We decided that we would not ship our trunks immediately after leaving SA, as we wanted to be sure we had a place and were more settled before squeezing the extra 204kg's into our apartment. So last week we arranged for our trunks dropped off at CosmoTrans in SA and after a few e-mails back and forth - and payment with my SA credit card, they were on their way!
They arrived yesterday and I could finally go pick them up today!!! When I got to the shipping company, they asked if i had a money order, which I did not I did have cash and a credit card, but these were unacceptable - so I had to jump back into my CR-V and go looking for a bank. Found a bank and got the money order - then made my way back to them. They now hand me documents that I need to take to US Customs to get the clearance... sigh.... so off to US Customs I go - just down the road luckily. It was now 4:20 and they close at 4:30. The shipping company said that they would most likely tell me to come back tomorrow to clear the stuff... AAARRGGHH. However, I said many a prayer and God obviously heard them, because at the US Customs - the officer, took the papers and my green card and then came back about 5 minutes later and stamped everything He handed it back to me and told me to take these forms back to the shipping company and collect the trunks. So back in my car and off to the shippers again!!! I got there at 4:50 and they were closing at 5:00!! They were so surprised to see me, and said that's the fastest they have ever seen goods cleared at Customs! But my prayers worked and I got all my trunks in the back of the CR-V and headed home!!!!
It was fantastic opening them up and finding our old SA items. Nathan (who has been sick the last couple of days), forgot all about his cold and his eyes lit up and his smile brightened the room, when he saw his old toys!!!!
What was even more special is that my friends and family have put a few special things in the trunks for us. I found some belated birthday presents which included a Springbok Rugby blanket, towel, cap and Jersey!!!! Something I wanted so that I might meet other South Africans in Cleveland!! It was fantastic. Other special items included Horlicks, Five Roses tea, Milo, Wellingtons Sweet Chili Sauce and hundreds of chocolates!!!
If anyone needs to ship stuff from SA, I highly recommend CosmoTrans, who charge $4 per kilo for consignments of 100kg's! They were also very easy to deal with via e-mail.
Now its up to Liesel to find space in the apartment for all these new things - good luck to her
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