RO: Partea aceasta este dedicata exclusiv detaliilor administrative legate de mutarea noastra. Si vom incepe spunand ca inca de la inceput ne-am dorit ca aceasta sa fie o mutare definitiva. Nu am pornit de la ideea ca vom avea o perioada de adaptare si ca apoi decidem si mai vedem daca ramanem in Olanda sau ne intoarcem, ci dimpotriva, mindset-ul a fost intotdeauna de “plecam de tot”. Astfel ca a trebuit sa ne ocupam de foarte multe aspecte logistice. Si am inceput in prima faza cu actele. Certificatele noastre de nastere erau cele in format vechi, scrise in limba romana (cele pe care scria Republica Socialista Romania :D), astfel ca puteam fie sa le traducem si apoi legalizam, fie sa le preschimbam cu cele in format nou, scrise in limba romana, engleza si franceza. Le-am schimbat cu cele noi si spre surprinderea noastra a fost un proces destul de simplu. Am avut noroc ca am fost nascuti amandoi in Bucuresti, in acelasi sector, deci nu a fost nevoie de prea multe drumuri. Le-am schimbat la Consiliul Local Sector 5, totul a fost pe loc, cu numar de ordine si a durat aproximativ 15 minute. Pasapoartele mai sunt inca valabile cel putin doi ani, asa ca le-am pastrat asa si le vom schimba cand va fi cazul. Certificatul de casatorie este in format nou, iar buletinele inca ne sunt valabile cativa ani. Cardurile bancare nu le-am schimbat, mai sunt inca valabile, si oricum ne vom face altele cand vom ajunge. Plus toate inregistrarile, despre care vom vorbi cand vom ajunge acolo 🙂

EN: This part is exclusively dedicated to all the administrative details of our move. And we will start by saying that we wanted this to be a definitive move from the start. We did not consider having a readjustment period and then decide if we will stay in The Netherlands of if we come back, actually our mindset was always on the contrary. So we had to deal with lots of logistic aspects. And we started with our documents. We had old format birth certificates, written in Romanian (where it was written Socialist Republic of Romania :D) so we could either translate and legalize them or change them with new format ones, written in Romanian, English and French. We changed them with the new ones and to our surprise, it was a pretty simple process. We were lucky that both of us were born in Bucharest, in the same sector, so we didn’t have to wander too much. We changed them at the Local Council of Sector 5, everything was right away, we had an order number and everything lasted around 15 minutes. Our passports are still available at least two years, so we kept them and we will change them when it will be necessary. The marriage certificate is in the newest format and our IDs are still available a couple of more years. Our banking cards are also available so we didn’t have to change them and we will probably have new ones once we will get there. But about these and all the registrations needed we will talk more once we will be there 🙂

RO: Apoi… impachetatul 🙂 A fost crunt. Nu ne-am fi inchipuit ca avem atat de multe lucruri, atat de multe de impachetat. Si pentru ca a fost nevoie sa eliberam complet apartamentul, a trebuit sa strangem absolut tot ce ne apartinea. Cu alte cuvinte, ne-am mutat cu absolut toata casa, exceptand insa mobila. Am ambalat toate lucrurile in cutii (in principal cutii de la Ikea, insa si altele mai mici), saci de vidat (luati de la Ikea si de la Emag, unde am gasit si unii imensi, 80x110cm pentru hainele groase de iarna) si bubble wrap. In final am avut 60 de cutii (de diferite dimensiuni), patru trolere si cateva obiecte de forme atipice ambalate in bubble wrap. Ca sa nu pierdem evidenta cutiilor si ca sa stim ce se afla in fiecare dintre ele, le-am numerotat, am scris pe ele numarul si continutul cutiei, apoi le-am salvat pe toate intr-o lista in Excel.

EN: And then… the packing 🙂 It was terrible. We did not imagine that we have so many belongings, so many things to pack. And because we had to completely clean and empty the apartment, we had to pack everything that was ours. In other words, we moved with the entire house, except the furniture. We packed most of our things in boxes (mainly from Ikea, but also others that were a bit smaller), vacuum bags (we had some from Ikea and Emag, where we found some enormous ones, 80x110cm for all the winter clothing) and bubble wrap. In the end we had 60 boxes (different sizes), four trolleys and some odd sized objects wrapped in bubble wrap. In order to keep track of all the boxes and to know what was inside them, we numbered each one of them and saved the number and the content of the box in an Excel worksheet.

RO: Pentru transport am apelat la o firma care se ocupa cu astfel de transporturi. Din fericire, prietenii nostri care s-au mutat cu doi ani inaintea noastra in Olanda ne-au recomandat o firma de transport pe care au folosit-o ei si de care au fost foarte multumiti – DSV Romania. Am ambalat toate cutiile, le-am trimis o poza ca sa isi poata face o idee despre spatiul de care avem nevoie si in final ne-au recomandat un Mercedes Sprinter. Pretul pentru o astfel de dubita plina a fost de 650 euro, iar intregul transport dureaza 48 ore. Totul a fost in regula, a ajuns la timp, lucrurile au fost toate ok, iar soferul ne-a ajutat la incarcat si descarcat dubita.

EN: For transporting our things to The Netherlands we contacted a company that deals with this kind of transports. Luckily, our friends who moved to The Netherlands two years before us recommended us this transport company that they also used and they were very pleased – DSV Romania. We packed all the boxes, sent them a picture so that they can estimate the space we need and in the end they recommended us a Mercedes Sprinter. The price for such a car (fully packed) was 650 euros and the entire transport lasted 48 hours. Everything was ok, the car arrived on time, all the boxes were fine and the driver helped us load and unload the car.

RO: Pentru ca in prima luna vom avea un apartament temporar, inclus in pachetul de relocare (un apartament destul de mic, in stilul apart-hotelurilor), va fi imposibil sa descarcam intreaga duba inca de la inceput. Asa ca am rezervat un storage space aproape de locul in care vom locui, unde sa depozitam toate cutiile pana cand ne vom gasi cazarea pe termen lung. Bineinteles, acesta va fi un cost suplimentar (insa deloc mare, precum ne asteptam, a fost 150 de euro pentru o luna), insa nu aveam cum sa procedam altfel, nu puteam sa mai lasam lucrurile in Bucuresti. In aceasta luna cat vom sta in apartamentul temporar va trebui sa ne gasim cazarea pe termen lung (contractele de inchiriere se fac pe cel putin un an). Este destul de dificil de gasit un apartament pe cont propriu si mai toate proprietatile listate pe funda.nl ori alte site-uri de imobiliare lucreaza cu agentii.

EN: Because we had a temporary apartment in the first month, included in the relocation package (a pretty small apartment, a type of apart-hotel), it would have been impossible to unload the entire van from the beginning. So we booked a storage room close to the place where we will live, where we will store all the boxes until we will find our long term accommodation. Of course, this will be an extra cost (but that so much as we expected – it was 150 euros for one month) but there was literally no other way to do it, we could no longer leave the boxes back in Bucharest and send them later. During this month while we will stay in the temporary apartment we will have to find our long term accommodation (rental contacts are usually signed for at least one year). It is quite difficult to find an apartment on our own and almost all the properties listed on funda.nl of other housing websites are working with agencies.

RO: Din fericire, noi vom avea inclus in pachetul de relocare serviciile unui agent imobiliar, care ne va ajuta sa ne caute o cazare conform cerintelor noastre (numar de camere, facilitati, buget) si vom merge impreuna la vizionari. Aceeasi agentie ne va ajuta si cu tot ce inseamna inregistrari, acte, conturi bancare in Olanda. Va fi asadar o luna plina de cautari 🙂

EN: Luckily, our relocation package will also include the services of a real estate agent, that will help us find a house according to our requests (number of rooms, facilities, budget) and we will go together to visit the properties. The same agency will help us with everything related to registrations, documents, banking accounts in The Netherlands. So it will be a full month of research 🙂

RO: Pentru transportul nostru am facut urmatorul plan: Andrei va veni cu masina (pe care o vom inregistra in Olanda), burdusita de altfel cu alte trolere si cutii, iar eu si Alexei vom veni cu avionul, cu cateva trolere la cala (am facut din timp procurile necesare la notar, astfel incat eu sa pot calatori singura cu Alexei). Am ales plecarile in asa fel incat sa ne sincronizam sa ajungem aproximativ in acelasi timp, dar mai devreme decat dubita. Este destul de tricky faptul ca am ales sa luam masina cu noi, pentru ca in Olanda este extrem de descurajata aceasta practica. Si asta din foarte multe motive: in primul rand este foarte greu (si foarte scump) sa obtii un loc de parcare. Cum prima luna vom sta intr-un apartament tip hotel, fara rezidenta in acel loc, vom fi practic… turisti, fara drept de loc de parcare. Astfel ca va trebui sa platim parcarea timp de o luna, pana cand ne vom gasi cazarea permanenta unde vom specifica sa avem neaparat loc de parcare. Exista insa si in Utrecht cateva zone unde parcarea este gratuita, pe strada, insa sunt destul de putine si indepartate de locul in care avem apartamentul temporar. Si cum aveam multe de carat de la storage room la apartament si invers, in prima parte am considerat ca masina este absolut esentiala. Nu stim ce va fi peste un an, poate ca vom renunta complet la masina, sau vom lua una micuta, hibrid sau electrica, insa pentru moment aveam nevoie de o masina ca sa ne usuram drumurile, caratul si mai ales cautarile si vizionarile de apartamente/case pe termen lung. Apoi, taxele sunt foarte mari (taxa de drum si asigurarile). Ca sa nu mai vorbim de taxa de inmatriculare, care practic ii face pe cei mai multi sa renunte la a veni cu masina in Olanda. Insa pentru cei care au masina pe numele lor de mai bine de un an (noi citisem de sase luni, insa mai multi prieteni care s-au mutat deja acolo ne-au confirmat cum ca ar fi vorba de un an) exista posibilitatea de a inregistra masina fara a plati aceasta taxa de inmatriculare uriasa, fiind considerata bun propriu la relocare.

EN: For our own transportation we made the following plan: Andrei will arrie by car (which we will register in the Netherlands), packed full with trolleys and boxes, and I will travel with Alexei by plane, with a couple of checked in trolleys (we already made all the documents needed so that I can travel alone with Alexei). We have chosen the flight times so that we could synchronzie and arrive approximately at the same time, but sooner than the van carrying our things. It is quite tricky that we have chosen to bring our car with us as in The Netherlands this is quite uncommun. And that’s because of plenty of reasons: first of all it is very hard (and expensive) to get a parking lot. As we will stay in an apart-hotel in the first month, without being residents yet, we will basically be… tourists, without the right to have a parking lot. So we will have to pay the parking for one month, until we will find our long term accommodation where we will specifically request for a parking lot included. But there are several areas in Utrecht where parking is free, on the street, but there are few of them and quite far away from the place where we have our temporary apartment. And during our first month here we had so many things to carry from the storage room to the apartment and the other way around, that we simply considered that it was esential for us to have a car. We don’t know yet what will be the situation in one year from now, maybe we will totally give up to our car, or maybe we will buy a new one, smaller, a hybrid or an electric one, but for the moment we really needed a car to make our lifes easier, carrying and wandering around to visit houses and apartments for our long term accommodation. Then, the taxes are really high (the road taxes and the ensurances). Not to mention the registration tax, which basically makes most of the people to give up having a car in The Netherlands. But for those who own the car for more than one year (we read about six months but lots of friends that moved here before us confirmed us that it is actually one year) there is the possiblity to register the car without paying this huge registration tax, as the car will be consider personal belonging on relocation.

RO: Legat de asigurarile medicale, am ales sa facem o asigurare medicala de calatorie pentru o luna pentru Alexei si pentru mine (Andrei avand inclus in contractul de munca) chiar daca aveam sa ne inregistram cu totii in Olanda inca din primul moment. Am vrut sa fim on the safe side, si sa avem asigurarea inclusa, nestiind exact cand urma sa inceapa contractul de asigurare medicala in Olanda. Despre sistemul medical din Olanda si despre primele patanii cu imbolnavirea lui Alexei la inceput de drum vom vorbi intr-un articol separat, dar long story short, credem ca cel mai bun lucru pe care l-am facut inainte de plecarea noastra din tara a fost sa mergem la medicul pediatru si sa ii cerem o lista de medicamente pe care sa le avem la noi pentru diverse boli. Pentru febra, raceala, conjunctivita, otita si cam orice am putea avea nevoie pentru Alexei si pentru noi. Am plecat din tara bombanind ca a fost nevoie sa facem doua cutii pline de medicamente (noi fiind in general destul de sanatosi, ne imbolnavim rar si luam medicamente si mai rar). Insa fara aceste cutii atat de blamate (:D) ne-ar fi fost foarte greu, pentru ca in Olanda totul “se vindeca de la sine” sau bolile mai grave sunt tratate cu Paracetamol.

EN: As for the medical ensurances, we have chosen to make a travel medical ensurance for one month for Alexei and me (Andrei already had one included in the contract) even though we will all register in The Netherlands from the first moment. We just wanted to be on the safe side and have the ensurance included, not knowing exactly when the medical ensurance from The Neth bherlands will actually start. We will talk in a separate article about the medical system in The Netherlands and also about our first adventures with Alexei feeling ill right when we got here, but long story short, we truly believe that the best thing we could do before our move here was to contact Alexei’s paediatrician and ask for a list of meds for different illnesses. For fever, cold, conjunctivitis, ear infections, anything that we might need for Alexei and for us. We left the country complaining about the two boxes full of medicines (we are pretty healthy in general, we rarely fall ill and when we do, we usually don’t take pills). But without these two blamed boxes (:D) it would have been quite hard for us as in The Netherlands everything “cures by itself” and the more serious illnesses are treated with Paracetamol.