Looking back - what I would have done differently before R2I ?

This is one interesting thought, actually multiple thoughts. As they say, hindsight is always 20x20 but sitting in India after close to a year of R2I, I am able to visualize how we would have done things differently while we were at US and feel good about some of the things we did while we were there. Hope this helps some of you who are procrastinating about R2I and have difficult time doing things or simply postponing things while debating about R2I. I will try to expand further on each of these points in future postings ...

• If you are certain about R2I, look for an home/apartment back in India in-advance.
• If you have school going kids, study about the schools - Decide about ICSE/CBSE, decide about international versus non-international, school location etc
• Decide about relocation with current job versus looking for a new job - If your current company doesn't have an India office, new job is the default choice. If so, shortlist possible companies and find out where they are located. With the current traffic chaos in Bangalore (which won't improve a lot any time soon), your home choice and school choice depends lot on the work location.

• If you have few years left (not the +1 year syndrome :-) but have some serious plan for relocation) before you do R2I, consider doing these things:
• Complete higher studies - do a MS or MBA(even better for techies). If you already have a MS, go for MBA - speaking by experience, it was a life changing experience for me and I thoroughly enjoyed the course and the perspective it brought. Doing study  abroad is a worth-having experience and you really see how it should be. It does take some effort but having that degree does make a difference when it comes to job searching in India(and is US as well).
• Invite your parents to visit you and make it happen, it is worth it.
• Cover major points in US: Like Niagara, Yellow Stone, Grand Canyon etc.
• Visit neighboring countries like Canada/Mexico/Europe: Even though you would be thinking that you will visit from India, it becomes harder than you think with kids school, work and school summer vacation mismatch between countries.
• Take a cruise to places like Alaska (highly recommended).
• Enjoy the snow: Take kids to snow. Once you are in India, it is is not easy to get these places.
• Enjoy the international varieties of food that is easily available in US.
• If you really have some time (like 5-10 years), buy a home and enjoy your stay: With the current real estate scenario, this would be a scary thought but note that home prices are really low and a home in good school location can sell as well (even though you wouldn't make much profit, you could at least enjoy your stay).

Will add some more as they come across to my mind ...

Planning for R2I in 2012? Start now ...

If you are planning for R2I in 2012, now is the right time to start ! It is not too early not too late. School admissions for 2012 have started in Bangalore and you need to weigh between schools and decide which one works best for you. You need to start the work relocation process/negotiations so that you are not stuck with 'what they offer'...You need to decide where to stay - school being major criteria and proximity to work location being the next. Unlike what we were told, apartments do get rented out quickly during school season(May-June time frame) and shortlisting one goes a long way once you land here ...


See my thread for more info ...
http://r2idiaries.blogspot.com/2011/09/preparations-when-to-start.html

And of course, read my blog entries for all of the TODO items to get you there :-)

Shipped items/customs ...

Was finally glad to see an e-mail from sky2c, even though it gave us 2 day notice to head for customs at Whitefield location. Sky2C advised us to be there at 9:30am - thought it was going to be a challenge to reach there by 9:30am with the ITPL traffic. Even with the car, I knew there will be the overhead of finding the location, parking etc.

Left HSR layout at 8:15am - fortunately took the Varthur road, which goes to Kadugodi, where traffic was light after getting out of ring road. The location is right next to ITPL - a block down the road. You see a big board with CONCAR. There is a road right in-front of that board (there are 2 roads next to each other and you need to take the one right in-front of the board). You get this board as soon as you cross ITPL entry (when you are coming from Big Bazzar side).
                       
Once I got into sky2c office, there was some paper work -  handed over copies of US passports, OCI card, Indian passport etc + few signatures. A total of 10 mins of work and then wait until 10am for customs office to open. Along with Sky2C person, walked down to the customs place, crossing the container yard. Again, wait a bit more and the customs lady showed up and went thru' the packing list.
           
This is where I thought sky2c could have given better information - I provided the personal packing list, which was too detailed (as a reference list of our use). I could have possibly produced a shorter list which could have contained only the Electronics items I want to declare. Focus of customs folks is on Electronics items since rest of the used cloths, furniture, toys etc come under Transfer of Residence (TR). Electronics items do get duty - even if that second DVD player is a 10 year old one, it still gets higher duty. So, better to get a singe good DVD player and dump those old ones in US itself.
           
Customs person asked the helpers over there to open 10 to 15 boxes - many of the items we had were self visible like sofas, mattresses, computer table, digital keyboard, TV etc. One advise -- never leave the empty packing of items like iPAD, iPhone etc - they get their attention and they have to open up each one to make sure the actual items are not there. It is better to dump those boxes and carry these items personally when flying.
 

Using the packing list and the opened boxes, customs person came up with a number for the duty, which seemed pretty high in my case. After a bit of discussion about the items being used, it was reduced by a good amount. I did have the receipts for most of the items but not sure how much that would have helped - my Dell computer's vale was $3000 when I bought and now it would be $500 :-). But, safer to carry receipts anyway - they might help to prove that these are used items and establish the age of items.

           
Good thing I followed the timing given by sky2c -- I was there at 9:30am, was the first to get customs done and all done by 12 noon :-). sky2c said they would do the remaining paper work, using the original passport and the customs money that was already paid.

CONCAR Shipping Yard with containers stacked up

One more CONCAR pic..

Appreciate your feedback and comments, please leave a comment if you found this post useful (or not!) ...

Setting up Bank accounts ...

If you start work immediately, this will get taken care - most of the large companies have banks coming over to open the accounts at work location itself, which simplfies lots of things. Banks like HDFC are pretty advanced in-terms of internet access etc and have facility for paying electricity bills etc from the account itself.

However, banks like SBI are still old fashioned - it took 3 visits and a threat to close the account to move my existing account with SBI. They wanted all of the forms filled-up again and produce all sorts of ID proofs. Laminated drivers license and PAN card copies didn't work and they wanted original - at that point, I said I am going to close the down the account since wasn't ready to go back again with originals. Their documentation asked for copies but never mentioned to produce originals! Canara bank was bit smoother and we were able to transfer an existing account without much hassle. They enabled online access but the catch is - it takes few days before the postal mail can reach with access passwords etc. These are not given in the bank and once the mail arrives, you need to make another trip to enable the 'real' access!
           
Other convenient option was Bangalore One payment center - they take payments for pretty much everything, from electricity bills to airtel cell phone payments. Until automatic bank transfer was setup, we used this place and it was very convenient. They don't charge extra for these payments either.


Appreciate your feedback and comments, please leave a comment if you found this post useful (or not!) ...

Sample checklist ...

In the earlier posts, I have listed out each of the major TODO items. Now is the time to list out the whole checklist ...

Below is the checklist (of course, maintained as a spreadsheet in Excel) that we used - items kept on getting added or deleted as we progressed but this was a pretty good list....

Full spreadsheet is available here now:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Ar31K-X0nlyBdEU3b1lLMTQ3alNFVm5CaVlYMjR1WWc&hl=en_US#gid=0 

To give an idea, this is how the spreadsheet looked ...

Appreciate your feedback and comments, please leave a comment if you found this post useful (or not!) ...

What to keep versus what to dispose ?

If you have talked to your family and friends back at home, you might have definitely heard that 'everything is available now in India' - definitely true to most extent but there are catches. For ex, your favorite shampoo, specific brand of moisturizer etc may not be available. However, in-general, it is true that all of the items are available, now even at a higher price for some of the items.
 

Below is the scanned copy of items that are available at the 'Home Depot' equivalent in India, the @Home. (scanned copy of @Home items)
 

Electronics items
If you can arrange to bring it along with you, (i.e, smaller items that can be carried along, without getting into the customs hassle), it is definitely cheaper to buy in US. You might get the same item in India at a bit higher price but at any given shop, availability of the latest model that you are looking for is going to be a challenge. They might have few of those or more of lower end models (like TVs) and you may need to order and wait. Plus, you have the option of trying out and returning if you don't like a model (in shops like Costco, Amazon), which you won't find in India. Times have changed a bit in that area as well in India as compared to before - shoppers to accept returns now but only for exchange.

Getting rid of items that you can't sell and that you don't want to ship:

This is one thing we learned - some of the items like furniture that you are not planning to ship, become a real headache at the end. We did plan to get rid of them during the last week but things didn't pan out as we planned. Issue is this - lets say you have an fairly old computer table that you don't want to ship and fairly sure you won't be able to sell. You want to keep it till the end so that you can keep using it. However, it is a real hassle to dispose larger items in US. Fortunately, we were staying in a private party rented home which had a larger garage and we knew some new renter was moving in from out of the country. We could afford to leave some of these items behind for them to use/throw but that may not work always.
 

We did plan to dispose these off but as it turned out Salvation army didn't want to pick up these items since it had few scratches! Other company which deals with this wanted us to drop them off at their place and we didn't have enough time. Best option is - even at the cost of paying them, arrange for some junk hauler to take them away during the last week. You can always manage with minimal stuff during the last week since most of your time will go packing and doing other things.

Appreciate your feedback and comments, please leave a comment if you found this post useful (or not!) ...

TODOs: Cleaning up ...

Selling items:

As I mentioned before, selling off early is the key - by starting early, you can gauge how much price you can get and start at a higher price and wait a bit. If it doesn't sell, you always have the time to re-list and sell at a lower price. It was surprising to see that we were able to get a price which we thought the item wouldn't sell for. You will be surprised to hear we did sell the 27'' Sony Trinitron TV for $50 !! Forget about getting some $ for it, we thought it would be a hassle to dispose off this heavy and bulky item. Again, starting early helped..

Some of the items we sold early on...
        - Car seats (left with just one car seat until the move), booster seat
        - Unused shoes, snow booths
        - Mixer
        - The additional recliner/sofa
        - Dining table
        - Glass showcase (too fragile to transport)
        - Unused text books (donated)
        - Old computer (donated)
        - Cloths cabinets (moved all the cloths in them to suitcases or existing selves)
        - Sorted cloths - donated the ones which we can't use)
        - Treadmill
        - Carpets
        - HD TV receivers, antenna
        - Outdoor swing
        - Ladder
        - Iron box (can't be used in India due to voltage diff and this is s high wattage item)
        - Old TV (big, trinitron type)
       
Which we could have sold but didn't:
- TV (flat screen): This was a 42'' plasma TV for which we paid $2500 when it came on market few years ago. Didn't make sense to sell it now for $250 (How do I know it would gotten $250 - listed on Craigslist to test the market and got offers in that range). Thought this could be a good second TV for kids(all those videos and as a Wii console) if it doesn't work well with PAL in India.
- Lamps

One of our friends said you can get converts for hooking the Indian type bulbs - mind you, it is not just the voltage with these things, US type bulbs are screwed where as Indian types have 2 hooks. However, as you might already know, compared to US apartment and homes, there is a good amount of pre-fixed light fixtures on the walls and you don't need lots of additional lighting. Might be better off buying new lamps once you are here.

Appreciate your feedback and comments, please leave a comment if you found this post useful (or not!) ...   

TODOs: Funds transfer to India ...

You need to estimate how much money you will need once you land in India. Note that your first pay check could be a month away and wouldn't cover all of the initial expenses like school fees, home/apartment deposit etc. Below are some of the things to keep in mind..

• School fees: Up to 4 lakhs (including admission, donation etc)

•  Apartment deposit: Can run upto 2.5 lakhs to 3 lakhs (norm is 10 months rent as deposit)

•  Car (assuming you will start with one and will pay fully, i.e, not on loan): 5-10 lakhs

• Appliance and furniture - possibly up to a lakh

     - Fridge : 25-30K
     - Washing machine: 25-30K
     - Mattress : 25K (assuming you need 

         at least 2)
     - Furniture (sofa, dining table etc):

         Can run up to 50K

• Misc items like curtains, bathroom accessories, bedsheets etc: 1 lakh

A bit of financial planning helps a lot - to decide how much to keep in US versus how much to transfer. This is a decision that an indiviual has to make, based on their comfort level - leaving most of the funds in US in $s leaves you exposed to currency fluctuations and the converted value of your money may have an significant impact. On the other hand, transferring everthing to India would make it difficult to get the funds back in US in $s, in-case you decide to return back to US. We settled on a balanced approach - leave some here and take some there, with the future plan of balancing out evenly in both countries. Again, this is another of those things that needs a 'time will tell' type of approach!

Appreciate your feedback and comments, please leave a comment if you found this post useful (or not!) ...

TODOs: Home sale ...

This topic needs an entry of it's own - this can easily make or break the decision of returning. 

If you are stuck with a home, one of the option is rental but that depends on where you live - Getting the right buyer who likes your home, can afford a loan and pay the price that you are willing to take is a time consuming process. If you want to sell the home, you should be out of the home a year in-advance. This also makes it easier to go for a one year lease with a rental before you pack off.
 

You might be debating about the merits of the sale a year in-advance and the hassle of another move which is just for a year. But, think of this move as a prep - you get to know how much stuff you have and use this move as an opportunity to box off all those stuff that you don't need for daily use - the items in showcase collecting dust can be safely packed off for a year! The items cloths you don't need can be bunched out and donated. This is a chance to sort out the items that you don't need and keep them aside for sale. At then end of the move, if nothing, you know how much stuff you have collected over the years and how much of those can be disposed off. That way, this move for a year is worth every penny and minute that you spend.
       
If you push the sale to last minute, thinking about the hassle of another move for a year, think about the last minute tension of getting a deal on the home, which is a time consuming process by itself and you want to do that when you are not distracted with move details like getting an apartment back at home, schools for the kids etc. 

If you can't sell the home in-time, another option is renting out but that depends on the location and availability of renters. If you know a good agent, it might be worth it but remember that item will be in your back of the mind always - with no quick access, you will possibly need to rely on an agent to do the renting business. Unless you own a home on which you don't own lot of mortgage, this could be a very unpredictable business, depending on whether you get a renter or not. If you have lots of mortgage and can dispose off the home without loosing a lot, it might make sense to return with clean hands. If you know for sure that you want to keep that home for future with the certainty that you will be back in few years, it might make sense to keep it - however, who knows for certain how conditions are going to be down the line in several years and also you are 'going back for good', right??

Appreciate your feedback and comments, please leave a comment if you found this post useful (or not!) ...

TODOs: Looking for an apartment in India ...

Frankly, this was bit painful and don't think there is an ideal solution for this issue. 

Since we were both working, there were multiple things that were to be taken care of - reasonable work distance for both of us (here reasonable means 30-45 minutes of driving distance from home), 30-45 minutes of distance to school for kids, a decent location etc. On the top of that, we got feedback about water supply issues in some areas and that was a consideration as well. Our initial choice was Marathhalli area, which had tons of apartment complexes and seemed closer to work and school. However, water consideration kicked in and this area has only borewell and tanker water supply. May be borewell water supply was ok - at least it is a controlled supply within the apartment complex but we just couldn't settle on Tanker water supply, whose source is unknown.
       
Did bunch of research on the internet and registered with several sites, few of those I have listed below:
        -- 99acres
        -- magicbricks
        -- sulekha

All of these required an Indian contact number (I am surprised that they are not setup to directly handle relocation folks). e-mail can be provided but the rate of response of very poor. Didn't seem like most of the agents who have listings on these sites are setup to handle e-mails and deal with outside folks (have to note, once I got here, same thing turns around - with a Indian contact number, it was much easier to reach to these agents and get responses). One or two of the owners for whom I got the contact info wanted us to move within few weeks and that was not workable (one of the friend's suggested paying the advance and booking the apartment but without looking at the apartment, it becomes quite difficult to proceed- your family or friends may look at the place but their choice may not work for you).
           
In summary, without visiting India to rent an apartment/home, it was definitely difficult to settle on a place. However, to keep in mind, you need a place for initial settle down - so, even at the cost of a higher rent, go for a place that is closer to work/school. You won't be worrying too much about work and school commute etc and you can always change after a year (it is best to sign the lease agreement for a year, which is common in Bangalore). The initial comfort of you and family can make or break the decision to stay and having more overhear will get you frustrated, commute to work being a major frustration and overhead.
       
Also, apartment is the best choice for an initial move 

• With a decent apartment, security of the place is taken care and that is a one major thing not to worry about - you can afford to stay at your relative's or friend's place over a week-end or afford to leave town, until you get to know about the safety situation in your place. 

• On the top of that, apartments provide many of the comforts that you are used to in US - like swimming pool, gym, party hall, tennis court, kids play area, friends for kids, possibility of a gas connection, 24 hr water and electricity, easy access to house maids, driver for your car - the basic needs are taken care immediately on the move. Compared this to a independent home, where all of these needs won't be met or will take time to establish. Needless to say, service industry in India is not very well established and everything takes time and repeated tries to get established - with an independent home, most likely you will be spending good amount of time to establish these basic amenities. Also, to note, independent homes are easier to get, your agent will show you a bunch but may not be ideal unless you are staying in a closed compound like a villa.

       
We were pretty much settled on Marathhalli area but suggestions on availability of Kaveri water made us to change the location to HSR layout, the farthest south of Bangalore where Kaveri water has reached and reasonable distance from work/school (however, as we found out later on, Kaveri water availability at apartment was a myth). Contrary to what we knew about availability of apartments, it was fairly difficult to get one in this area during this time - availability during this time wasn't good, the one available were in a smaller complex etc.

Appreciate your feedback and comments, please leave a comment if you found this post useful (or not!) ...

TODOs: Booking tickets ...

Unlike in the 'normal circumstances', this is a different case - you are booking a one way ticket!! This reminded me of the time when I moved to US with a one way ticket - somewhere it has to compensate and this was the time. One way tickets don't add up so much as return trip included tickets but this is still a significant expense of the move. 

Another issue is the luggage that can be carried over - with the single bag rule, it is definitely a significant inconvenience for a person getting relocated - mind that you have to live with your suitecases once the shipment is done (which can be a week in-advance) until your shipment arrives (which can be good two months of time once you arrive in India). Hence, the amount of items you can take with you makes a significant difference. 

Most of the carries as of this writing have reduce to single bag but carriers like Cathy pacific and Singapore still allow two bags - be sure to mention this to the travel agent or you will be surprised at the end - you can always dispose off items before you fly out and buy new things in India. However, you will enough things to dispose off when you leave and enough things to do once you land - having the cloths, sleeping bags etc ready which can be used as soon as you land is a big relief.

Appreciate your feedback and comments, please leave a comment if you found this post useful (or not!) ...

TODOs: Getting the cars ready for sell: services (tyre change etc) ...

Remember these are big ticket items - I think we worried more about getting those car seats, tables, lamps etc sold which sold for few hundred dollars. However, with cars, you are better off with a car in good shape. However, the tricky part is - you can't sell them off early. How do you live without a car in US?! But, if you start off early, you always have time to list and re-list, based on the demand. There is no rule saying you have to sell once you list in Craiglist! If you have 2 cars, may be sell one of them. Look for a buyer for the second one and have an arrangement that you will hand over the car during the last few days before you leave - worked for us! Don't forget to collect some advance from the buyer - if he/she drops out at the last minute, you are in a big mess and will need to look for a dealer who would buy the same car for 2/3rds of the price you would get from a third party.
       
Hence, good idea to get the cars ready 2-3 months in-advance. Cars need smog check before you sell, have services completed (BTW, I kept all of the service receipts in a file for each car and showed the file to the potential buyer - makes a good impression that you have taken care of the car and done all services and are meticulous about it). Normally, the small things give you a better price - you can get new tires installed for $400 to $500 but with bad tires, you might loose $1000 and don't have that selling point of 'new tires' in your ad for sale on Craigslist! (guess you got the idea - sell those babies on carigslist, free and you do get buyers)
       
Rented a van for last 3 days - that was convenient since we had 6 suitcases - rented the van from airport, loaded the suitcases, drove off to Airport, dropped the van and went directly to fly out. 

Appreciate your feedback and comments, please leave a comment if you found this post useful (or not!) ...

TODOs: Buying items we need: iPAD, Home theater, NTSC to PAL converter, Good Camera etc etc ...

This of course is a never ending list since these items are invariably cheaper in US. However, mind the voltage dependency as well. You can get a good step-down transformer (1000Watts) for Rs 2000 to 2,500 in India and normally you can continue using these. However, you need to make sure your kid doesn't plug one of these items directly into the wall - with a mix of 110 and 220 volts items, it does become bit messy and you need to keep reminding yourself about where to plug-in what. Items like camera, laptop etc are not a big issue since most of these handle dual voltage well. Cost is definitely a factor - a good 55'' LCD/LED TV can cost you 1/3 more in India than buying in US. Also, shops don't have too many models in big sizes and finding the model that you need could be a challenge.
       
Shopping and buying early makes lot of sense here as well - you need enough time to decide on a good model (you are buying these for the long haul). Also, things like Home theater take time to setup and figure out (going by my personal experience). If you think the model is not good, you need to time to return and get a new one as well. So, deciding, shopping and buying these things early on makes lot of sense.

Appreciate your feedback and comments, please leave a comment if you found this post useful (or not!) ...

TODOs: Giving notices ...

Giving notices: Piano, School, Rent notice, Safe deposit locker
 

Most of these are straight forward but you realize how many ties you have once you start giving these notices! For some of these, like the piano lessons etc, you might have paid for the full session and you won't be there for scheduled classes. But, if done early enough, you can book few extra classes for all those you are going to miss and schools usually let you know when these extra classes become available. Again, goes back to the same theme of 'if done early enough'!

You need to have buffer before the move date for some of the things - for ex, we got our internet thru' cable. If we stop the cable few days earlier, we would loose the internet as well, which is essential until the last day. Also, our phone was linked to Internet as well(read Vonage). Fortunately, we were flying back on Sunday and comcast was open until 6pm on Saturday. Essentially, we lost all connections except the cell phones only for half-a-day. If you don't even have cell on the last day, you need to know folks in-advance so that there are no last minute glitches (like somebody dropping you off at the airport trying to reach you on the cell!) 

Appreciate your feedback and comments, please leave a comment if you found this post useful (or not!) ...       

TODOs: Close out airline miles ..

Many of these airlines miles these days are 'hogwash' - the best thing is to use them for domestic travel and normally you don't have enough miles for international travel. (BTW, never forget to register for miles when you fly in US - if you can't use them for flying, there are always other perks like magazines etc. I got several magazines in US, like Time, without spending on subscriptions).

Issue with smaller miles is - they can't be used for flying international and they will most likely expire by the time you get back to US the next time. Best thing you could do is - use them for merchandise (those miles can get you few iShuffles and digital cameras  that you can always gift to the 'close relative in India!). Some of the programs provide cash vouchers which can be used in places like Amazon - you always need some electronics gadgets when you are heading back, no why not use these pesky miles?. Since shipping and delivery of these items takes good amount of time, better to clean up those miles few months in-advance. 

Appreciate your feedback and comments, please leave a comment if you found this post useful (or not!) ...

TODOs: Closing unwanted accounts ...

When you are in US, you never worry too much about this dormant accounts but it is better to get rid of them if you are not using them. At least, you will not need to worry about somebody misusing those accounts or some delinquent fees getting added without your knowledge. Some of them, like bank accounts - surprise, surprise -  are easier to close with a visit to the branch even in this e-age. They would like hand over that remaining balance, which is done quicker with the visit than them sending it over mail - and that check has to be a physical check I believe.
 

Appreciate your feedback and comments, please leave a comment if you found this post useful (or not!) ...

       

TODOs: Switching to paperless bills ...

This is something that you need to setup early on and make sure it works - even after you have changed your preferences, have you seen it working reliably? There will always be few which will keep coming. If you switch all of the bills to e-bills in-advance, at least you will know which once's are still arriving by snail mail and have a bit of time to reset those again or call one of those dear customer support agents.

Did I say you still need a forwarding address in US? Sure, you need one - some of the mails like last Electricity bill check for refund has to be a paper bill! God knows for what reason - you paid by credit card or automatic payment all the time but last check needs to be a physical check. There will be more things like your kids school completion certificate, other last bills, magazines etc which will still keep coming for some time. Your US tax reporting information might be a snail mail as well. In summary, have a US forwarding address, say, a friend's address, who can open all of your mails in confidentiality and let you know if there is something important ASAP.
 

Appreciate your feedback and comments, please leave a comment if you found this post useful (or not!) ...

       

TODOs: Shipping...

This is where most of the help came from r2iClubForum - thanks R2I. R2I folks like us have shared a great deal of details there and every bit helped. We called several shippers - Universal, sky2c, air7seas being the few. The documents they sent across which had details on the process helped quite a bit - when you don't know the difference between FCL and LCL, you have to start from somewhere! Needless to say, our initial estimate and what we finally shipped were miles apart but getting idea on how much approximately we would pay helped in deciding what to keep versus what to dispose off.
 

Like everybody else, we thought FCL would work very well, if we can share with somebody. However, plans change and making it work all the way is a challenge. Unless you know for sure that your partner is going to stay with you all the way, don't plan to share. 

2 challenges here:
1) You don't know the exact volume until the last few days. With FCL, you need to stick to roughly 500 c. feet. With LCL, you go buy your individual volume and there is no limit on how much you can ship. What if your volume is more than 500 c. feet or your partner's volume is more than 500 c. feet. You always have the option of doing LCL on remaining volume but you will need to work closely with your partner to make sure you split evenly.
 

2) With LCL, you know that you paying for what volume you are using. Hence, you try to cut down as much as possible and ship only what you need. Trust me - you want to keep everything you have and it is not easy to let go, especially when you know that selling won't get you much and you are already used to those items.


Finally, we picked sky2c. For several reasons - several of my friends had used them and had good feedback, they had a office close to where I lived, when I called them, I did prompt responses and they were communicating etc. Initially, we went for FCL since one of our friend's were planning to move as well but they had to drop out and sky2c was able to move us to LCL.

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TODOs : Investment/long term 'back to US' house ...

If you are planning to buy a house that you plan to keep for long term (say, in-case you get back to US down the line), you need to work on this early, like one year in-advance. Issue is - you need to produce the employment letter, which can only be done when you are employed. Even if you are relocating with the same company, most likely you will get terminated first and get re-employed in India, which means you won't have a US employment. With the current scrutiny of loans, it won't be possible to get a loan in such state.

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TODOs : Financial consultation

Assuming you have the mental readiness (if you read this far, most likely you are mentally prepared !!!), will list down several TODOs, which are again, done sooner the better. Even if you have the idea to move few years down the line, it wouldn't hurt to get these prep work done in-advance - you will have more mental piece and some extra physical space at home as well :-)

One of the top most things to do is - Financial consultation

This one is better done in-advance - things like a living will, term life insurance, decision on how much funds to keep versus how much to sell, if you have company options, what to do with them (sell versus hold) etc are the financial matters that you need to take care. Best option would be to sit with a financial advisor, who is familiar with how things work in India and US. You can pay flat fee on hourly basis and get your doubts clarified - hourly rates are usually in the range of $150 and well worth spent.

You can buy a term life insurance (assuming you have US citizenship, you can get insured in $$s instead of Rs, which can give you a good coverage at better premium). Also, when you are younger when you can get better rates. The logic is - for a similar or bit higher cost in India, you get a much bigger coverage (like a 1 crore of life insurance). Also, the life term in US is much longer as compared to India (due to life expectancy). So, if you want to get a life insurance get that in US in-advance. One of the logic folks back in India use is - if you are going to have a home loan(which is a larger amount), you need life insurance so that your family has coverage in-case something goes wrong. 

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