Packing for Portsmouth: Prepping for Another Move!

These last few months have been filled with less travel and more packing... that's right, it's time for movers to pack up our lives and ship everything back to the USA! After our final trip to Slovenia for President's Day Weekend, our focus shifted to cleaning, organizing, and pre-packing our belongings so they were ready for the movers.

Hugo and Reynolds were definitely a little stressed with all the change, but extra cuddles and reminders that they weren't going to be left behind helped to settle them!

February 25: Household Goods Pickup

On the morning of February 25, at 6:50 am, our doorbell rang, and the movers were ready to begin. The Ferris Moving Company sent seven men, and they wasted no time in wrapping our home in bubble wrap and packing paper!

While Bryan supervised the movers, I held puppies in our bathroom. Hugo and Reynolds weren't stoked with all the people in our house, and to keep them out of the way, I sat with them in our master bathroom. With blankets, dog beds, and their breakfast (that went untouched), these two dogs passed the time with long naps and extra pets from their mama!

Bryan got the less-enjoyable job of overseeing the movers as they packed up our home! The team took a breakfast break about 2 hours in, so the dogs had a chance to leave the bathroom and check out the progress.

After a few more hours of work, the team took a lunch break. Bryan and I had a lunch of leftovers, while the dogs explored all the boxes in the garage and in the yard. After a little sunshine break, it was back to the bathroom for the dogs as the moving truck moved out front and prepared to haul off all our things!

This was also the first move where custom wooden crates were built for some of our furniture. Our giant wall mirrors, dresser mirror, and glass toppers for our dressers all had custom crates built to help protect them during transit. We did receive an invoice stating that these custom crates cost the military over $200...so lucky for us, all our moving costs are covered by the US military!

At 4 pm, Bryan finished signing all the paperwork, and the signed seals were placed on each of our seven crates. Next time we see these wooden boxes, we will be at a new home in Suffolk, VA!

So now we are left with the less-than-ideal military loaner furniture for the next two months. When stationed overseas, we are given the option of loaner furniture to offset the long shipping time for our belongings to reach the new duty station. This is a perk that isn't available stateside, so we chose to ship our belongings with enough time to guarantee they will arrive around May 1.

When we moved from Japan, we were quoted 3 months for HHG shipments to cross the world. This time around, we were quoted 61 days from pickup to delivery in Virginia. So here we are: two months on loaner furniture to hopefully have our life's comforts sooner on the other side!

But hey, a note from a now seasoned overseas pro: request an extra single bed from the loaner furniture office and use it as a couch. The loaner furniture couch is very dentist-office-like and NOT comfortable whatsoever. A twin mattress, with the back seat cushions from the provided couch, is a much more comfortable setup, and is worth the strange looks you get from the delivery guys when you ask them to put the bed in the living room!

This long day didn't end until well into the night, as Bryan and I spent the evening cleaning all our empty rooms and closing them off, making the house less depressing and less to clean later!

Late February- Early March

While our house may feel quite sad, we didn't let it slow us down! Bryan stayed busy at work chasing down information for our PCS flights, and I continued to substitute teach at DGF Elementary School. On the rare day I didn't get a substitute call, the dogs would join me on sunny rides to base to meet Dad at work! Our weekends were spent in the yard and enjoying the Spanish spring warm weather!

March 17: Wine Shipment Pickup

Back in February, Bryan and I finalized our wine shipment! We learned that the Military will fund an alcohol shipment from Europe back to the states, and we weren't going to miss out on the opportunity to take some goodies home with us!

I reached out to a fellow Navy spouse, who is a credentialed, level-three wine sommelier. For $25, she joined us for a shopping spree at a local bulk-buy wine shop. For two hours, she walked through the store and helped us build the majority of our Spanish wine shipment based on our taste preferences, budget, and the number of bottles we wanted to take with us! The best part? She even put together the shipment spreadsheet for us and included pairing suggestions for each bottle we bought!

So with our Spanish wine shopping haul, a small selection of Spanish gins and rums that we have grown to love, and the small collection of Portuguese and Italian wines we bought during our various travels, we were ready to apply for our Virginia alcohol license.

A few weeks later, we received approval to import our shipment to Virginia! Then, on March 17, Ferris Moving Company arrived again to pack up our 149 bottles.

Shipment #2 sent to VA! ✅

April 15: Unaccompanied Baggage Pickup

All great things come in groups of three, and our shipments are no exception! On April 15, Ferris Moving Company visited the Johnson household one final time to pack up our Unaccompanied Baggage shipment that will be flown by plane to VA and is expected to arrive there in about a month.

We strategically chose to save a majority of our clothes for this final packout, knowing that once we sent our final shipment, we would be limited to the space of just our three suitcases. This worked out because Spain's weather is finally warming up enough where jackets and long sleeves aren't necessary- and we know the East Coast's weather is reaching warmer temps as well.

So while I jetted off to substitute teach, Bryan took the reins and handled this final packout! The pups told me all went well, and Bryan let me know that my "smuggled" Mercadona skincare items made it!

I say "smuggled" because sometimes moving companies don't want to ship anything liquid...and I have loved some various serums, lotions, and body washes here that I wanted to stock up on in the States! These items were successfully hidden inside the dog food storage containers underneath several layers of shoes. I have gotten too good at this!

All of this to say, our time in Spain is really coming to an end! Now we are looking forward to moving back to the East Coast, getting settled into our new home, and preparing to welcome our little Nugget!

-'til then,

Katie