How to Move to Hawaii

If you plan to take your belongings, more than what fits in a suitcase, a move across the ocean can be costly.  And tricky.  For example, 95% of freight cost is based on dimensions.  So when we try to get a quote on shipping our belongings, a moving company needs to know how many cubic feet of stuff you have.  If you have large items (bed, furniture, etc), they need dimensions on every piece.

This has been a little awkward because we're not packed, have no idea how many boxes we'll need, yet need to make a decision about which moving company we plan to use.  We kicked off the process this weekend with our first yard sale.

 

It went well.  We started small, more of a decluttering of our home, and only set up shop for 5 hours. We sold several lamps, end tables, and one chair from our living room.  The rest of what you see is clothes, baby accessories, toys, games, DVDs, our Christmas tree... all the typical yard sale stuff!

We plan to post some of our bigger items on craiglist (washer/dryer, kitchen table, couch, etc) and also have another yard sale in June with more furniture (bookshelves, closet organizers, microwave stand, etc) and the rest of our belongings that don't make the list!  Because of the high cost of shipping anything across the country and the Pacific Ocean, we plan to take only the bare necessities. So far, our list of things we're taking to Hawaii includes clothes, books, kitchen stuff, and our bed.  I'm hoping that list grows a little, and I think Eric is hoping it shrinks!

Next up, shipping time.  Most companies average 4-5 weeks shipping time from our home in Tennessee to our home in Kailua-Kona.  I know this sounds odd, but we actually need longer, so we will likely pay a company to hold our belongings for another 3 weeks until we arrive.

Several have asked what our timeline looks like, so I'll leave you with a brief outline of our summer.  Our crate will leave our home in Tennessee (in route to Kailua-Kona) on July 1.  We will then vacation with the Paul family in North Carolina.  We will return to Nashville for 2 weeks to finish up work and will live with a hospitable and generous family from our church.  The month of August we will spend in Michigan and Illinois visiting friends and family, and will depart for Hawaii the first few days of September.  

In some regards, it sounds simple.  In others, it's a complicated mess in which we need to pack up (or sell) everything in our home, live out of suitcases for 2 months and sell our cars in a timely fashion.  In addition to getting ourselves physically ready, we are also in the midst of the fundraising processes.  As missionary-pastors, we are responsible for raising funds to support 1/3 of our salary.  I'm certainly grateful I have Eric as a partner to do this with!