Weather & Sunrise/Sunset

I'm a climate geek for a living, so I guess getting some data on here was inevitable.


Sunrise/sunset times for Lund (June is awesome! Almost 18 hours of light! Don't look at December! Scary!)

Monthly average high/low temps for Copenhagen

Swedish met society, current weather & forecasts

Internet access

**Print stuff out (city map, address & phone number of important offices) before you come. It's debilitating to be without Internet access to figure out how to do everything! So work on that first. Plus, then you can use Skype to make your phone calls to try to set everything up, rather than your $1/minute international phone!

As I understand it, you have the option of "broadband/DSL" (through the phone/cable, hardwired) or "mobile broadband," which is a USB stick with a SIM card that plugs into your computer and uses the mobile phone network.

Broadband is faster. However, the woman at the Telia store told me that you must own your place and/or have lived in Sweden for 8 months before ordering broadband (i.e., your landlord must take care of it, and you pay him/her back in the rent). (That woman also told me that I would have to pay 6,195 SEK cash for an iPhone 4, which would not be there for 5 weeks... later falsified... read on to the next entry... so, not sure how trustworthy she was).

However, if you want to try your hand at getting broadband, here are the phone numbers for two companies that my landlord recommended (though they gave him the runaround, saying that I had to be the one to order the service...)

Telia: 46-771-990-200.
Press 8 for English
1 for new orders
2 for Internet
1 for fixed broadband.
I spent about 15 minutes on hold before a delightful woman helped me, spelling out the address of the store in Lund as "O for Oprah, U for Uganda, T for Tony...". They are at Knut Den Stores Torg 1B (just south of the train station; however, I did not like the service at the store).
When I called back, they said I could get "medium" broadband service (6-8MB) including IP telephone for 389 SEK/month, once I have a personnummer. There is a 2 month trial for 99SEK to start.

Tele2: 0200-252-525. Don't think they have an English phone tree option.
http://www.tele2.se/ 0772 252525.


Another provider of internet, phone, and TV service is ComHem.

To get started quickly with USB mobile internet, I recommend the following:

1. Bring your laptop with you to the wireless store. There are several in Lund (OnOff, Telenor, Telia). The people at Telenor were the nicest to me, and had the best deal (SEK 199 for the wireless card, first week of unlimited data usage free, then top off online).
2. Wait in line patiently (some places have you take a number).
   
3. When it's your turn, play the helpless foreigner card. Tell them you want a mobile USB wireless connection, and you want their help to install it as you can't read the instructions in Swedish.
   
4. Pay for the USB and have them help you install it then & there. (This will save you the trip back to the apartment, frustration of trying to figure out Swedish instructions, and hasty trip back to the store with your laptop just before closing to plead for help).
5. To top up a Telenor card online, you need a Swedish bank account (go to http://ladda.telenor.se/ ; can view in English). It's 289 SEK/month or 89 SEK/week. I will have to go back to the store as I have no Swedish bank account, so I guess I should have paid for a month upfront. Boo.
   

Shipping Crap Halfway Around the World

Soooo... it is kind of a huge pain in the behind to ship stuff internationally. And it takes a looong time... plan on 8 weeks (unless you are more organized in advance, or more lucky than me). Horror stories on the Internet abound.

Consider that you are probably bothering to ship only your most precious and beloved possessions... it is probably worth it to invest in a reputable moving company with responsive employees in whom you are comfortable placing your confidence that they will load, wrap, ship, get thru customs, unload, etc etc. for you.

There are lots of websites that have you enter just a few details & then you will be massively phone and email spammed by dozens of international moving companies (as I learned). They quote great rates, I'm sure some are legit, but this felt sketchy to me. Pay attention to your gut feeling.

I found a few good sources for picking a good moving company:

1. Better Business Bureau - if you already have a company in mind, search for them on the National page & you can see their ratings and the number of complaints in the last 3 years. They also have an article on avoiding scams. Or you can search by your ZIP code for well-rated local companies.

2. Movingscam.com: How to avoid scams, and pick a good company (they seem to accept advertising at this site, so not totally objective, but there are many positive and negative reviews for lots of companies, which is useful, and they list the most positively reviewed companies.

3. Another source is chat boards (such as Amerikanska, also here, or Mums in Sweden, under "Tips" (not just for Mums!)).
Many sources emphasize that the most accurate quotes will come from a home inspection... even though this feels like a pain, it's probably true. And it's kind of nice to have a feeling for the person/company you'll be entrusting all your stuff to before they show up and take over your stuff. Try to get at least 2-3 quotes (based on both price & weight); the average of these will probably be a pretty accurate estimate (and can be used to negotiate a better price with a higher-priced company who offers better service).

In the end, I felt most comfortable going with a local company in San Rafael that had been in business a long time, a member of the BBB and other trade organizations (and received an A+ rating on their website), with a responsive owner who gave me his cell & home phone numbers & did what he said he would, when he said he would. His rate was reasonable but not rock-bottom, but I appreciated the peace of mind. Plus, his wife is Swedish, and he is half Swedish!

I didn't initially realize that many, if not most, local moving companies will have established relationships with "freight forwarders" and can handle international moves. You don't necessarily have to use a company marketed as "international movers".

Things I learned about int'l moving:

• Boxing stuff up: some companies ("port to port") will let you box your own stuff, bring it to the port & load into the container there. This is a way to save $ if budget is tight. Other companies ("door to door") include some or all of the packing themselves. The items can generally be insured against breakage only if the moving company packed them. A compromise that your moving company may be willing to make is to let you pack the boxes (save time/$) but leave them unsealed so the company can inspect them & verify them for the customs form.
  
• Insurance may be affected by kind of service (door or port). Most moving companies include a very minimal insurance in the rate (on the order of $0.50 per pound; for us, around 3,000 lbs, this is only$1,500, whereas our total value will be something like $20K... so, the included insurance is essentially nothing. For repair/replacement insurance, it's generally around $25 per $1000 value and it will be through a marine insurance company (which the moving company is working with).
  

• Containers: who knew there was so much to know about containers?? For door to door companies, they will somehow consolidate your stuff.
  
• For smaller shipments, everything will either be palletized (shrink wrapped to pallets) or put in wooden "lift vans" or "lift crates" (see photo), about 7'x7'x 4'. These can hold 1,000-1,200 pounds. Figure about 15-17% loss due to dead space, etc., (~166 rather than 196 cubic feet in practice). These units will be put into 20' containers with other people's stuff. You pay by volume, and it may take longer to sail since you're waiting to accumulate a full container going to the same destination. Plus, possibly greater chance of "pilferage" (the shipping company speak for, getting ripped off), more handling/forklifting (so more chance of breakage), etc.
  
• For larger shipments, you are looking at 20' or 40' steel containers. Just like on The Wire. Remember to leave breathing space for the Eastern European prostitutes trapped inside.
• Article on estimating weight of household goods (note my movers say 45 lbs per item, not 40)
• CUSTOMS & duties: Your stuff must go through Swedish customs. You can apply for relief from duties using the form on this page. (However, if you have a full service moving company, they should do this for you.)
  

International moving costs (find out what is included or not included in your quote):

1. Line haul charges

• Furniture disassembly/wrapping
• Boxing fragile stuff (moving company will not want to insure for breakage against things they did not pack themselves)
• Prepare inventory
• load into truck
• fuel & mileage
• container (crate/lift van/20 foot container)
• door delivery at destination
• unloading truck
• unwrap furniture
• remove packing debris
• Insurance (basic may be included; extra is supplemental, see above)
  

1. Documents

• Export documents
• Bill of lading ($115)
• C3 form (
• customs & border clearance
• Port fee/terminal handling/port security charge
  
• Ocean freight
• Agent fees

1. Tax relief from Sweden: http://www.tullverket.se/en/startpage/keywordsaz/az/movingtofromsweden/movingtoswedenfromacountryoutsidetheeu.4.16ca6de0120cf835feb80002326.htm

PACKING TIPS

1. Suggestions for "survival box" to open first (mark clearly)

• Soap and toiletries
• Towels
• Facial and toilet tissue
• First-aid kit
• Instant coffee or tea
• Snacks and instant foods
• Paper plates and plastic utensils
• Small pan or coffee pot to heat water
• Trash bags
• Light bulbs
• Screwdriver and hammer
• Knife or scissors to open boxes

1. Fragile stuff

• Let moving company pack for insurance against breakage
• If you pack yourself, do not stack dishes/framed paintings/etc. Have them upright, side by side, with padding in between. (This way, the weight of the other dishes is not bearing down on the bottom one).
  

1. Make sure you fill boxes to the top (use linens/clothing to save space) to avoid crushing.
   
2. If you have to pack any liquids (nothing explosive, flammable etc.), double-box inside a plastic container to isolate in case of spillage.
3. Leave out bulky items (pillows, bed spreads) rather than boxing- then they can be wrapped and used to fill small spaces, rather than having to fit in another box.
   
4. Use uniform-sized boxes as much as possible for efficient loading/stacking & best use of space.
5. Print out address labels with your name & telephone number on them, affix to all boxes.
   
6. Take photos of your stuff as you pack for insurance.
   
7. Make sure you bring the hooks and nails you need to hang paintings on the wall (perhaps tape the ones you were previously using to the back of the painting, or put them all in one place- a level and hammer would be useful too). It's a pain to arrive in your new place and have to go out to the hardware store for this.
8. Make sure you pack any tools needed to assemble furniture and bring them with you. Moment of panic when we arrived & the moving company said they couldn't put together my bed because it used standard rather than metric bolts, and they didn't have the right tools. Thankfully, I had them, otherwise this would have been a huge nightmare.

Electricity & Appliances

US electricity is 120 volts at 60 Hz, and uses a plug shape with two flat parallel blades and sometimes a third, offset, flat grounding blade.

Swedish electricity is 240 volts, 50 Hz, and uses the "Europlug" (two round prongs).

Most things that run on a battery (laptop, iPod, camera) are designed to accept different voltages, so all you need is a cheap (grounded, usually) plastic adapter to change the shape of the plug. (Check for the UL label on your appliances; it will say "input: 100-240V").

Voltage converters (also called transformers) come in two flavors:
1. Smaller/cheaper, for low-wattage items like radios, shavers, etc.
2. Bigger/more expensive, for higher-wattage items (irons, TVs, refrigerators, etc.).

They will not convert the frequency (Hz, from 50-60). For most things this doesn't matter. Exceptions are things with internal clocks (clock radios, washing machines).

In considering what to bring, I looked at the cost of appliances in Sweden:
pricerunner.se
Clas Ohlsson
Electrolux

In our case, my company was paying for shipping, so it made sense to bring stuff that otherwise might be cheaper to buy there & plan to sell upon leaving Sweden, rather than paying to ship to Sweden & presumably back to the US someday.

For example, if you figure shipping costs around $14 per cubic foot (an average from reputable companies I got quotes from), then my Cuisinart (1.65 cubic feet boxed) costs $23 to ship there... and presumably the same to come back... plus the cost of a converter (about $110 + shipping for a big one for kitchen appliances)... it may start to make sense to buy stuff there for big things that are not that expensive.

More than you ever wanted to know about all electricity everywhere:
http://users.telenet.be/worldstandards/electricity.htm

Some helpful explanations of the electrical system in Europe, coming from the US:
http://www.german-way.com/electric.html