UK to Kuwait

Hello zeode.

Welcome to Expat.com!

You can consult our shipping partner for a free quote : https://www.expat.com/en/luggage/middle-east/kuwait/

Hope you'll get some tips from other members.

Thank you,
Aurélie

Zeode

We have recently arrived in Kuwait, we decided to rent our place in the Uk furnished thinking we would rent a furnished place out here, however once we started viewing flats we decided that unfurnished was better value for money and the flats much better. As a result we have had to furnish our flat, although as we have only been in a week I would say more part furnish at the minute!!

I would say that furniture is about the same as the UK ass long as you shop around, there are also a lot of ex-pats moving home that sell their stuff before going. A lot of these seem to be desperate last minute things so you might be able to pick up a bargain! They have IKEA here!! Although it is maybe 5-10% more expensive than the UK.

I am sure that like us you will uncover hidden costs that you haven't thought of so I guess it is whether you have the spare cash to start again or whether you want the security around a definite price for moving your stuff.

There are options for short term furnished lets if you need to arrive before your luggage, this will of course also give you spare time to look for the right place. My wife came out ahead of my daughter and I and rented on a month by month basis prior to finding a lot term rental.

You will also discover the bureaucracy in Kuwait is spread far and wide and I have no idea on the red tape you will need to get your stuff once it arrives in Kuwait, we considered sending our car out by sea packed up with a load of our stuff but then once we were here decided that thee hassle was more than the worth.

Hope this helps and good luck with the move, we are loving so far but be ready for a lot of ministry visits associated with your visas!!

Jon

Hi Jon and Aurélie,

thank you very much for your help! To be honest i've been trying to get rid of my husbands leather sofa since we met (its lovely but humongous!!) so am not sure if i'll share that with him!!

We were thinking of just starting again if we ended up with an unfurnished property given how much the cost of removal may be. Did you get any quotes when you were moving? If it's cheaper to take the minimum and just hit Ikea like a woman possessed that may be an option. As you pointed out the hassle may not be worth it for us. We should have a reasonable amount of cash (if we end up in Kuwait its up in the air at the moment) so it shouldn't be a problem. I was concerned about the red tape aspect of getting stuff into the country as I've heard its quite bad!!

I really appreciate the guidance, thank you!!!

We didn't bother with a quote so have no idea, we looked in to moving the car and that was going to be about 2k. Remember as well as the cost of shipping there is also a fee to pay when you collect it from the port. I tried to ascertain the cost of this and they ranged from £50 to £500, it may be decided on the day!! We packed up the TV and paid excess luggage to bring it on the plane and then packed everything else in to suitcases and paid for the excess, because we were lucky enough to be flown business by our company, the luggage allowance is pretty good although avoid Emirates and Ethihad, BA is the best (and most expensive) and then KLM/Lufthansa. However price moving all your stuff, I found lots of agencies in the UK, they will be able to give you a quote online or over the phone to give you a ball park figure for say half a crate or full crate depending on how much stuff you have. Coincidentally I spoke to another lady today at TES who was hoping to rent furnished but everything she had seen she felt was a bit tatty and not somewhere she thought her and her family would settle. In the end we decided to pay a little extra in order to have a home where we were comfortable other we felt we may never settle here.

One top tip, I decided last minute that I could fit in the electric screwdriver for weight reasons, a few visits to IKEA, I now wish I had included it!!!!!!

Good Luck and let us know how you get on!

Hi Jon,

I would agree, would rather have somewhere we are comfortable!!! You've given me some (very useful!) food for thought, I appreciate you taking the time out to give me some advice!! We'll see what happens, if we do re-locate I'll feel a bit more prepared!!! Cheers!

HI People,
Just one suggestion as everyone seems to be such a fan of Ikea (dont' get me wrong..I spent many a KD there and still do, but there are cheaper and good quality alternatives) - take a look at a place called Banta in Farwaniya (that huge block all with furniture outlets)  - I just ordered a couch, made to measure and made from scratch locally, at half the price of Ikea

Sportsman - I agree we have also found some great furniture in other shops as well as the basics from IKEA!!

It turns out that if we move the company will organise our shipping or provide a reasonably generous allowance....whew! Thats one less thing to worry about!! Thanks for all your suggestions!!

Zeode, at the risk of sounding like a killjoy.......

Some things to think about from experiences some colleagues have had. When you first move out are you staying in temporary accommodation whilst you find somewhere, this is often the case and the company usually sorts this out. If you want some recommendations then let me know! These are generally furnished and available on a month by month basis. So here is the issue. You arrive in Kuwait and stay in one of these furnishes temp accommodations, find somewhere to live and arrange a date, usually the first of the month. You will need some considerable skill or luck to combine your furniture arriving for this date!! Is is of course not impossible. I presume the company will arrange a container for you, which will travel by sea(?) and therefore take about six weeks.

Good luck with everything and ask if you need any help! All my questions have so far been answered by the great folks on this forum!!!

Jon

Hi doubty!

yup we considered this as we would end up with a container (and the six week wait!!) and we decided we would look for temp accom,  we would take the stuff we really need for the first two months as extra cargo on the airline. Even if we ended up paying an extra month of temp accom to be on the safe side we would be ok with that, moves are always riddled with little hiccups and likely to be expensive. We will know shortly if we are going so i'll def come back to you if we need some help temp housing, thank you very much for the offer its very kind of you!

it cost us £2000 for a 5cubic meter crate wich took just under 2months then u have 2 arange with customs when it arrives can be a long day at customs

Hi,

I am moving to Kuwait this August and my company doesn't provide shipping allowance. Moving from the UK, how can I get my extra luggage to Kuwait for a decent price? We will have 2 suitcases and 2 guitars.