Moving company

If you were like me...you would get rid of everything if you are moving here. I gave all of my family antiques, silver and anything they valued to my two children. I sold my house and after a year in California (I'm from Colorado)gave my car to a Marine and his wife who needed it. I went to Iraq and could only take one duffle bag weighing no more than 120 lbs. I returned to NYC for 3 years and simply furnished my apartment "off the street" as it is so easy to do - people don't want to pay to move furniture.

I came to Tunisia after putting the furniture back on the street for new people in NYC to take. I came here with....you guessed it, only a duffle bag.

I have a furnished, two bedroom ground floor residence, part of a family compound of sorts, but private with courtyards and old tile.
I am slowly collecting antique Tunisian furniture and, being a DYI, fixing it up and restoring it. I plan to live here until I die so someone else will have to worry about getting rid of it!

If you have "someone" move you, like Allied Van Lines, it is always very expensive no matter where you move. I have looked at having things sent by way of container shipment and they seem to calculate it by the square foot, not the weight. I can't give you any suggestions as to who to contact as I don't have anything to move. An Internet search should show something. Many non-Tunisians who move here because of their work have their corporations take care of, and pay for, all of that transition.

I do not know about moving your goods and customs. I do know that, like many countries including Italy and France, their customs can be quite corrupt. I recently had a box to my daughter in Paris "disappear" and never arrive after spending $75 on postage. This is not the USA.

In general, the Muslim and Islamic culture is quite "honest." That is, there is no tipping here as they don't take money unless they earn it. However, they will charge "tourists" more for an item if they can get away with it. In markets a price is always negotiable and I usually don't pay unless they come down at least 50 percent. I just walk away to another vendor.

As my profile indicates I have moved around a lot. I have no family (all dead) so I have gotten used to doing things on my own. I have given up the consumer attitude as I don't really "need" anything anymore. It's quite a relief not to have a lawn mower, a car, a broken car, a house to paint, a rug to clean, a tree to trim, etc. Just another stage of life that has to be accepted.

Now, if you plan on coming here and giving dinner parties, having guests from the US drop in all the time, etc. you will have to ramp up your lifestyle with all that goes with it.

My usual routine: Wake up at 0500. Have some tea. Go to the gym at 0700-0830. Fix a meal (I eat Atkin's), then maybe shop a bit, or go to the beach (10 minute walk) and snorkel, maybe catch the lite-rail into Tunis and shop in the souk for old Tunisian things, maybe take in a museum, work on my computer and organize trips (Internations.org - take a look at it, much better class of people on it than here), work on other computer things, Skype with my son or daughter if the time is right, watch some BBC, read a book on my KindleFire (I can download and check out books from the NYC library) have another meal in there someplace, read myself to sleep and start all over the next day. I have trips planned to the Istanbule opera, Pompeii, Stuttgard and Paris. Not much planning to do, I just get on a plane and....go.

I'm afraid I've not helped you much. This, and Muslims, is not a "consummer" society so you make due without some things. I didn't have a rubber band the other day so I tied a sack with twine - just like in 1955!! Many people who have money (Tunisians) buy their major items like washers, furniture, etc. in Paris and have it shipped here somehow. Here, either you "have" money or you are dirt poor. There is no middle class as we know it. There are wealthy people but I have no idea what percent of the population they make up. It's all about clan, family and who you know. That is, Tunisians socialize with large, extended families. Not neighbors or friends down the block. OK, I'm sure you have information overload.