One way ticket to Australia - retired down under

(This article was written by Koen Van der Schaeghe, VIW)

Paul and his Australian wife Deborah wanted to move to her homeland after living in Flanders. No overseas move without a good moving company, Paul and Deborah realized. So they registered at an information day of Flemings in the World (Vlamingen in de Wereld). There they came into contact with Gosselin Moving, who made their international move go off without a hitch.

Practical obstacles sometimes lie between dream and reality. It is already a great challenge to move from one city to another in one's own country. Crossing borders and customs obligations make an international move a lot more difficult. “When we met in May 2023 with Gosselin Moving during the VIW Info Day, we were particularly charmed by their door-to-door approach. That means that they come and pick up everything at your house and deliver it as well. It's a world you don't know as a novice and you especially don't want to have to negotiate with customs, neither in Antwerp nor in Australia. A price estimate followed and later a final quotation for an estimate of about eight cubic meters. That was all very clearly and correctly handled."

The actual relocation

"On December 18, 2023, the moving van pulled up in front of the door and we realized it was really going to happen. With wide eyes, we watched as our belongings were packed - that is truly an art, fast and efficient. There were even special boxes for clothes, with a coat rail in them. In the end, we still had sixty boxes, more than I expected. It is amazing how much stuff a person owns without realizing it. A full container was filled and our stuff was shipped in groupage. That means you have to wait until the container is full. Once everything was ready to go, it took another six weeks for the container to arrive in Australia.”

Challenges

The biggest challenge was taking care of official business, such as the driver's license, a tax number and Medicare. "Good preparation and research are essential to avoid surprises.”

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The next Info Day on moving to the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand will take place on May 15, 2025. Gosselin Moving will be there again.

All information via Vlamingen in de Wereld website.

About Gosselin

Gosselin is a leading provider of international moving and destination services. Our clients are  multinationals, relocation management companies, expats, diplomats, military personnel and private persons. With 56 offices in 34 countries, Gosselin has a strong presence in Europe, Russia, the Caucasus and Central Asia.  

Gosselin is a division of the Gosselin Group that has its headquarters in Antwerp, Belgium. The company was founded in 1930 and employs a staff of 975 that generates more than 450 million euros in turnover.