Moving to Nicosia from NY in June

[theresoon]

Hi there! I just found the forum and I think it's great! We are moving to Nicosia in June and I already enrolled my 2 year old daughter at the Montessori preschool. It seemed very international when I visited and so I was wondering if anyone knows anything about it.
Also, has anyone else moved from the US as I have lot's of questions about bringing things over. For instancereading the threats it seems not worth bringing a car from the UK but when I priced a car there last month selling at the equivalent of $40,000 when here it sells for $21,000. sounds like a ripoff to me but we drive on the other side.

Thanks
Dina

[Bevdeforges]

Hi, and welcome to the forum.

I'm a bit north and west of where you'll be - but still in the EU. Bringing a car over from the US can be more of a hassle than a help. There is, of course, the matter of right hand drive vs. left hand drive, but also there are safety standards differences that may affect your ability to register the car in Cyprus.

Not sure about the regulations there, but several countries in the EU will make you change out the windshield (different sort of safety glass), the headlights (different standards) and other parts of the car. There is also the matter of getting parts should you need repairs. Even "international" dealers (like the Japanese) may have significant differences in what should be the same model in different markets. (I drive a Toyota - and believe me, the "Corollas" you see in the US are not the same as the "Corollas" they sell over here.)

One other consideration on bringing stuff over: US furniture is considerably larger than what you get in Europe. (US houses are much larger than homes in Europe.) There is the famous tale of IKEA, which actually had to enlarge all their popular furniture lines for the US market. Take into consideration the actual size of where you will be living - 110 to 120 square meters is considered a "large" home, and that's only about 1200 square feet.
Cheers,
Bev

[theresoon]

Thanks Bev,

I am actually looking at the Prius.
As for furniture, we live in New York City and having a 1200 sq feet apartment is a real luxury. That's one of the reasons we are moving -run out of space with 2 kids and all their stuff. We hope to build or buy something eventually but will have to rent at least for a year or two.

Because we live in NYC we have a really old car that we sometimes use on the weekends, that's why I feel spending so much on a car and on gas is ridiculous.

Dina