Movers

Movers are a strange lot. Back in Minneapolis three movers from Mayflower packed our belongings. These guys looked a bit rough, if you know what I mean. They were very polite to us and thorough in their work. I respect anyone that makes a living doing a job that I personally hate doing myself. There are fewer things in life that I dislike more than the physical process of moving. Prior to the move, I had used local movers twice. There is nothing extravagant about paying $400 to two pros with a truck. If you really want to see who your friends really are, forego the pros and ask them to help. Frankly, movers are generally a bargain. Even renting a truck is expensive. I don't know anyone who has actually only paid $19.99 to rent a U-Haul for a day. It just doesn't happen.

Back in Minneapolis I was paranoid about the move. My wife can vouch for that fact. I did not like it that we had signed no paperwork prior to the move. The estimate was merely oral- we had no written copy. Our main contact at the moving company was difficult to track down when we phoned with questions. While everything was inventoried during the actual move, they were not sealing the container on site, since they needed to crate all our glass from various pieces of furniture. I figured if there were any problems, we would be complaining from another continent, weeks in the future.

Our paperwork turned out fine. Final cost was based on weight, and the estimate was almost exact. We paid an extra $300-something for a crating charge, but that was the only real hidden cost. Still, I had paranoid thoughts that we might be extorted on the other end, once our container arrived in Norway.

Our Norwegian movers were better scrubbed than their American counterparts, although one was heavily tattooed (including knuckles and neck) and wearing a Rancid t-shirt. They looked like underfed kids. These guys were amazing. They arrived expecting to unpack everything for us. I told them we just needed the furniture reassembled. The three of them unloaded everything with no complaints, and expertly reassembled the furniture. Nothing was damaged or scratched. It is amazing that our possessions made a journey by truck, train, ship, and truck again over thousands of miles. We are still organizing everything.

Today Lise's parents arrived with a truck and car to help us take borrowed furniture back to Kvitsoy and to help us store extra items at Lise's grandmother's house. Lise's uncle joined in helping. It was an eight hour job to load everything, catch the ferry, unload, and then wait for the return ferry. It is really wonderful how family all helps out in these situations. We have had so much help from so many people on both ends of this move-- it is truly amazing.