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 Jeff Steiner's Americans in France.Resource for people that would like to live or travel in France. |
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ForumRead Message
| Subject: | moving to france-what to bring |
| Date: | Thursday, August 10, 2006 |
| Name: | annabella lajuzan |
| Message: |
Hello, We are moving to France in a little over a month and we have a few questions.
1). We both have computers and rely heavily on them for work (self-employed) should we bring them or buy in France? 2). Should we use a moving company? If so any suggestions as to which one to use...we are moving from Houston, TX? My husband is a French citizen but has been living out of the country for over ten years now. Thus we are rather unaware of all that is required. |
Replies Posted 5.
| Name | pgwcojbva ludk |
| Message | rgdfu qzjtdr cnumtdlp bzfgvknd eknmbl opitb gcrq |
| Name | Valerie |
| Message |
The best thing to do is just keep the hard disk and buy a basic set up whenever you move.
That, or invest in a laptop and take it with you on the plane. |
| Name | annabella lajuzan |
| Message | Thanks Lori and Heather for responding to my post. Heather your information was invaluable. Has anyone heard anything about shipping computers with Fedex? or shipping it with the rest of our household effects on the boat to France? We are thinking of doing one by boat and the other Fedex. Thank you in advance for any information you amy have :-) |
| Name | Heather |
| Message |
About your computer let me give you some really sound advice from recent experience!
I had been living in France for a year and a half with my French husband.. while here we purchased a computer I relied heavily on. After a while we made the decision to move back to my home state of Texas. We shipped our computer via DHL which was quite costly (about 200 euros). DHL did mishandle my computer somewhat.. a few dents and mishaping of the case and even left the computer on our doorstep without having us sign for it when that was part of the specific request! However trying to live in the United States did not work out for us. My husband was unable to find a job along with myself and we had to move back to France. We shipped our computer again via UPS and thus my still continuing disaster started. I recieved my computer after a long period of time because I was not told I needed to have a paper stating that I was not trying to sell my computer and that it was older than 6 months. I had to fax a letter stating this along with a copy of my passport to Paris where it had been held up for 6 days. I recieved my computer and heard all kind of metallic noise rattling in the box.. I opened it to discover that all the cards where not in place and had been moving around inside during shipment, the case was so mishapen that it will no longer close properly. I had insured my computer and sent a claim in right away because my video card had components broke off to where it only displayed red. They took it yesterday to determine if the damamge was their fault and returned it to me today with new damage (DONT USE UPS). I am still waiting for someone to contact me about the damage. Some other things to keep in mind.. the US voltage on a computer is 115v, in Europe it is 230v. If you have a power supply that allows you change the voltage you will need to do this! I forgot to change mine and byplugging in the computer (it doesn't have to be on) I caused my power supply to explode.. it wasn't fun and I had to purchase a new one. You will also need then a new plug for the computer since the prongs on the end are not the same. You can purchase these at any computer store. If your computer does not have a power supply that allows you change the voltage and doesn't really have anything special to it except certain items on your harddrive or one or two special cards, I would just suggest taking those parts and purchasing a new one.. the trouble I have gone through with UPS has been quite unplesant. Another thing.. you may want to bring along a US keyboard out of person prefernce the French keyboard is "AZERTY" and has some keys in odd places. |
| Name | Lori |
| Message |
Annabella - the computer issue is a personal one. Since your husband is French, I would opt to buy them here as you will have the local guarantee for service and the fact that all the details on the system will be written in French should not be a problem. You can always switch the keyboard (bought here) from French to U.S. style, so that is no issue, but you probably already know that. Others may have a different opinion. If you have a U.S. machine and need to call for service in France, the words and technical terms are different on the U.S. machine than the French one. This has caused me problems in the past.
We used North American International for our goods. They use a French service once the goods arrive in France. We had absolutely NO problems. There were a couple of broken items, but we had insurance and they paid very promptly. Good luck. |
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