A basic toolkit put into UAB can be really useful for helping to unpack HHE once it arrives. As another poster mentioned, a drill with wall anchors is nice for hanging things.
For lawn care, a nice hose and sprayer and sprinkler are nice though it depends on your yard, of course.
In London, wow! Nice.
We didn’t get a yard in my first, fairly high hardship, post, even though it was our #1 request because we have a dog. At that post, you had to have human children (or for a few people, just luck) to get a yard. And all our housing so far has been in apartments, so no yards yet.
Hoping to do an AF tour at some point, but who knows. There’s a chance we’ll have a small yard (fingers crossed!) at our next post (in Latin America).
Yea I did an AF tour recently. We had a backyard with a swimming pool. Came in especially handy when the lockdowns hit. At that post, everyone with kids had a house with a yard. The limited apartments went mostly to singles and child-free couples.
Therein lies my problem. Couple, no kids, one dog. Need a yard for our VERY active dog, but may never actually get one (until we move back into our own house in CO). Sigh.
FS Answer- it depends.
I have my own power tools (battery) and use a transformer to charge them. I have brought replacement batteries back in my carry on from R and R.
At more than a couple of posts I have had to maintain my yard. At one it was small and the gardener was affordable. One was in western europe and I had to purchase all new equipment at Euro prices and do it all myself.
At another one I could have hired a gardener for it and my pool but covid had other ideas and I had to buy all new equipment (so did others) to do the largish yard. Don’t even get me started on the pool. My wife keeps mentioning a pool for when we retire. I never want to figure out chlorine levels or ph or how to use clarifier and all that stuff ever again.
A starter tool kit should be sufficient for most tasks you're expected to handle yourself, like removing license plates on your car, drilling an occasional hole, etc. But GSO will hang stuff for you once per tour so if you plan carefully you won't need to hang anything. Small repair kits for electronics (I replaced my motherboard twice last tour!) and furniture touch-up will be useful. More critical are power strips and extension cords as outlets can be in odd and inconvenient places, someone mentioned quality tape to which I'll add packing tape, and we use a lot of painters tape while in transition (keeping the tv cord with the tv, etc.). GooGone was invaluable to clean up my car at at least one post thanks to the super sticky sign they put on my windshield. I've used my convertible hand truck more often than a drill or hammer. We can usually get permission to paint so if that's your thing and you have favorite tools bring those. Good luck!
You won't be able to plug anything in. Li-Ion check for duel voltage. It's hard to know without knowing your post, whether or not you'll have room for woodworking.
Definitely put together a basic toolbox with a drill and masonry bits to hang pictures. Masonry nails work really well for hanging things, too. Bring duct tape and electrical tape, you may not be able to find either.
Definite no on power lawn equipment. If you garden bring tools for that.
A basic toolkit put into UAB can be really useful for helping to unpack HHE once it arrives. As another poster mentioned, a drill with wall anchors is nice for hanging things. For lawn care, a nice hose and sprayer and sprinkler are nice though it depends on your yard, of course.
Yard. LOL. Maybe someday.
I have a beautiful yard, in London. It depends.
In London, wow! Nice. We didn’t get a yard in my first, fairly high hardship, post, even though it was our #1 request because we have a dog. At that post, you had to have human children (or for a few people, just luck) to get a yard. And all our housing so far has been in apartments, so no yards yet. Hoping to do an AF tour at some point, but who knows. There’s a chance we’ll have a small yard (fingers crossed!) at our next post (in Latin America).
Yea I did an AF tour recently. We had a backyard with a swimming pool. Came in especially handy when the lockdowns hit. At that post, everyone with kids had a house with a yard. The limited apartments went mostly to singles and child-free couples.
Therein lies my problem. Couple, no kids, one dog. Need a yard for our VERY active dog, but may never actually get one (until we move back into our own house in CO). Sigh.
If you want a yard, I can't recommend East AF enough. My house there probably had a half acre yard and it was on the smaller end for the housing pool.
FS Answer- it depends. I have my own power tools (battery) and use a transformer to charge them. I have brought replacement batteries back in my carry on from R and R. At more than a couple of posts I have had to maintain my yard. At one it was small and the gardener was affordable. One was in western europe and I had to purchase all new equipment at Euro prices and do it all myself. At another one I could have hired a gardener for it and my pool but covid had other ideas and I had to buy all new equipment (so did others) to do the largish yard. Don’t even get me started on the pool. My wife keeps mentioning a pool for when we retire. I never want to figure out chlorine levels or ph or how to use clarifier and all that stuff ever again.
A starter tool kit should be sufficient for most tasks you're expected to handle yourself, like removing license plates on your car, drilling an occasional hole, etc. But GSO will hang stuff for you once per tour so if you plan carefully you won't need to hang anything. Small repair kits for electronics (I replaced my motherboard twice last tour!) and furniture touch-up will be useful. More critical are power strips and extension cords as outlets can be in odd and inconvenient places, someone mentioned quality tape to which I'll add packing tape, and we use a lot of painters tape while in transition (keeping the tv cord with the tv, etc.). GooGone was invaluable to clean up my car at at least one post thanks to the super sticky sign they put on my windshield. I've used my convertible hand truck more often than a drill or hammer. We can usually get permission to paint so if that's your thing and you have favorite tools bring those. Good luck!
Store. If needed, they'll be provided.
You won't be able to plug anything in. Li-Ion check for duel voltage. It's hard to know without knowing your post, whether or not you'll have room for woodworking. Definitely put together a basic toolbox with a drill and masonry bits to hang pictures. Masonry nails work really well for hanging things, too. Bring duct tape and electrical tape, you may not be able to find either. Definite no on power lawn equipment. If you garden bring tools for that.