Some Technical Notes About Making Aliyah - T Minus 2 months
Husband here. A few months ago I committed to paper some of the tasks and steps that need to take place prior to moving your life across an ocean. I got all of you up to about 3 months before we left. Let's dive into the last 3 months, though I'll be honest, this does seem like forever ago and there was a lot that took place so my memory may be a little fuzzy.
May 2019 (2 months prior to Aliyah)
Right after pesach it was time to reach out and start finding a company who could move all of our stuff across the world. There are basically two companies that do this (we'll leave them anonymous for now), that is, specialize in families moving to Israel. They both came around the house and inventoried our belongings and then came back to us with estimates regarding what size shipping container we needed and how much it would cost.
They were both in the same ballpark (one of the reasons why I think getting multiple quotes is a waste of time, because the amount of time you take getting quotes usually erases any amount you would save by finding the least expensive provider, that, and also who is to say that the least expensive is always the best). The major difference between the two was one mover shipped our stuff directly from Boston, but was unable to give us a solid date it would arrive. The other would give us a solid arrival date, however he needed to unload and repack our stuff once it was moved out, so there wasn't any "guarantee" that none of your stuff would disappear.
The bottom line is, your stuff is going on a boat in the middle of an ocean with the help of an industry that is notoriously secretive and unwilling to adopt newer technologies, so really once your stuff is packed up, just don't think about it too much until it arrives. You'll feel better.
All this "lift" stuff being said, you also have to think about how much stuff you need. We were two weeks without our stuff in Israel and aside from needing a high-quality table and a sofa, there wasn't much we really NEEDED. But as I saw one of my friends say on Facebook, part of marriage is collecting a lot of stuff that is hard to say goodbye to, so that's why you have companies that move families across the world.
The cost of a lift is approximately $8000, and this seems to be the cost from where ever you live in America. It might be a little less from the immediate New York area. It may seem expensive, but then you realize it is $1-$2 per mile your stuff travels, so I don't think that is so bad. I ended up insuring our belongings for about $17000 which cost a couple of hundred dollars. It wouldn't have been enough to replace everything had there been a total loss but it would be enough to get some beds and tables and some clothes.
There is a whole art to preparing the lift, and many people use it as an opportunity to stock up on "creature comforts". Assuming you move to a pretty civilized part of Israel, you'll be able to find most of what you need here in Israel. Some things are definitely more expensive (pure vanilla extract at ~$8/oz.!), but definitely available/accessible. If you're on a budget, this is one area where you might want to be conservative with what you spend. More on shopping spree day later.
May is also crunch time for your aliyah visas. Overnight mail is a godsend when it comes to this. We didn't have a good scanner at home, so I was running to the nearby OfficeMax pretty frequently to print and scan things. It was easier and more convenient than asking friends each time for a favor.
I also started focusing on offloading the two cars that we owned. Taking a car is a hassle, though as friends here said, someone should really look into how to do this as cars here are super expensive. So I spent some money on advertising my car on swapalease.com. Any next owner would have to buy out what the car was valued at at the time in order to take possession but this website was willing to help with financing. I figured it was worth one month's worth of lease payments to try and save myself $1000-$2000 from breaking the lease early. In the end, no one bit, but that's life, I guess.
I/We also stated getting in our last medical appointments during this month.
We made our first payment to our aliyah concierge, and started getting the ball rolling on setting up our apartment.
We had a nice family gathering with my wife's family on Memorial Day.
May 2019 (2 months prior to Aliyah)
Right after pesach it was time to reach out and start finding a company who could move all of our stuff across the world. There are basically two companies that do this (we'll leave them anonymous for now), that is, specialize in families moving to Israel. They both came around the house and inventoried our belongings and then came back to us with estimates regarding what size shipping container we needed and how much it would cost.
They were both in the same ballpark (one of the reasons why I think getting multiple quotes is a waste of time, because the amount of time you take getting quotes usually erases any amount you would save by finding the least expensive provider, that, and also who is to say that the least expensive is always the best). The major difference between the two was one mover shipped our stuff directly from Boston, but was unable to give us a solid date it would arrive. The other would give us a solid arrival date, however he needed to unload and repack our stuff once it was moved out, so there wasn't any "guarantee" that none of your stuff would disappear.
The bottom line is, your stuff is going on a boat in the middle of an ocean with the help of an industry that is notoriously secretive and unwilling to adopt newer technologies, so really once your stuff is packed up, just don't think about it too much until it arrives. You'll feel better.
All this "lift" stuff being said, you also have to think about how much stuff you need. We were two weeks without our stuff in Israel and aside from needing a high-quality table and a sofa, there wasn't much we really NEEDED. But as I saw one of my friends say on Facebook, part of marriage is collecting a lot of stuff that is hard to say goodbye to, so that's why you have companies that move families across the world.
The cost of a lift is approximately $8000, and this seems to be the cost from where ever you live in America. It might be a little less from the immediate New York area. It may seem expensive, but then you realize it is $1-$2 per mile your stuff travels, so I don't think that is so bad. I ended up insuring our belongings for about $17000 which cost a couple of hundred dollars. It wouldn't have been enough to replace everything had there been a total loss but it would be enough to get some beds and tables and some clothes.
There is a whole art to preparing the lift, and many people use it as an opportunity to stock up on "creature comforts". Assuming you move to a pretty civilized part of Israel, you'll be able to find most of what you need here in Israel. Some things are definitely more expensive (pure vanilla extract at ~$8/oz.!), but definitely available/accessible. If you're on a budget, this is one area where you might want to be conservative with what you spend. More on shopping spree day later.
May is also crunch time for your aliyah visas. Overnight mail is a godsend when it comes to this. We didn't have a good scanner at home, so I was running to the nearby OfficeMax pretty frequently to print and scan things. It was easier and more convenient than asking friends each time for a favor.
I also started focusing on offloading the two cars that we owned. Taking a car is a hassle, though as friends here said, someone should really look into how to do this as cars here are super expensive. So I spent some money on advertising my car on swapalease.com. Any next owner would have to buy out what the car was valued at at the time in order to take possession but this website was willing to help with financing. I figured it was worth one month's worth of lease payments to try and save myself $1000-$2000 from breaking the lease early. In the end, no one bit, but that's life, I guess.
I/We also stated getting in our last medical appointments during this month.
We made our first payment to our aliyah concierge, and started getting the ball rolling on setting up our apartment.
We had a nice family gathering with my wife's family on Memorial Day.
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