Ucube results

It seems like an eternity ago that we moved (in fact, it's been a year), but I've always meant to post a more complete review of the upakweship ucube50, the method we used to move many of our odds and ends to Berlin (when I was looking at all our options, posts about people who used it were super helpful - that's why I'm writing one).

I mentioned some of the motivations for the service in my post on packing the ucube - both due to our moving budget and inclination, we didn't want to go with suitcases only, nor could we move all our furniture. With the ucube50, we had sufficient space to bring some of our larger items and winter clothes.

Overall, I'd say our experience was good. The cube arrived as estimated - in fact, a little early (here is a post from arrival day) - and nearly everything was in good condition. One or two mugs cracked and some of David's discs warped (most of them just temporarily), but I actually attribute that to packing rather than any Ucube issues. We did ship our kitchenaid, two computer monitors, large-ish framed artwork, and David's computer - all of those things arrived in good condition. I will note that I was extremely careful in packing those things, though!

Positives:
The ucube50 seems to be uniquely small for overseas moving - a service you can't get elsewhere
Affordable/reasonably priced
Allows you to pack your own, excellent for a detail-oriented person like me
We worked with one person the whole time to coordinate - we always knew who to contact
Our cube stuck to schedule, and even arrived on the early side

Negatives:
Scheduling the pickup of our cube was difficult
The driver in Columbus struck us as not super trustworthy (he signed paperwork as "DRIVER GEORGE" and seemed to sway a little when standing still)
The German delivery end seemed to be shocked that I didn't speak German
The cardboard cube needs to be packed pretty full to be sturdy
The lid closure didn't seem very secure (though it stayed on just fine)

For us, these negatives were small compared to the positives. If you googled this review and want to put it in context of other, negative reviews, I will say that (to my knowledge) the pickup, shipping, and delivery, are all done by contractors. Some are good, and some are less so! We also didn't have to deal with any damage or delay, so can't comment on their response to that.

Timeline:
Requested quote: May 19
Booked shipment: June 3
Cube delivered: June 10
Cube picked up: June 24
Arrival at terminal: July 6
Notice of sailing: July 17
Estimated UK arrival: July 30
Contacted about delivery: August 6
Delivery: August 17

And finally, the arrival pictures (for packing pictures, see this post). The cardboard outside was pretty pristine when we packed it, and got marginally beat up on the way:

This is what the inside looked like - I was relieved to find nothing had shifted.

As we unpacked it and David's friends carried it up the stairs (my back was pretty bad just then):

And then the boxes in the "spare room." Of course, once we got our second load of furniture in December, our spare room became our main hangout room - my desk is in that corner now.

Three weeks of July

And not all that many photos to show for it. My phone was not cooperating, so these are all from David. I've got that sorted out now, so this will be the first in my weekly photo posts - I'll aim for every Monday! (My wrote this Monday of this week, but my iPad did not cooperate and post it).

This strange alter was set up in a coffee shop/bar in kreuzberg where some of David's friends put on an electronic music show. 

I finally bought some of the "DDR" ice cream I've seen advertised. It's pretty typical soft serve - I think the shell is what gives its name. 

I don't even know what this ad says, but it probably has something to do with pugs in shark costumes. 

We saw a protest pass by when we were eating on the patio of a restaurant. I think the message was mostly anti-capitalism, though it's always tough to tell with all the signs in German. 

Update on Updates

My Mom let me know there was nothing on my blog - I actually thought I'd posted two things by now! One was an ipad error, the other just a mix up on my part.

I'm planning (at least) two posts a week - Monday I'll post weekly pictures, and Wednesday I'll do something more narrative - this week's is on my moving experience with the service we used, and the next four weeks after that will be a series on installing my own kitchen!

The posts I meant to put up on Monday and Wednesday will be up shortly....

Am I back?

This has been a good time to take a break. I had about a week of the worst jet lag in a long time, and my phone has been constantly complaining that I don't have any space to take more pictures. I have seen a few stunning sunsets, but there would have been more pictures of things like our new fan and the neat file box I got to put all my important papers in.

What will I be posting from now on? I think there will be three main categories:

I will be posting at least a picture a week. Not exactly sure how many I'll be posting, but having the goal of putting up a picture does cause me to look at the world around me for the beautiful, absurd, and otherwise notable. It also helps me stay in touch with everyone!

I'll post a few summaries of the past year. I've long been meaning to do a kitchen retrospective, but I also want to gather some of my best (and maybe worst) posts all in one place. I might add to this a bit of advice for traveling to Berlin or moving.

I also plan to post more writing. I'm not sure what form this will take - essays, reviews, opinions, advice, complaints, or ramblings, but stay tuned!