Job Discussion Forums

[flutterbayou]

Well, it looks like we've managed to get another thread locked, and I wonder who could have possibly orchestrated it this time. Ahem.

Can we keep a thread going by ignoring irritating gripes that lead us nowhere but to lockdown city?

Just arrived in Oman and Majali and staff are wonderfully organized. The visa was ordered in advance, very nice hotel accommodations were provided upon arrival (including all meals), and a full day of rest was given after the long trip...so far, so good.

No questions from me today, and the only gripe I have is that baggage weight limits are entirely unfair when entering from Asia - what can a person actually bring at only 20 k, and with cargo rates as high as they are? We might want to pull a few threads here on finding the most affordable means of shipping personal items to Oman.

Can we do it without getting locked by pesky rabbits?

[lall]

I don't know whether it's possible (technologically speaking, that is), but I wonder if the mods. could block only those particular posters that they deem as those posting inappropriate messages, on that particular thread.

The key here would be to limit the blocking of those particular posters to only that particular thread. This would prevent interesting/useful threads from being locked, while not unnecessarily curtailing the freedom of very those posters from posting appropriate content on other threads.

Back to the original post - Yes, baggage wt. limits are rather low. One way of getting around the problem would be to browse the Web for items for sale by fellow expatriates (toasters, veggie steamers, some cookware, reading material - believe me, books constitute a fair share of the weight - and other such stuff).

More suggestions, please.

[007]

Have you checked with sea cargo, they are much cheaper compared to air cargo, and some charge using 'volume' not weight.
I know a lot of Pilipino and Chinese use sea cargo to send/receive their personal items.

The other option is to rent a fully furnished accommodation to reduce the size of your personal items to be shipped from Asia.

[jwbhomer]

I notice one of the last posters on the thread that just got locked was 4WD. And now 007 has appeared here. I repeat my question from elsewhere -- are 4WD and 007 one and the same? That would explain a lot...

[Stephen Jones]

If you choose sea cargo you book container space 4x4x8 is I believe the minimum.

[jwbhomer]

[veiledsentiments]

I always used air freight, which is significantly less than the excess baggage charges. From the US, I would normally just take it to the airport freight area. By sea is, of course, the cheapest.

The trick is finding a dependable agent to help out when overseas.

VS

[Neil McBeath]

I am not sure where the figure of 20 kg came from, but if that is the standard Economy Class baggage allowance, then one way to increase it is by joinging the appropriate airline's (airlines') frequent flier programme.

Gulf Air; Emirates; Qatar Air; Saudi Arabian Airlines ALL give a 30 kg allowance even in Economy Class. It's free to join. You can get some benefits (a return flight from the Gulf to the UK on Gulf Air gets you enough pioints for a free flight within the Gulf) and if the worst comes to the worst, then you end up with a couple more baggage tags.

Also within the Gulf. DHL will move things by road for a very reasonable cost, although their service is not as fast as they claim. Moving from DAmmam to Muscat, I was assured (in Dammam) that the boxes would arriove within a week. Not so, said a supercilious girl at the Muscat office two weeks later. "We only guarantee delivery within ten days."

They arrived in the end, but it was a bit inconvenient.

[flutterbayou]

I'd like to know more about sea freight and if anyone is familiar, please let me know. I'm American, so do not know the ropes as far as shipping goes in Asia.

Although much of what people suggest about keeping excessive belongings to a minimum, small things accumulate over the years, all of which are hard to let go.

VS, I came in on Qatar Air and would you know that the freight fees from Shanghai were precisely the same as paying the overweight baggage rates with the airlines. Yet another traveler I met in Muscat the same day who'd flown in on Emirates, was allowed excessive weight with a wink and a smile. It depends on the airlines.

If other posters have more thoughts to share, please do.

[007]

[veiledsentiments]

Flutter... aren't you already in Oman and have your stuff there or do you still have things left in Asia? Or are you just planning ahead for next time? I used the same company to ship my things all around the Gulf, but that US company was bought out and no long does personal shipping. But, about the only way is to go around to the local shipping companies wherever you are and ask the options and costs.

Air freight is definitely cheaper than excess baggage, usually by about half the times I did it from the US. But if you are on the plane and trying to get your stuff on air freight, it isn't possible.... then, they've got you. You have to either go through a shipping company or take it to the airport freight area at some time before your departure to get the cheaper rate and it will never be on your flight.

VS
(jbhomer... it has nothing to do with numbers... read their posts, I'm very confident that they are not the same poster... serial hijacker versus one-trick pony.)

[flutterbayou]

Hi, VS. I'm in Oman and still have things to ship from Asia. Lots of stuff is in storage there. I'd like to arrange for the shipment of important articles weighing under 200 pounds.

007 doesn't use the same syntax as does 4wd, but why doesn't 007 just come out and tell us, hm? Or we could just forget about it.

[veiledsentiments]

Do you still have friends back there who would research the shipping for you? It will take a bit of legwork on their part as I find that you don't get the whole story if you try to do it by phone. Or you could check around with the shipping companies in Muscat and see if they have branches or companies that they work with back in Asia.

It is more expensive, but after my first experience getting things through customs overseas, I decided that it was worth paying for "portal to portal" service so they deal with customs.

VS

[flutterbayou]

Both tips are helpful, VS - thanks. Good idea to research at both ends of shipment.

If anyone here has specific info on shipping alternatives, please do everyone a favor by posting a detailed sticky for teachers coming in to this region.