Getting stuff to Norway (the boring stuff followed by some deep thinking)

Right so getting stuff to Norway, it has been very tedious to say the least. Firstly I really wanted to take my motorbike with me. I'd put a fair bit of money and a lot of love into it and it would have been a nice little piece of freedom and familiarity in my strange new world.

No ferry exists between Norway and England any more. There was once a Newcastle to Bergen rout but it is sadly no more. We did read articles suggesting it would be back for the summer but alas it was not too be and more expensive options would have to be explored.

Firstly I semi seriously looked into the idea of driving a huge van with someone. It is a days worth of driving not including sleeping but I was still tempted as a cool road trip. No company I could find though lets you do one way van renting. Why these huge world wide rental companies cant arrange that I will never know but still that was the fact, and besides petrol ect would probably cost a bomb anyway.

Next idea was a container and have it shipped. One company I checked offered a container for £1500, thanks but no thanks. Another haulage company was around the thousand mark also so we knocked that one on the head pretty sharpish. After all this we then also found out that Import tax on my bike would be about £1000. I couldnt believe it, I was totally wounded and looking at prices over their you can see why the tax is so high. All their bikes are all more than twice the price that they are here. The heartbreaking truth is then I could neither get my bike their nor even sell it and buy another one as I'd still be about a grand short. Tragic, but it was what it was and nothing anyone could do about it (short of giving me £1000 but no one seemed up for it).

Anyway there was still other things we'd like to take over, my nice tele for example and all our belongings. I found out that I could ship ten tea chests (these are about 2/3 times the size of a large suitcase) for £750, once again not an option for us.

So as it can be seen the whole ordeal has been one big cock up from start to finish and finally the solution we have gone for is pay extra to take two suitcases over. This is costing about £50. That should sort all our clothes at a push but basically nothing else. Laptop is a must but my Xbox and projector are doubts and TV of corse a no no, along with all my other positions, guitar, ornaments ect. These will hopefully all be stored with family and then brought over, over time as people visit or we come back and forth.

So there we have it. If your emigrating to Norway and your very low on cash, my experiences suggest your in for bad times. I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about all this to be honest. The bike is tragic, as is my lovely TV and I think it will generally be very strange to just not have any of my possessions around me. I suppose I always thought that some of the things I had I would have until I could afford to upgrade them. It is kind of disheartening to just lose so many assets and be left with just a suitcase full of clothes I need to diet to fit back into.

That is being very negative about it I know. I will be fine I have no doubt and these are all things that can be replaced eventually. I dont actually consider myself to be that materialistic, but it can be hard to tell I think. Either way I know it is what it is and nothing can be done and I will manage as there is so many other good things to look forward. I never lose sight of why I am doing this, which is because I believe Marianne and I can build a life over there. The transition wont be easy, but it will all be worth it in the end.