Freight Forwarders, UK Electrical Goods & Medical Insurance

[bunsk2007 0]

Hi everyone..

I have some 'general' questions about moving from the UK to the US, hope this is the right place to post them.

Freight ForwardersCan anyone recommend a Freight Forwarder in Southern England?

We are wondering if we will get a better rate if we can book some months in advance!

UK Electrical goods

Are there any specific ones that are worth taking /possible to take to the US?

i.e. Computers, printers, laptops, digital radios, fridge, freezer, tv?

Medical Insurance

Can anyone recommend good health insurance? The one I know of is Blue Cross Blue Shield- is there anyone else that's worth looking into?

For people who had their policy start as soon as they stepped foot on US soil, how far in advance did you apply?

My husband (the american) isn't covered on a US policy either as he's been living in the UK for about 19 years now, so we need to start the whole thing from scratch.

[bunsk2007 0]

oops...

have just realised there is a sub-forum for the UK and maybe I should have posted this there...sorry folks!

[Lansbury 19]

I would recommend Allied Pickfords, we used them last year and were very happy. Most shippers will not accept a firm booking until around 14 days before you are set to go, some a little longer. Nothing to stop you getting quotes now, we did about 4 months before we were hoping to move, at least it gave an idea of the cost.

You can bring computers, the most you will need to do is replace the power supply with a US on. If the monitor only works on 240v you will need a new one of those. A five minute job and very easy. Most laptops have a 110 - 240 power supply and are ok.

Anything else don't bother get new over here. I did bring a DVD player and TV but both are multi region and would work here, most will not.

[bunsk2007 0]

Thanks for the speedy reply!!

Will check out Allied Pickfords tomorrow. Nothing like getting started right away.

by the way, looking at your timeline above...what do these 2 mean?

2006-06-21 NOA1 received file date 14-06-06

2006-09-08 NOA2 approved received

Thanks:)

Jess

[Lansbury 19]

Thanks for the speedy reply!!

Will check out Allied Pickfords tomorrow. Nothing like getting started right away.

by the way, looking at your timeline above...what do these 2 mean?

2006-06-21 NOA1 received file date 14-06-06

2006-09-08 NOA2 approved received

Thanks:)

Jess

Pickfords have a reputation for being expensive we found them to be mid-priced and the service from arrangers to packers was excellent. When they knew what ship the container had been put on they e-mailed that to us and we Googled the ships name and found a web site where we could track it all the way from Southampton to Los Angeles.

NOA is notice of action NOA1 is when the Embassy acknowledged receipt of the I-130

NOA2 is when they sent the letter say the I-130 applicatiopn was approved and I could apply for my visa.

[Dan J 277]

I would recommend Allied Pickfords, we used them last year and were very happy. Most shippers will not accept a firm booking until around 14 days before you are set to go, some a little longer. Nothing to stop you getting quotes now, we did about 4 months before we were hoping to move, at least it gave an idea of the cost.

You can bring computers, the most you will need to do is replace the power supply with a US on. If the monitor only works on 240v you will need a new one of those. A five minute job and very easy. Most laptops have a 110 - 240 power supply and are ok.

Anything else don't bother get new over here. I did bring a DVD player and TV but both are multi region and would work here, most will not.

Actually most computer power supplies are dual mode. There is a usually a small switch on the back that will switch it between 110 and 240. You will need a US style cord though, and that should be pretty easy to get at a computer store.

Laptops have a universal power adapter, and just need a plug converter. You may be able to get a US style power plug from your laptop manufacturer. That is if the cord that plugs into the wall separates from the rest of the power adapter. If your laptop is older, you can check ebay too.

But any other electronics are really not worth taking. For a TV, UK uses PAL, the us uses NTSC. HDTV's are the same at least for picture format, though if it has a built in tuner, that may or may not work. But you can use a cable box or get a separate tuner if thats a problem. DVD's are Region locked, UK is region 2, US region 1. In order to play dvd's from region 2 on a region 1 player, it has to be unlocked to be region free and that only works on some players. If you have a region 2 dvd player, it may be worth bringing with you if you want to play region 2 dvd's.