This is officially my first post...and it's a heavy one.

My fiancé, an EU citizen, is likely going to be offered one of two positions in CH very soon. Either in Zurich or Neuchatel. There is a likelihood that I will be able to keep my current job...so I'm not really looking for work or visa information. We will be using the family regroupment mode for me to enter and stay in CH.

So...my questions.
1. We want to bring our household goods and our VW bus. Does anyone have any idea what shipping a container of goods costs? We are on the east coast of the US currently.
2. has any one seen a us/euro power converter...not an adaptor...a converter. I will need to bring a few electronic items for work. It would be nice to not have to repurchase a few items.

If anyone could lead me in the right direction for some answers, I would be grateful and I promise to treat whoever I need to to a raclette once we move.

Any help or guidance is greatly appreciated...thank you kindly in advance.

just got quoted for a container from here to west coast 6500 euro. full container (car was extra) thats all I can help you with

It makes sense for you to approach removal companies based where you are living, to get quotes. To start with, you don't need to give any of them an exact list, just give them all the same information, eg: cost for the vehicle, plus cost based on xcumecs of general items, inclusive of customs. In my case I also got door to door, and depot to depot quotes. That makes it easy to do a general comparison amongst companies before going into the specifics that may vary a bit between them. You may, or may not ( probably not) be able to reduce costs by having a couple of cumecs of stuff packed into the vehicle.

Size of container is important. Was it a 20ft or 40ft one?

By converter, do you mean transformer? E.g., our TV is 110 V, so we got a step up/step down transformer at its wattage size? http://www.amazon.com/Goldsource%C2%.../dp/B0022QOSDK

If so, just make sure it's the right size for your electronic.

For other things that have a variable voltage (most laptops, electric toothbrushes, etc.), you just need an adapter http://www.amazon.com/International-...3071380&sr=1-1

20ft if im not mistaken

fyi, most modern electronics do not require a converter. they are usually rated from 100-220v or so.

however for appliances that are 110v only, you'll need a voltage stepdown. i'd invest in a good one, because the cheap ones burn out and die fairly quickly.

Our electronic needs will be mainly be for the computer, stereo and kitchen appliances. I do see that many of the items that we have don't need anything more then an adapter (ie, laptops). I looked at the link on amazon for the transformers. Are these ok, subpar, good?

With respect to shipping containers...I'm not sure what size we need. I think if we were to ship just the household items, a small container would suffice. However, we really want to bring our van. Is it possible to ship a vehicle in a container with household items?

Thank you everyone for the guidance so far!

Shipping items in the same container as the vehicle should not be a problem. BUt shipping items inside the vehicle, maybe. I know of someone who has done that, but also of others who have been told that for customs inspection purposes, the vehicle cannot have stuff inside it.

Your starting point is to ask your local removel company reps ( make sure that you deal with bona fide companies with international cartage registration.

Hi there,
I used a company called Shipping International. A 20ft container cost me about $3800 a few years ago. It is much cheaper to ship to Europe
than the other way around.....

http://www.shippinginternational.com/

They also ship cars. If you travel light, perhaps you could ship
a 40 foot container with car and household goods.

Remember, the apartments here are generally smaller, and US furniture
is hard to get through some of the doors here. My American
couch was a bugger getting into my apartment.

It might be cheaper to send the car separately. Ie, check the difference in price for a 20ft container and the 40ft container. Sometimes it's more than sending the car via a car shipping company.

Also be sure to do lots and lots of research on your specific car before you try to bring it over. It could cost you a lot of money in changes, fixes, etc.

Hello! We just moved from the Eastern part of the U.S. and shipped our car separate from our HH goods. We paid approx. $2300 but it's been 3 months and still no car. Supposedly it's in Antwerp now but I don't know for sure. While I would NOT recommend using the shipper we used (Schumacher Loogistics) it is possible to ship your car. Cars are very expensive here so we found that even with the $2300 it was WAY cheaper to ship the car than buy/lease a new one.

I second the step up/down transformers (that's the word you want to use in your search) - we have 3 of different sizes and use them frequently. We have one dedicated to the TV/DVD player/Apple TV set up. At around $50 each they are a steal compared to buying new appliances.

Good luck with your move!