After moving internationally 4x, hands down the most stressful part of expat life is PACKING UP OUR LIVES. I don’t know if it’s just me, but seeing strangers take apart the life that I so carefully & mindfully built up gives me anxiety. But it doesn’t help that we’ve had some negative experiences in the past too.

When we were moving from Berlin, it was so stressful seeing how packers handle our stuff, that I hid in the bathroom with our then newborn for the 2day pack out. Here’s the story:

I came out for 2 mins because a neighbor was inquiring about buying our plants. In the 2mins I was out I saw a guy packing up a trashcan that still had trash in it. And when we arrived in Manila, I saw that they threw away chocolate wrapper inside one of the boxes. Strange!

LEARNING THROUGH EXPERIENCE

For me experience is really the best teacher & when it comes to moving we’ve had so many “learning experiences” in the past that we did not want to repeat:

• A mover who didn’t give us boxes ahead, so I ended up packing then unpacking our stuff to repacking into their boxes.
• Mover who came with too many packers for the space, that it was too overwhelming for us.
• Caught someone packing a valuable that magically appeared outside the off-limits area of our home
• I’ve caught packers packing rice into a trashcan
• and (as mentioned above) wrapping a trashcan with trash inside it

I wasn’t as anxious this time because Team Leader Beng was just so on top of how they were packing everything. He would even correct or teach them if he felt they could do it better.

PACKING UP OUR HOME DURING A PANDEMIC

I think it’s worth noting that we were moving in the middle of a pandemic which is a unique & difficult time. What’s the difference between this & packing out during a regular time?

1. During this time that is essentially a lockdown, it was important to know the rules of the city & of each building.
2. How many movers are allowed to come in? CROWN RELOCATIONS came with a Team Leader + 2 people. Perhaps if it wasn’t the pandemic, there would be more.
3. I think at that time our building required them to shower in the building’s pool bathrooms before coming in. And they were required to have masks on.
4. We also kept some windows + main door open even with the AC on because we wanted them to be cool & comfortable (not too warm) with fresh air circulation.

Strangely enough, despite the stressful conditions – pandemic + lockdowns – TD & I agree that our packout from Manila to Switzerland with CROWN RELOCATIONS has been THE LEAST STRESSFUL PACK OUT WE’VE EVER EXPERIENCED. Why?

HIGHLY SKILLED & KNOWLEDGEABLE TEAM

CROWN RELOCATIONS‘ staff are courteous, organized, HIGHLY-SKILLED and diligent in ensuring the safety of every item they handle. We could feel their passion for what they did & see THEIR EXPERTISE throughout the 3 DAY PACK OUT.

I think one of the reasons for this is that they invest in their people. CROWN RELOCATIONS‘ staff have been with them for years & this means that they take care of their people & this gives them the experience & expertise to know things that they learned through experience – the best teacher!

• Team Leader Beng was so knowledgable & he was really guiding the packers so that they did BEST PACKING PRACTICES.
• We could feel the LOVE & CARE the Crown packers put into packing. They were so careful!
• They didn’t come with too much packers – even less than normal because of the pandemic – so it wasn’t overwhelming for us.
• Yet despite only having 3 people for a large condominium, they were amazingly FAST, DELIBERATE & VERY CAREFUL with out stuff.
• Beng regularly updated us HOW MANY CUBIC METERS we were at, so we could decide what items to prioritize.
• Even the way they organize stacked the boxes that were done was so well-thought out!

You guys know HOW MUCH LOVE, CARE & THOUGHT I put into creating a beautiful #diplohome for my family, so having PACKERS THAT SHOW AS MUCH CARE FOR OUR BELONGINGS matters. I never knew how good packers could be until we tried CROWN RELOCATIONS. They were really a cut above the other movers we’ve tried.

Because of all the the above TD and I did not experience the ANXIETY ATTACKS we did during previous pack outs. I didn’t feel stressed watching them handle our belongings.

Glad I listened to my bestie @talallulah – also a trailing spouse – who told us that she could really see & feel the difference of CROWN RELOCATIONS compared to other movers that she used.

RESPONSIVE MOVE MANAGER

Aside from the team packing up our stuff we were constantly in touch with our MOVE MANAGER, Steph, during pack out. If Beng was unable to answer the question, Steph was easily accessible.

• CROWN RELOCATIONS was very RESPONSIVE to questions about what we could include in our sea shipping & what wasn’t allowed.
• This is super important because there are SO MANY DIFFERENT RULES depending on the destination country.

With a quick 3 day pack out, we had to decide on things rather quickly so we really appreciated how easy it was to coordinate with them & how quickly they got back to us.

SAFE & ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY PACKING OF ITEMS

You guys know that I try to go for more sustainable options whenever I can and God knows that moving uses up a lot of resources. So I am so happy that CROWN RELOCATIONS uses environmentally-friendly packing materials that are still of the highest quality so our possessions were properly protected for its journey.

I was pleasantly surprised that they did not use bubble wrap like our previous movers. Only thick brown paper & tissue. I always tell everyone, the best wrapping for FRAGILE ITEMS is paper, not bubble wrap, if you know how to do it.

The only thing that was not biodegradable was the packing tape, but not using bubble wrap is already a huge thing!

E-TRACKING SYSTEM

I think this was the MOST AMAZING upgrade to moving! I could hardly believe it. I remember when it was so manual. TD would hold his laptop and type on an spreadsheet the box number and what it contained. Or my BFF would literally write down everything on a piece of paper! How far technology has come!

With CROWN RELOCATIONS‘ E-TRACKING SYSTEM they would scan the barcode in each box & the contents would be recorded so if you want to know what’s in the boxes you can check it online.

Another thing is that you can also check online where exactly your shipping container or boxes are. How convenient is that?

We were SO happy to say goodbye to manually writing/typing the contents of each box!

LOADING OF BOXES IN THEIR OWN TRUCKS

I think one of the coolest things about CROWN RELOCATIONS is that they have their own branded trucks for both Manila & Switzerland. They do not outsource trucking so we can be sure of the security of our items & they are able to reduce transport costs.

I went down to check on how they loaded our belongings & was happy to see that they were loading it as carefully as they packed it. Beng went through the process with the team loading the truck so that they knew where to pass from the service elevator to the truck & how to carefully load from the trolley to the truck.

SAFELY STORING OUR PERSONAL BELONGINGS

It’s important that the mover has the FACILITY TO SAFELY STORE OUR BELONGINGS while we:

• Wait to fly to Geneva (we were delayed because of COVID lockdowns for 2 weeks before we could fly)
• Look for a home to move into in Geneva (We always wait to get our ADDRESS before having them ship the items because if our SHIPPING CONTAINER arrives to the new location before we have our new address, we will be charge DEMURRAGE which is super expensive)

Demurrage refers to the charge that the merchant pays for the use of the container within the terminal beyond the free time period. 

– UNCTAD

CROWN RELOCATIONS gave use FREE 30 DAYS STORAGE in their facility in Laguna.

OTHER MOVING RELATED POSTS

I’ve also written about my 13 TIPS ON HOW TO CHOOSE A MOVER DURING A PANDEMIC and CROWN RELOCATIONS’ PRE-MOVE CUSTOMER SUPPORT so please check out these super informative posts!

OTHER MOVING RELATED POSTS:

What is Unaccompanied Air Baggage or AUB
Delivery of Our Shipment & Unpacking Our Lives
The Importance of Getting Transit Insurance #CrownCare
What is a Mobility Advisor?

CROWN RELOCATIONS

Get a quote today!

MANILA

+63 28 822 1123 • manila@crownrelo.com
Mon – Fri 8:00am – 5:30pm • Sat 9:00am – 1:00pm
Lot 5 Block1, Phase 7-A,
Laguna Technopark – Special Economic Zone, Binan, 4024 Laguna,Philippines

CEBU

+63 32 520 7206 • cebu@crownrelo.com
Mon – Fri 8:30am – 5:30pm
Warehouse 9 Forestview Realty Development, Kapaz Road, Brgy. Catarman, Liloan, Cebu

I hope you find this post helpful for your future moves! Please feel free to share it on Social Media & with friends who might need to read this too!