What to bring/not bring? What can I replace easily?

If in Doubt ship them out

there is not much you cant get here as long as you are prepared to pay the price

Bring as much as you can fit in the container. Cyprus is an expensive country to ship to. Most items are imported and cost far more than they would in the UK. To give you an example, I need a wood burner, cheapest price here is €2700 for one than isn't made in China! I can buy the same stoves in the UK for under £1000. Also you can't buy decent curtain poles here.

To put our shipping in context - we are in the Bahamas and will be shipping our stuff to storage in the UK initially while we decide on where to live.  That in itself involves 3 legs (small island to big island to Miami to UK) and is incredibly expensive.  Hence us only wanting to bring out really special things so we can cut it right down.

We originally shipped our furniture and personal possessions to Cyprus then sold up and when we returned a few years later hoped to buy the equivalent in quality at a decent price. Unfortunately choice is very limited here and at a cost. Many people buy items in the UK and have them sent here. If these items have a sentimental meaning and are in a good condition  I would advise packing them in the shipping container.

Visited the Bahamas in the 1990s - wishing you a pleasant move to Cyprus

When I moved to China I did not bring anything because it was cheaper to buy things new in China than ship them from Europe. When I moved from China to Cyprus it was the same. I only brought clothes and bought everything new here as it was way less expensive than move the items I owned. You will find that unless you move within the same country or a small distance it is always cheaper to buy the the things you need in your new country.

I suppose it is down to what you want to have. We considered selling up in the UK and buying everything new but, our leather suite was £4500 when new and we would only have got a few hundred trying to sell it. Our bed was a good solid wood frame which would have cost a lot to replace also so those 2 items were going to cost us as much to replace as the price of a 20 ft container which has been filled with everything we could get inside, including wood, nails and screws from my garage. (Yes I am a Scotsman. :-) ) The end result is that we should have very little that we have to buy here that we already had back in Scotland. Just costing the essential, and vauable items for insurance came to nearly £30k so the £4k - £5k cost of shipping is more than covered.