Packing for relocation to KSA, do's and dont's

Having gone through six international moves, I can tell you that this is traumatic to nice furniture. Just a heads up. With the exception of doing something stupid, there is really no restriction on what you can bring with you. With books, DVDs, CDs, etc, put a label on each one with your name and badge number because it might possibly get taken for review before it is returned to you. I kept my furniture in climate controlled stoe for 15 years. When I finally got it out, I got rid of most of it. My tastes had changed. If you bring December holiday items, they might be accidentally stomped on repeatedly by customs. Even October holiday items are not allowed but it is not likely that customs will look through every single box. Unfortunately they can be a bit like Zorro with their box cutters when going through your things. It is what it is. Remember that Aramco housing can be smaller than where you currently are living. You can always sell things once you arrive but you are not likely to get fair value. Ikea is only 5 minutes away.

With regard to Aramco restrictions, they are pretty clear. No vehicles, boats, etc. if you could somehow manage to get in a 40 ft container full of artificial pine trees, you would become a multimillionaire but I really wish to discoue you from making the attempt. Even Aramco would not look kindly on that. Movers will not pack things like spices but if something accidentally makes it into a box while their backs are turned, no harm no foul. A few spices are actually restricted like vanilla and nutmeg that I know of. Most spices can be found here but you might go for months at a time without seeing them. In particular I have trouble finding sage so I will offer that sage advice. If a container ever had alcohol in it at any point of its existence or might even be suspected of having done so, leave it in the USA.

And for those of you who don't know what a CD is, it is an old technology for storing music. Just Google it.

I expect your packers will do an excellent job. They usually do. My last move I got some damage due to the way the nicely packed furniture was stored in the container followed by vibration during road transport. If you do any of the work yourself, it might affect the insurance claim in case of damage because they will mark the inventory that you packed it yourself.

In customs, the guys get out their box cutters and, while I don’t think they go out of their way to do harm, they are more interested in speed than care. Luck of the draw really. One of my leather couches got sliced on the back but not enough to actually look inside – just a really bad scratch. They can go through everything if they choose to but I think they usually start going through things and, if they don’t find anything too unusual, they begin to lose interest. Can also depend on how hot it is outside. Once in Abu Dhabi, I had an entire 40 ft container gone through at the port. Movers tried to help but customs had an army going through my shipment and there was no way to keep up. After they were done, there was no way the movers could get everything repacked and into the container again. On a move to Dubai, the guy opened three boxes at random, just peered inside and stamped the release once he saw they matched the inventory.

I personally would have no issue bringing a stock of OTC medicines and do so annually during repat. If you have prescription meds, hand carry them. Saudi Arabia is beginning to crack down on some prescription meds where they manufacture a similar one in country. Non-competing meds are not so much of an issue. They are just trying to help out the budding local industry. If you tried to bring in OTC meds by the tens of thousands, they will draw attention - especially ones that can potentially be used as building blocks to something else if you understand my meaning. Nyquil and Afrin spray are my absolutes and first on my Walmart list when I go back. Pharmacies are easily available here but you might not find your familiar brands of things. I believe you can still buy many things OTC here that would require a prescription in the USA or Europe. There is a GNC here but if you have a favorite vitamin, certainly bring it.

With regard to safety seals, although not impossible, I think the probability is low they would be broken. It did happen to me once but only that once and only one bottle. My reference to ethanol containers was for the non-denatured variety. You can easily buy sanitizers, first aid supplies, etc. here. I would recommend, however, that you bring a nice supply of Unguentine or similar pain-free product if you have kids. This might prove worth its weight in gold. I would discoue you from bringing too many things like liquid cleaning products. I also recommend you do not allow any aerosol cans in your shipment. If your container arrives in the hot weather, those could explode. Bring oxiclean powder. Very helpful. Another thing you might want to bring is water softener salt for an automatic dishwasher. I’ve never found the salt here. It isn’t totally necessary but I just want that red light on mine to shut off. Tired of looking at it.

Look at your inventory list before you sign off on it. Make sure it generally correctly represents what is in each box. When they start opening boxes and finding significant mismatch, they will want to dig deeper. If everything looks like it should, that is what they want to see. I don’t think they will take things from your shipment without a compelling reason. Carry anything valuable with you – especially electronics.

I would not go overboard on 110V appliances unless you will be living inside an Aramco community. The national voltage is 220V and, at some point, even the communities may switch over. It was discussed a few years ago when the government banned importation of 110V appliances. I bought the very last 110V vacuum from Zaina a few years ago. Even in the USA, large clothes dryers are 220V so no urgency to bring one of those.

If you choose to bring appliances, my personal preference would be Sears Kenmore because Zaina is their official rep here and should be able to easily get spare parts. Appliances are tricky though because, unless you know where you will be living, you might not know how much space to plan for. I have my own fridge (large) and the one provided by the company as well as an upright freezer and we use all that space. The plus side of Aramco appliances is that they repair them.

Not all houses have gaes. I bought a craftsman gae door opener for my previous house and never had any issues with interference. My current house has a gae but it is so short that there is no room for the bar so I could not install the opener and got rid of it. Since Zaina was forced to stop selling 110V appliances, gae door openers are scarce here and only come up for sale when someone changes house or retires.

The plug adapters are a fire hazard but only because people put things like irons and microwaves on them. They are not designed to handle a lot of current. Great for electronics though. Even so, the ones available locally are pretty poor quality.

I agree bringing a grill is a money saver. If I were to do that, I would get hold of the manufacturer and buy different jets for LPG if they offer them. A grill cover would be highly recommended.

I don't know what the general experience on finding 110V light bulbs is any more. I have hoarded about a 50 year supply so will never have to buy another one here. They may become more scarce. I did buy some incandescent bulbs at Tamimi a couple of weeks for bedside lamps ago but the new energy efficient ones may be a challenge to find at 110V. I don't know that for certain though.

Lasting 5-25 years is great news. Means I'll never have to worry about changing a light bulb since I will be gone before then. No more trying to remember "lefty loosey righty tighty".

Or is that "righty loosey lefty tighty"? Oh well. Doesn't matter now.

I live in Dhahran community and use charcoal barbeque. Fuel is easily available although wood chips not so much. You might throw chips in your container.

Just to build on the comment on car seats - be aware that many vehicles here do not have built-in anchors for the 'LATCH' system (i.e. the metal hooks that your car seat clips on to). Some have the anchors, just not all.

If you are transferring your seat between your own vehicle and another vehicle that does not have the anchors (e.g. when my wife uses taxis), it is a huge pain to get the seat buckled in using the lap belt.

I have been researching, and Britax has a system called ClickTight that supposedly makes it super-simple to install the seat using the lap belt.

Moving the seat has become such a nuisance, I am actually going to buy one of these Britax seats on my next trip Out of Kingdom, as I haven't been able to get one here. If you have small kids, this is one thing worth splurging on.

Another thing worth spending on is a Maclaren umbrella stroller with the shoulder strap. We have a larger City Mini stroller but we never use it because it's too cumbersome to get in and out of small shopper buses, taxis etc.