Thailand to England move

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dtaai-maai
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Re: Back in the UK after 14 years

Post by dtaai-maai »

Mr.VS and I have decided to spend the rest of our days back in England after twenty glorious years living in Thailand. We'll be leaving at the end of July next year, and would love to find someone to take over the rental of our house.
Vital Spark wrote: Sun Sep 24, 2017 10:32 pm You've given me some good food for thought, and I feel more confident that we'll be able to slot back into UK/European culture. It's difficult to imagine what we'll miss until it's not there.

Suffolk - my home county is astronomically expensive, as most rentals are holiday lets. Scotland is considerably cheaper, but I could I put up with the Scottish weather? I've decided that I definitely need a house with a conservatory, so even when the weather's shitty I can feel like I'm outside.
Hi VS and Parahandy, I'm putting this here to avoid cluttering up the Classifieds.

Don't be daunted by your decision, I think you'll enjoy another challenge. Where will you relocate to? Scotland, Suffolk or somewhere in between?
Or a motor home...?

One positive that I'm sure you pair of petrolheads will appreciate is the thriving used car market. I'm on a relatively tight budget, but I feel quite restricted without wheels. I'd thought about buying a scooter, but it's a bit chilly for that. I've just bought a 14-year-old Mazda 2 Sport for £500. It's done a genuine 100k miles and has 12 months MOT. It's not the sexiest car on God's good earth, and I realise you wouldn't be seen dead in it, but my point is that there is plenty out there for under a grand. Insurance was a bit of a shock, mind - the cheapest I could get is just under £600 fully comp (which is generally not much more expensive than 3rd party, and sometimes cheaper...).
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Re: Back in the UK after 14 years

Post by Vital Spark »

Ah, yes, some wheels. Mr. VS has been positively drooling over what we can buy for under £1000! We obviously don't have a 'no claims' history for insurance purposes, and I guess we'll be paying more for that (in the first year) than the price of the car.

As far as location is concerned, we're hoping to find a nice stone cottage (within walking distance to a pub) in the north of England. Northumberland, or possibly just over the Scottish border seem to offer the best value for money. My family all live in Suffolk, but being full of DFLs (down from London) the rental prices in that area are ridiculously high. Mr.VS's sister lives near Hexham and has a self-contained kind of granny flat that we can stay in as long as we like until we find the right house, which will save us a lot of money while we're house-hunting.

The move is both daunting and exciting from a logistics point of view, as we have a lot of stuff here that we won't be taking back to the UK. There's going to be a lot of spring cleaning and de-cluttering going on in the Spring.

VS xx
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Re: Back in the UK after 14 years

Post by J.J.B. »

Insurance-wise you could look at some of the firms that offer the fitment of a ‘black box’ device to lower your premiums in the first couple of years until you build-up your no claims discount. When I insured my daughter’s car, they offered a 10 month as 12 option so she could build the no claims more quickly, and made it look cheaper for me too...

This was with Admiral Insurance.
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Re: Back in the UK after 14 years

Post by Bamboo Grove »

Vital Spark, you could start your own thread, where you describe all the things you must and will do before the move and then how life goes on after your move. Will be interesting to follow. Maybe I should have done that a decade ago, too.
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Re: Back in the UK after 14 years

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Bamboo Grove wrote: Sat Nov 11, 2017 3:41 pm Vital Spark, you could start your own thread, where you describe all the things you must and will do before the move and then how life goes on after your move. Will be interesting to follow. Maybe I should have done that a decade ago, too.
That's a good idea, BG. Not only for selfish reasons in that perhaps 5 years later we won't remember how we managed to do it, but to give/get some advice about relocating to another country. Early next year we'll probably start shipping/posting (don't know which is cheaper, yet) stuff back to the UK, so we'll start posting then. I'm sure I'll be including: :cuss: , :? , :| , :banghead: , :shock: , and :D before the end of July.

VS
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Re: Back in the UK after 14 years

Post by Norseman »

Just like BG and the rest of the crew we not only love you but Parahandy, too and we all want to wish you a safe and sound travel back home next year, and a big hug from the board to our lovely members who do, tell,and inspirere the rest of us to at least to DO something before we die.
You both are some of the most inspiring people I'd ever met!
Thank you both and just like BG I'm really looking forward to either the wheel-back story, train or fly back history.
You really inspire us all.
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Re: Back in the UK after 14 years

Post by pharvey »

Bamboo Grove wrote: Sat Nov 11, 2017 3:41 pm Vital Spark, you could start your own thread, where you describe all the things you must and will do before the move and then how life goes on after your move. Will be interesting to follow. Maybe I should have done that a decade ago, too.
Spot on idea - I'm sure there'll be a few interesting tales there!! :D
Vital Spark wrote: Sat Nov 11, 2017 11:07 pmEarly next year we'll probably start shipping/posting (don't know which is cheaper, yet) stuff back to the UK, so we'll start posting then. I'm sure I'll be including: :cuss: , :? , :| , :banghead: , :shock: , and :D before the end of July.

VS
When we moved to the UK from China a few years back, we used Seven Seas (http://www.sevenseasworldwide.com), who we found to be far cheaper and far easier to deal with than the usual suspects such as Pickfords etc. Various options ranging from large cardboard boxes to trailers. Certainly well worth a look and easy to get a quote online nearer to the date.

:cheers: :cheers:
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Re: Back in the UK after 14 years

Post by Vital Spark »

Thank you, Norseman, for your lovely comments. I've only met you once (when we did the trip presentation thingy in Hua Hin) and hugely enjoyed your company.

And thank you PH for the Sevenseas recommendation. A colleague of mine also recommended them for his wife's trip from the UK to Thailand.

I don't want to hi-jack DMs thread with bits and pieces, because I'm want him to continue to amuse us with his tales of life in England. Keep posting, DM.x

Mods: Maybe we could split this thread. I'll start a new one now.

Thanks,
VS
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Thailand to England move

Post by Vital Spark »

Mr.VS and I will be moving from Thailand to England after spending 20 fabulous years here. Yes, we'll be sorry to leave for many, many reasons, but we're also looking forward to the next chapter in our lives.

We're going to be moving next year on July 31st (as that's when Mr.VS's contract expires), so have over 8 months to panic.

VS
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Re: Back in the UK after 14 years

Post by lindosfan1 »

I have used 7 seas UK to Thailand, Thailand to Greece, Greece to UK. No problems with transport or customs Excellent company. They will also supply the boxes to pack.
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Re: Thailand to England move

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Vital Spark wrote: Sun Nov 12, 2017 1:08 am.......Mods: Maybe we could split this thread. I'll start a new one now. Thanks, VS
Posts split from DTM's "14 year" thread to this one, but due to posting time and dates from various participants, posts are not in the correct order with Vital Spark's opening post at the top showing her as author of the thread. I've asked someone who knows more than me to try to adjust the posts later this morning. Pete :cheers:
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Re: Thailand to England move

Post by caller »

Probably not needed, but another thumbs up for Seven Seas from me, albeit UK-Thailand. The whole process was easy-peasy from start to finish and cost was very reasonable. They collected from my home in the UK and delivered weeks later to my then home in Thailand.
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Re: Thailand to England move

Post by Vital Spark »

Seven Seas seem to be coming up trumps at the moment, thanks for the recommendations folks. :cheers:

We're not going to be moving any furniture or large items, just some books and personal stuff, so we're now trying to work out how many boxes we need. Looking at their site, the largest box is not that large, so we might need a few. We do have quite a lot of artwork hanging around the place, and that will definitely come back with us. I guess the easiest option would be to de-frame them, roll them up, and post them in tubes. Unless someone has a better idea...

I'm desperately trying to think how we can dispose of furniture. Unfortunately, Nakhon Pathom doesn't have a wonderful forum like this for expats where we could advertise them. Some of our friends here might buy the odd bit and piece, but I'm hoping that whoever rents the house would like to buy some things. I've thought about setting up a stall outside the house for smaller items - a kind of garage sale without the garage. It might be a fun way to spend a sunny Sunday. :D

As far as my advert on this forum is concerned, I've had some interest and am in touch with them. We're going to do a video of the interior for anyone interested, so if you want a look inside our house just let me know.

VS :wink:
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Re: Thailand to England move

Post by Big Boy »

I would also give Seven Seas the thumbs up, My only disappointment was arrival in Hua Hin. They would only move the stuff as far as the tailgate. I had to offload everything, while the driver and his mate watched. They then wondered why there was no tip.

As for disposal of your furniture, have you considered Facebook? Many areas have a Buy and Sell page, and despite many people's feelings about Facebook, they do excel in this area. If you don't use Facebook, consider it for this one-off task.
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Re: Thailand to England move

Post by Pleng »

Vital Spark wrote: Wed Nov 15, 2017 1:51 am I'm desperately trying to think how we can dispose of furniture. Unfortunately, Nakhon Pathom doesn't have a wonderful forum like this for expats where we could advertise them. Some of our friends here might buy the odd bit and piece, but I'm hoping that whoever rents the house would like to buy some things.
Why don't you rent the house as furnished??
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