Our Stuff

Has arrived.

Things I've learned about international shipping:
1. It's not as simple as the shipping company makes it seem.

2. Ask about hidden costs up front. I was not pleasantly surprised when our shipment got transferred to the UK shipping agent (after having paid the Canadian company) and the welcome email included a list of possible additional expenses.

3. If you've been out of the country for more than a year, you will likely have to pay duty (duties?) on your goods. This whole fiasco delayed delivery by almost a month.

4. Make a detailed inventory of your goods, even if the shipping company says it's not necessary. Said detailed inventory would have been helpful when we had to come up with the exact value of our goods so that customs could calculate the duty we owed.

5. Another hidden cost not listed should have been 'reception of international calls on your cell phone in order to direct truck driver to your home'. Can't wait to see this month's bill!

6. Paris + big trucks + street construction = impossible. The delivery truck ended up parking a good three blocks away after deciding that it was too big to fit down our street. And this was after getting completely turned around trying to find our street due to the construction on the road that you kind of need to take to get here. Things you forget to mention when you don't actually drive... Also it was raining. Good thing we didn't have that much stuff!