Things to Pack When Moving to Germany

Leaving your country to pursue your career or studies in another country is a very important decision indeed. Besides the mental preparation that you need to take for this major shift, packing is one issue. In this article, we will discuss the essential things you need to pack when you are shifting from India to Germany for a job or studies. While moving abroad is an emotional as well as an exciting experience, this article will streamline and ease all your packing troubles and guide you to the Things to Pack When Moving to Germany.

What are the things to Pack When Moving to Germany:

When packing to shift abroad, you cannot take anything and everything that you lay your hands on. Your go-to mantra should be to pack small and pack smart. Not only do you have to adhere to the luggage limit of your airlines, but the items should be the essentials that you cannot do without.

Here is a comprehensive list of only the essentials that you need to pack when you are moving from India to Germany:

Food Items:

After you reach, you will need to keep some food handy while setting up your home in the first few weeks. Of course, your family will convince you to pack lots of besan ke laddoos, but don’t let the sole item rule out all the other essentials that you need to carry. Here is a checklist of essential food items that you can carry to sustain yourself for some time:

• Maggi: When it comes to food, Maggi is your ultimate savior. It will take you through the time when you are still figuring out where to get your groceries from and your kitchen is not yet set up. It’s not like you won’t get noodles or even Maggi here but you would need some time to figure it out, from where to buy and for initial days when you are setting up you would need something which you can cook quickly and enjoy as well.
• Spices: Indian spices will surely be available in many places in Germany, but they will mostly be too costly. So it’s better to carry them from home, along with a spice holder. These are usually compact little things, so you can stack them up to last you some time. Again you can find those in Germany but it will be expensive and the quality won’t be as good. Of course, if you are coming here for the long term then you will be buying it from many Indian stores that are now operational in Germany, but it’s a good idea to stuff as much as you can within your baggage allowance.
• Other Items: You can carry a small number of miscellaneous items like besan, vermicelli, dal, ghee, other ready-to-eat food items, etc. If you are a student, these items would be too costly to buy there and mostly out of your budget. So keeping them handy would always be helpful.

Utensils:

For most of us foodies, our hearts lie in our kitchen. That is why we are first dealing with food and kitchen essentials. While a pressure cooker is not very common there, you can carry yours if you want to cook your plain old rice and dal. Do not forget to carry one big and some small strainers, some cutlery like spoons, forks, knives, and graters. A saucer, a Tawa (frying pan), some bowls, plates, serving spoons, and sturdy coffee mugs are enough to get your kitchen initially set up. Pressure cooker and mixer are available in Indian stores but very costly and not as good quality as you would get in India. Make sure to pack additional accessories as well like a safety valve, and gasket for the pressure cooker, since if those get bad you won’t find them here and your items won’t be of any use.

Also, keep in mind to bring utensils that are induction-based or can work on a glass top. One more thing to carry is Belan, Chakla, and a steal stand if you want your chapatis filled with hot air like a balloon.

Note: You don’t have to carry heavy utensils as they will be readily available at supermarkets and stores. Just carry only what is necessary.

Medicines:

Pack some common medicines for issues like headache, fever, vomiting, diarrhea, antiseptic lotions, band-aids, and some painkillers if your periods give you a hard time. It’s safe to carry them because medical stores in Germany won’t give you some medicines without a doctor’s prescription.

If you take any prescription medicines like eye drops, ear drops, or any medicine that your doctor asks you to take regularly, make sure you get enough of those for the last few months and make sure you take the prescription from your doctor as well to avoid any issues in custom. Once you have your health insurance and are registered with a doctor your doctor will prescribe you the medicine but it may take time so be prepared to have those medicines last till that time. Also, prescription eyeglasses are very costly here, so get a few pairs of those if you can.

Electronic Gadgets:

When packing electronics, a Universal adapter is a first and foremost thing you should not miss out on. Without that, none of the gadgets you carry from India will work. Here are some other gadgets that you can pack:

• Bring your gadgets like laptops, mobile phones, tablets, etc. from India if you already have them. But if you are planning to buy them brand new, you should come to Germany and buy them. They will not only be cheaper but also of superior quality.
• Bring some extension cords to set up your gadgets.
• You can carry your router, mouse, and keyboards from India.
• You can also carry some extra pen drives and also hard disks from India as they might be costly there.
• Carry your razors, epilators, etc. as they might be costly there.

Note: Do not over-burden yourself with too many electronic gadgets like hair straighteners, curlers, irons, etc. You can buy them at affordable prices in Germany.

Make-up and Skincare:

You can carry your go-to make-up products like lipsticks and blushers that you swear by from India. However, Germany has much better quality and affordable make-up products that are gonna amp up your vanity. So you can travel light when it’s make-up.

Although skincare items like face wash, sunscreens, masks, and peels are available mostly German brands are there. You might not find your usual brands, and if you are not ready to experiment, you should surely stock up on them while traveling.

Clothes:

Go on and carry your usual clothes, shoes, bathroom slippers, sweaters, sweatshirts, etc. However, don’t overload on these items because Germany has a lot of options for your wardrobe at affordable prices. You can depend on the German market for your snow boots, jackets, coats, mufflers, etc.

If you are coming in winter make sure to have some warm clothes and jackets, not too many but to survive the initial days, you will have to buy those eventually here since those clothes won’t withstand the cold winter here, but by the time you buy those you need something to survive

Stationery:

Students, take note! Stock up on your pens and pencils that are most comfortable to use. You may also carry other essentials like staplers, pins, etc. However, do not take the extra burden to carry notebooks, folders, etc. They are easily available in Germany at very affordable rates.

Other Essential Things:

• Roaming Pack: You need to make sure that the sim card you are using can be upgraded to international roaming. Several Indian service providers like Reliance Jio, Airtel, and Vi provide international roaming when traveling abroad. You can check out their terms and conditions and choose their service accordingly.
• Forex Cards: High time you know about Forex cards if you want to shift abroad. You can load these cards with foreign currency. Which is Euros and also withdraw the money when required. This will be extremely helpful and essential for you when you are in Germany.
• Cash in Euros: While you will always have your Forex card to fall back on, do carry some cash in euros while you are traveling. After all, there will be a few expenses right after you land, and it might take you some time to find an ATM to withdraw cash. But do not carry more than 500 Euros as it is a lot of money, and will cause you lots of trouble if you lose it.

Things to Remember:

• Make a checklist while packing and follow it.
• Start packing at least 15 days beforehand and pack a few things every day.
• Students try to book their flight tickets with Air India. They allow you to take one extra piece of luggage. (total around 75kg of luggage).

Moving to a whole new country can be daunting, but it is exciting as well. New opportunities and new feats of success await you there, and you should surely grab them without any hesitation. We hope this list of things to pack when moving from India to Germany will help to make your task easier.

Originally published at — https://redbus2germany.com/things-to-pack-when-moving-to-germany/