What to Bring and What to Leave Behind When Moving to the UK

Sophie S.’s article, “Moving to the UK? Household Goods to Bring and What to Leave Behind,” talks about what household items you should bring when moving to the UK and what things you might want leave in the States. British homes are comparatively smaller than homes in the US. You need to keep that in mind when deciding which pieces of furniture you are going to take with you. It will be hard to ship big, bulky furniture items unless you already have a home set up there. Many houses in the UK are more compartmentalized- especially older houses- than in the US where open floor plans are popular, so even though your new house may be larger than the average house, the furniture might not fit. Place the very large items in storage or sell them before moving. The voltage in the UK is 220v whereas in the US it is 110v. For all your electronics you will either have to buy new ones or purchase a transformer for each of them. It costs much more money to shop in the UK than in the US. There will not always be a Wal-Mart type store in the city you are in. It is a good idea to stock up on your favorite items before you move. There are close alternatives for some things, but the price will be higher. European items will be more affordable in the UK than in the US though. Before you move, you must carefully plan out what you are going to bring along.
This article relates to my topic because you need to know the things you need to pack before moving to the UK. I thought the article was very informative, and I found out some things that I did not know before. Although I knew the voltage was different for most countries, I wasn’t sure if the UK’s was different or not. I am very glad to know that European items are cheaper there! The author could have mentioned examples of the price differences and given the average price of a transformer so that we would know if it was worth it to buy some new electronics or just get a transformer. She also could have included what clothing items to bring to make the article even more informative.

S., Sophie. "Moving to the UK? Household Goods to Bring & What to Leave Behind." Associated Content. Associated Content, Inc., 31 Dec 2007. Web. 15 Apr 2010. http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/499749/moving_to_the_uk_household_goods_to_pg2.html?cat=16.