hair cut, maybe i hit the cemetery in fort lee. 6/24 we fly out and arrive rome 6/25 to begin! positive note, cigna global close care plan rep from UK was awesome to deal with! we purchased private insurance for now thought italy has national care, until we settle and figure stuff out. our policy is basically hospitalization with a 3k deductible, then 20% copay with a 2k OOP max. outpatient is a 1k deductible with a 20% copay and 3k OOP max. i set these limits knowing that she has an HSA that can hold a bit over 3k, which is going to be our copays. we also took dental and it offers some included items like x-rays, cleanings. just about $500/mo combined and i pay quarterly for a 3% discount. crazy crazy days. but almost have a foot in italy. our gambian came back to find our lawn overgrown and he’s been working hard to mow and landscape. i won’t need him much since i am quite good at lawn care and won’t have a job. i do plan to have him swing by every so often for yard cleanings, leaves, etc. might be easier to answer questions if anyone has them rather than blather on. also, we have family visiting us in italy 7/15. yikes!

 

[The Z Machine]

My wife got her work visa for Switzerland today. She leaves for Geneva tomorrow.

i see wife, her and she but nothing about you…..

Not yet for me. I'm staying back and packing up the house, getting kids to sleep away summer camps, and trying to convince my company to give me a work contract from Switzerland.

Did I mention that my 80 year old mother in law gripped in her apartment while trying to pack it up for the move and roke her patella and femur? Such good times over here the last few weeks.

 

[The Z Machine]

Holy ****, that's a lot, ChemX. These moves aren't for the faint of heart.

We are hoping for a 20' container, not taking much furniture other than 1 bed + mattress. But based on your info, I'm scared we'll need a 40'.

 

[Chemical X]

Holy ****, that's a lot, ChemX. These moves aren't for the faint of heart.

We are hoping for a 20' container, not taking much furniture other than 1 bed + mattress. But based on your info, I'm scared we'll need a 40'.

make sure you get a physical walk thru estimate. we had no bedroom furniture fyi, just a leather sectional and clothes clothes shoes and clothes. outdoor patio set.

 

[The Z Machine]

Holy ****, that's a lot, ChemX. These moves aren't for the faint of heart.

We are hoping for a 20' container, not taking much furniture other than 1 bed + mattress. But based on your info, I'm scared we'll need a 40'.

make sure you get a physical walk thru estimate. we had no bedroom furniture fyi, just a leather sectional and clothes clothes shoes and clothes. outdoor patio set.

Only 1 of the places I called was local to Baltimore. All others wanted to do a video walk through. We have 5 people and likely more furniture to move including a dining room table and a buffet.

What was the cost difference between the 20' and the 40'?

 

[Chemical X]

Holy ****, that's a lot, ChemX. These moves aren't for the faint of heart.

We are hoping for a 20' container, not taking much furniture other than 1 bed + mattress. But based on your info, I'm scared we'll need a 40'.

make sure you get a physical walk thru estimate. we had no bedroom furniture fyi, just a leather sectional and clothes clothes shoes and clothes. outdoor patio set.

Only 1 of the places I called was local to Baltimore. All others wanted to do a video walk through. We have 5 people and likely more furniture to move including a dining room table and a buffet.

What was the cost difference between the 20' and the 40'?

basically, around 4k. 20 was about 12.5k, 40 16.8k or so. plus insurance if you go that route.