Don't EVER ship boxes to Germany via UPS ***update***

L dubs on the keyboard to rant a bit... anything to keep me away from the deep end.

Let me briefly emote about the ridiculous ordeal it has been to get some of our possessions from Los Angeles to Germany.  When we realized we would be taking 7 large suitcases of clothes and still had more that needed to come, we decided to ship 2 large boxes.  We left them with our friends in Los Angeles (Omar and Ambareen) and moved to Germany.  After a week of waffling about whether we would be staying here we finally decided that we were in fact in this fiasco for the long haul and needed our gear.  Ambareen and Omar masterfully arranged a pick up with UPS (and then rearranged another when the driver failed to have international papers) and sent the boxes out.  The date was August 17.  I followed the tracking on UPS.com and I'll admit surprise to find out the track they took to Germany (you can see the insanely extended route the boxes took below.. so long that the first part of the trip from Los Angeles to Ontario, California was ousted).  I was happy that they finally made it to Koeln, Germany, only 500 KM away, when they were held up.  Several phone calls and emails later it turns out the customs was the hold up.  Apparently convinced that I was shipping 6 KG of pure Columbian Racehorse Charlie and 5 bags of Buzzard Dust, the customs wanted an insane amount of information from Ambareen and Omar.  Those two angels obliged and then the customs bad people turned their scopes on us.  I sent emails explaining I was moving to Germany and that these boxes were my personal belongings, I scanned and sent my passport and residency permit, I scanned and sent our flat registration (you have to register where you live in Germany within 15 days of arrival), and I had multiple phone conversations.  After several middle of the night conversations last night I was told that things were ok and the boxes would be delivered today.  I come to find out this morning, however, that only ONE box is on a truck headed to our flat, and the OTHER box is still "held at the warehouse."  Also there is no estimate on delivery so L Mama and I are stuck inside waiting on this jabroni to deliver our gear (well... HALF our gear).

Oh and its supposed to hit 90 degrees today and we will be in our apartment without any air conditioner and loud construction occurring outside.  Makes me wish I had shipped over some Bolivian marching powder...

Location	Date	Local Time	Activity
Schkeuditz-Glesien, Germany	08/26/2011	8:12 A.M.	Out For Delivery
	08/26/2011	8:06 A.M.	Arrival Scan
Koeln, Germany	08/26/2011	3:18 A.M.	Registered with Clearing Agency / Shipment submitted to Clearing Agency
	08/26/2011	3:18 A.M.	Registered with Clearing Agency
	08/26/2011	3:09 A.M.	Departure Scan
	08/26/2011	2:12 A.M.	Import Scan
	08/26/2011	1:28 A.M.	Import Scan
	08/26/2011	12:05 A.M.	Package data processed by brokerage. Waiting for clearance. / Released by Clearing Agency. Now in-transit for delivery.
	08/26/2011	12:05 A.M.	The customer must provide the unique Custom's identification number before the shipment can be released. / Released by Clearing Agency. Now in-transit for delivery.
	08/26/2011	12:05 A.M.	Released by Clearing Agency. Now in-transit for delivery.
	08/26/2011	12:05 A.M.	Released by Clearing Agency. Now in-transit for delivery.
	08/26/2011	12:05 A.M.	Power of attorney documentation is missing and is required for clearance. / Released by Clearing Agency. Now in-transit for delivery.
Koeln, Germany	08/25/2011	10:40 P.M.	Import Scan
	08/25/2011	1:23 A.M.	Import Scan
Koeln, Germany	08/24/2011	10:33 P.M.	Import Scan
	08/24/2011	12:46 P.M.	Power of attorney documentation is missing and is required for clearance.
	08/24/2011	3:41 A.M.	Import Scan
	08/24/2011	3:26 A.M.	Import Scan
	08/24/2011	1:21 A.M.	Import Scan
	08/24/2011	12:52 A.M.	Import Scan
	08/24/2011	12:14 A.M.	Import Scan
Koeln, Germany	08/23/2011	10:26 P.M.	Import Scan
	08/23/2011	3:36 A.M.	Import Scan
	08/23/2011	3:07 A.M.	Import Scan
	08/23/2011	2:34 A.M.	Import Scan
	08/23/2011	2:23 A.M.	Import Scan
	08/23/2011	12:58 A.M.	Import Scan
Koeln, Germany	08/22/2011	9:39 P.M.	Import Scan
Koeln, Germany	08/21/2011	11:17 P.M.	Import Scan
	08/21/2011	9:30 P.M.	UPS will contact the sender and/or receiver regarding the status or disposition of this package.
	08/21/2011	8:06 P.M.	Import Scan
	08/21/2011	7:46 P.M.	Import Scan
	08/21/2011	7:28 P.M.	Import Scan
	08/21/2011	6:26 P.M.	Import Scan
	08/21/2011	6:26 P.M.	Import Scan
Koeln, Germany	08/19/2011	11:13 P.M.	Import Scan
	08/19/2011	9:17 P.M.	Arrival Scan
Philadelphia, PA, United States	08/19/2011	8:47 A.M.	Departure Scan
Koeln, Germany	08/19/2011	12:35 P.M.	The customer must provide the unique Custom's identification number before the shipment can be released.
	08/19/2011	10:51 A.M.	Package data processed by brokerage. Waiting for clearance.
Philadelphia, PA, United States	08/18/2011	11:46 P.M.	Export Scan
	08/18/2011	11:37 A.M.	Arrival Scan
Ontario, CA, United States	08/18/2011	3:49 A.M.	Departure Scan
	08/18/2011	12:21 A.M.	Arrival Scan

****UPDATE****

Big dang surprise!  The package was not delivered... even though we spent the ENTIRE day waiting inside our sauna apartment with temperatures hovering at 90 sans air conditioner when the UPS suddenly updated at 4 pm that there was NO ADDRESS on the box.  Apparently the address was written on the box STILL IN THE WAREHOUSE and so now they will both be delivered as a pair on Monday.  I cannot overstate how many conversations that have been had and emails that have been exchanged between myself and UPS.  Also, in all the activity listed above... no one managed to notice there THERE WAS STREET ADDRESS??  And when the package was loaded onto the truck... still NO ONE NOTICED??  Not until it was too late.  The level of incompetence here is unbearably high...

Stars and bars.

Here's the dang quote:

"We have enjoyed so much freedom for so long that we are perhaps in danger of forgetting how much blood it cost to establish the Bill of Rights. "