Thread: Newbie, looking to relocate to Seattle area

Hi all!
I'm Cait, my husband and I live in London. We are looking to move to Seattle. I am American, my husband is Irish. We are nearly through his visa application, just waiting on the final interview now.
What is making us nervous now is the logistics of getting ourselves, our two dogs, and the contents of our house to Seattle. We have yet to buy a house there, and won't be putting this one on the market until we have the visa and exit date in our hands.
How did anyone here organise their move? Any referrals for shippers? Anything you would do differently in hindsight?
Any and all help is appreciated!

Hi Cait,

I live on the other side of the USA, Florida presently ;) I feel for you, I was the same when we moved over here in 2011 but it went better than I imagined :)

As for shippers, get lots of quotes, make sure they explain the process right through and can tell you who they will be using on the US side (then check out that company), make sure you have some spare money for extra customs searches/x-rays etc, the company should explain this though. They are likely to have to do packing too as this reduces the risk of customs searching the container. The only thing I would do differently is to take everything, we got rid of a lot to save on shipping costs but in hind-side it's cost us a lot more to replace things here.

If you have any other questions please feel free to ask :)

We used a company called Arrowpak - and we're delighted with the way they came into our home and gave us a quote before a week later packing everything immaculately in their own containers. I'd recommend them anyday for an excellent service.