Leavin' on a jet plane
Well, here endeth my American adventure! I've packed, had one last fresh bagel, and said my tearful farewells (the lab gave me a lovely American cookbook and a framed print of our study organism as parting gifts). Tomorrow, I'll be flying back across the pond to start my new and exciting no-longer-a-postdoc life. I'm nervous as hell. But in a good way.
On a practical note, does anyone know a cheap way to get our possessions shipped over? My new employers will reimburse relocation expenses, but we're on the broke side and don't want to pay too much up front. It's only a few boxes of winter clothes and kitchenware, plus books, but all the prices we can find seem to start at a houseful. Any recommendations in comments or by email will be gratefully received!
On a practical note, does anyone know a cheap way to get our possessions shipped over? My new employers will reimburse relocation expenses, but we're on the broke side and don't want to pay too much up front. It's only a few boxes of winter clothes and kitchenware, plus books, but all the prices we can find seem to start at a houseful. Any recommendations in comments or by email will be gratefully received!
Labels: Crossing the Pond, Self-Absorption
posted by MissPrism at 8:44 am
10 Comments:
Have a safe flight and enjoy your post-post-doc life.
I just found your blog recently, and I love it. I hope you'll keep writing from the other side of the pond.
In the same vein as your Drosophila experiment, I have analyzed the possibilities that apples and oranges can be validly compared from linguistic, mathematical, empirical, and legal perspectives. I hope you enjoy it.
Best of luck on your trip,
Dave
Thanks Dave!
I will have to write a paper someday on the comparative genomics of apples and oranges in order to cite your perspicacious study. However, I'm siding with Prof. Brookfield on the chicken/egg question.
Ooh, what does Brookfield say about chickens and eggs?
I seem to remember hearing about people finding other people, via internet groups, to share a shipping container with. But perhaps you don't have enough stuff for that?
JB on the egg dilemma.
I'll look into the sharing container thing, but I doubt we've even got a respectable proportion of a whole container. Luckily there are special low postage rates for books so we can just post those boxes.
Booooohhh, I thought of that solution to the chicken and egg dilemma first! And kept to bore people to death with it. Have a good flight, btw. :-)
Our country will be that much less intelligent without you.
Enjoy your future. I do hope you will continue this blog, because I don't think I can live without another report from the Institute of Pissing About. Either way, though, thank you for your highly diverting contributions to my morning surf, and best wishes for whatever's up the road.
Good luck moving everything! Let me know when you've got a semi-permanent address and I'll send you the scarf.
Oh my God!
YOU were behind Mr. Tangerine Man!
I should have made some sort of red carpet gesture when you graced my humble blog!
John
http://jangliss.livejournal.com/
Moving materials overseas can be challenging at best, and expensive at worst.
The best thing I've found is to take as much "stuff" as I can in my luggage ( based on the maximum allowable weight/parcels per your airline's criteria), and ship the remainder by post.
The post office tends to be a bit pricey when shipping large parcels, but can be better than their competitors (UPS, etc), depending on the size of the items.
Also---edit, edit, edit the items for packing. If you can live without the item---give it away. There's always a local charity that can find a good use for it.
This makes the most sense when you are giving away an item you like, but could more affordably replace, than ship home.
When trekking through Europe, I found it best to dump the majority of my clothes ( old thrift store purchases), to make room for the gifts I was bringing home for friends.
The gifts were apreciated, and the clothes affordably replaced ( $30 can get you a wardrobe in some of the better thrift stores here.)
Good luck on the trip! I've been a lurker for a bit, and I enjoy your blog.
How can one no longer be a postdoc? Is it possible to go backwards in academia?
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