Useful links

• International Women’s Club of Riga - http://www.iwcr.lv/

• Latvia Customs - http://www.vid.gov.lv/default.aspx?tabid=9&id=45&hl=1

• Catalogue of embassies - http://www.embassyworld.com/

• Access to European Union laws - http://eur-lex.europa.eu/lv/index.htm

• World Customs Organisation - http://www.wcoomd.org/ie/En/en.html

• Information about 260 countries - www.countryreports.org

• World maps - http://www.mapquest.com/atlas/; http://maps.google.com/

• City searcher - http://www.mapquest.com/maps/main.adp?country=GB

• Container dimensions and capacity - http://www.moverspoe.com/containers.htm

• Unit converter - http://www.trackload.com/tools/mcalc.htm

• Currency converter - http://www.xe.com/

• Volume calculator - http://www.trackload.com/tools/fvcalc.htm

• World ports - http://portfocus.com/; http://www.ports.com/

• World holiday calendar - http://www.earthcalendar.net/index.php

• Distances between ports - http://www.maritimechain.com/partners/port_distance_call.asp

• World time - http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/

• World electricity guide - http://kropla.com/electric2.htm

• Packers and related associations - http://www.moverspoe.com/organizations.htm

• European Movers Association - http://www.fedemac.com/

• The International Association of Movers - http://www.iamovers.org/

Moving tips

The variety of moving process

We have summarized some advices and suggestions that could help you during the moving process, making it nice and pleasant!

1. International moving must start with realizing what sum of money are you ready to spend for moving your belongings to the new place of residence. Be aware of the true value of your belongings and evaluate the possibility to replace them in the country of destination – it probably would be cheaper to sell a part of your belongings and use this money to buy equivalent items in the destination country, which would save money on transportation costs. Moving to another country is not a thing you do every day, therefore there is a large chance that you won’t be able to precisely evaluate the true belonging transportation costs without a professional offer and consultations. Specifying your budget will help you both to choose the company, which will organize and carry out the moving, and the necessary range of services.

2. Ask yourself the question: how will I feel, if my belongings would be damaged? Your answer to this question will provide you with valuable answers for selecting the service. What is more important for you – the safe delivery of belongings or the price you pay for the service? Remember that the price significantly impacts service quality.

3. When you carry out the price survey, don’t judge an offer only by its price. Carefully study the offer in total and if all of the companies offer you the same range of services. Be aware of the price per volume unit, because a calculation based on different volumes could be handed to you, and you could pay more than you expected for the work done if the final price has not been determined.

4. Volume, volume, and volume once more – at least 50% of problems are caused by the volume. If your company pays for your moving, then it is in the interests of company to accept the lowest price and the smallest estimated volume - but is this acceptable to you? Participate in the selection of the moving company because these will be your personal belongings that will be moved. Take into notice that, if it is mentioned in the offer that you must pay for the service according to the actual volume, you could be asked to pay for the service before your belongings are unloaded in the destination, if the estimated volume doesn’t correspond to the actual one.

5. Will I save money by packing the items by myself? If you move to another country then the costs in the country of departure make up a considerable part of the total moving costs. Please, remember that packing is only one part of them. Costs in the country of departure can be divided in multiple parts: packing in boxes; marking; and if necessary furniture disassembly; furniture packing; loading into a container or trailer; delivery to port terminal; preparing documents; insurance; carrying out customs formalities. Many clients think that there will be no expenses in the country of departure, if they do the packing on their own. That is complete delusion. To carry out the packing you need boxes, different other materials, and also workforce. Even if you would save on workforce, you still need packing materials and you also agree to the risk that your belongings will not be insured, because insurance company will not cover your losses, if the items were not packed by a packing company. Consider this before packing – is the economy worth it, if you carry out packing on your own?

6. Your belongings must withstand difficult conditions during transportation. Many clients don’t have the notion or they don’t think about the road and traffic conditions during the transportation with trailer or they cannot imagine the sailing conditions in seas during the storm. If belongings are not packed properly, there are greater chances that items will be damaged particularly during the transportation. Professional packing with good quality will decrease the possibilities of such risk. Insurance companies will reimburse your losses if the packing was done professionally. When packing is done professionally, you will also receive a list with the package condition descriptions, in which notes will be taken about the conditions of the package at the destination point.

7. Time for moving is very important, but remember that each element and each operation of the moving works takes time, and such time taking elements are: packing; loading into container; transporting to terminal; export customs formalities; loading onto ship; ship freight; ship unloading; forming import documents; delivery from terminal to the point of destination. All delivery deadlines are planned, but when any of the elements is delayed, the entire delivery is also delayed. For land transportation there is less possibility that delivery will be delayed, but we cannot entirely exclude this possibility.

8. Always keep in contact with the company that carried out the packing and its agent in the belonging delivery destination. Provide full information on how to contact you if a necessity arises.

 When meeting the packing company, ask them for advice about what you should do before moving, what must be done, and how can you participate in the process to help make the moving process quick and without headaches.

International moving guide and time planner

It is important to know, what to do, in what order and how to control and organize it all...

It doesn’t matter if you are doing the moving on your own or have selected the FF INTERNATIONAL MOVERS. Works planned and accomplished in a timely manner are the motto of successful moving process.

It is pleasing if you are aware that each day you have done something to reach your set goal, no matter how distant it is. The moving process actually isn’t as difficult as time consuming. Prepare yourself a plan for accomplishing works and activities, so that nothing would be forgotten and the process could be controlled every day.

You can return here any time and mark the activities you have already done and print out the changes each time you require them. 

6 weeks before the planned moving:

Carefully walk around each corner of the house to remember about things and items, which you haven’t used for a long time or could even forgot about their existence. Inspect the attic, spaces under the roof, basement, garage and any other possible places where items could be stored. Create the item inventory to choose the items you will take with you and which you will give away to charity or as gifts. Remember that not all items can be transported – for example, food products and chemical substances, including the everyday cleaning agents, etc., cannot be transported.

Gather as much information as you can about the new place of residence.

If you are moving to the new place of residence and the moving is paid by your employer, verify what costs and in what amount are paid by the employer and what costs have to be covered by you.

Approximately set the day of moving.

Contact the moving work organizers and invite them over to get more information about the organization and execution of the moving works and the related costs.

If you are using medication, visit the doctor for consultation about your health conditions and the potential limitations, recommendations or conditions that must be taken into consideration when organizing the moving, and ask if it is necessary to purchase any medications for the trip or the first period of time in your new residence.

Prepare a list of persons, which you would like to inform about your relocation, and organize a farewell party.

Find all the documents and make sure that you take them with you in luggage so they don’t get packed.

If there are some things you wish to hold in storage - separate them so the moving organizers could deliver them to storage.

Make sure that passports and documents are corresponding and valid for the trip, and if all the necessary permits and visas for the trip are received.

4 weeks before:

Organize the special transport for your plants and pets.

Inform the service provider companies (gas, electricity, water, telephone, cable TV, security, territory improvement and garbage disposal companies) to terminate your contractual relations in your old place of residence and contact these companies in the new place of residence, to be sure that the necessary services will be available already from the first day of your arrival. If necessary, set up a temporary telephone number, because telephone number will be necessary during the entire time of moving.

Contact your car company, house owner or renters, doctors, lawyers, brokers, insurance companies, banks, credit and leasing institutions, check on the further terms of use of your credit cards and the options for their use in the new destination, notify the issuers of bonus or loyalty cards about moving to another country, and carry out all the necessary undertakings so all your private cooperation partners could communicate with you in the new place of residence, and there would be lost letters due to the change of address.

If the building has an elevator, contact the house owner and verify that you will be able to use the elevator to transport your belongings.

If you wish to pack part of the items on your own, you can purchase the packing materials from FF INTERNATIONAL MOVERS. Remember – pack only the items, which you won’t need during the nearest months; also prepare the list of items and number the boxes, so you can orientate in the situation more easily and can access the items, if necessary. You don’t need to prepare a list for the items that FF INTERNATIONAL MOVERS are packing - we will make that list on our own.

If necessary, plan the sale of items you won’t be needing anymore or you don’t want to take with you, or give them away for charity.

If you are a member of a club, inform them about the relocation and cancel the subscriptions to newspapers and magazines.

Verify that you have received all the necessary statements and certifications, for example from the doctor or from school for the children, etc. 

2 weeks before:

Contact your post office and organize that all your correspondence will be sent to your new address after the moving.

Carry out the reservation of tickets and hotel. If possible, set the day of departure as the day after the belongings are packed and loaded in transport vehicles – therefore in case if some unexpected questions would arise and the moving is delayed, you wouldn’t have unnecessary stress about departure.

Organize with the bank to transfer your account to the closest affiliate or, if necessary, close the account in your local bank and open a new one in the new place of residence, but in such way and timing that you have constant and uninterrupted access to your financial resources.

Plan your meals and rations so that all the frozen and canned products you currently have would be used up until departure.

Prepare several room plans of your new residence to help the moving organizers with unloading and placing your belongings in the new premises. Plan and organize farewell parties to your children and friends.

If you travel with car, make an inspection to be sure that the car is in perfect technical order, is safe and will endure the trip; check if all the necessary insurances are done and permits received.

Return the books or items you have borrowed from friends or taken from library.

Remember to pick up items that are in the dry cleaner’s, being repaired, or have been lent to friends.

If necessary, arrange somebody, who will help to look after the kids and/or pets during the strenuous days of moving.

If you travel with pets, do all the necessary things to prepare them for the trip.

Prepare the garden machinery or other equipment, for example the lawn mower, so they don’t have technical fluids inside (gas or oil).

Dispose of all unused paints, sprays or other easily flammable substances, toxic chemicals – all the items that are prohibited to transport with belongings.

Prepare all the documents and permits, which you will hand over to the moving organizers, so they can clear all the necessary formalities of customs, etc.

Verify if all the preliminary works are done, contact the moving organizing company and inform about the route of your trip, submit the last instructions and new phone numbers, if they have been changed, so you can be contacted during the moving and in the new place of residence. If there are additional questions or an extra consultation is needed – solve these issues now.

Few days before moving.

Defrost the refrigerator and freezer.

Separate and put aside the items of first necessity, which you will take with you and which will be needed first in your new residence.

Moving organizers will pack and load them as the last ones so you can access them quickly in the new residence.

All electric devices must be disconnected and prepared for transportation.

Fill out the forms necessary to insure the belongings during the moving.

Day of moving.

Show the items that must be loaded as the last and show the ones, which you will take with you, so they are not loaded in the transport vehicle.

Hand over the authorization documents, insurance application form, and other documents to the moving organizers so they can clear the customs formalities, etc.

Carefully study all the documents, because you will need to sign the item list, one copy of which will be given to you. Please keep it in a safe place together with all the other documents until the entire moving process will be finished completely.

Moving with pets

Pets – part of our beloved family members... 

If you don’t prepare properly for the trip, then moving with pets can be a quite difficult task that can cause unnecessary stress and emotional experiences for the animals. Of course, you do want to keep the animals healthy and happy?

There are some things that must be done before the trip. You must definitely check the health of animals before moving. Also, be sure to:

1. Few days before moving start to gradually decrease the everyday food ration.

2. Try to accustom the animal to the transportation bag/cage. Put one your pet’s favourite toys and a soft rug inside the cage to encourage the pet to stay there. Piece of owner’s clothing inside the cage can also provide the feeling of comfort to the pet, so the pet will feel safer in the cage during the day of moving.

3. Before putting the pet in the cage and leaving home, take the pet for a walk and also repeat this shortly before the flight registration.

4. Each airline can have different pet transportation regulations in different countries for different pets. Check the regulations beforehand in the particular airline, embassy of the particular country or in the company, which will carry out the transportation of your pet.

5. The transportation cage must meet the airline standards and must be large enough for the pet to feel comfortable during entire journey.

6. Book the direct flight and consider the air temperature. In summer periods it is recommended to select evening flights when air temperature is lower but in winter periods select the day flights.

7. Particularly high or low temperatures can be the reason for prohibiting transporting the pets. Not due to temperature in airplane, because it has climate control, but due to the sharp temperature fluctuations between places of departure and arrival.

8. Remember – if it will look as if your pet is ill, he won’t be allowed to be registered for the flight.

9. Don’t give too sedative medication for the pet before the flight, because sleeping pets also aren’t allowed to be registered for the flight.

10. Don’t feed the pet before the trip - hunger will not cause so much stress to the pet as being locked in a cage next to his own stool. However, it is very important to provide water for the pet during the flight, but the airline will take care about that.

11. If you have planned to stay in the hotel, verify if the hotel allows pets.

Moving together with children

Kids love adventures...

Your children can also perceive the moving process without unnecessary stress. Children love good and joyful adventures and most likely want to participate in all the processes of the family with the greatest joy, including the moving to their new home, because being together is the most important. When children are involved, the journey to the new home can be one of the most interesting family activities, and it can be done without unnecessary stress, worries and nervousness.

We are ready to share some simple advices on how to involve kids in the entire moving process. This will help not only you but also the children to better adapt to the thought about their new home and the process of moving. Ask the children for help, invent fun tasks, and assign small packing tasks. Here will be some helpful suggestions for you on how to make the idea about moving more exciting for the children.

Remember:

• Share the news about moving as soon as it’s possible so the children would not be informed at the last moment in a trivial way.
  
• Talk to them, share all the possible details and matters that your children would understand – talk and study their response. Children of different age will react differently.
  
• Smaller children could have a feeling that they will lose much: familiar people, school friends, maybe even their favourite teacher; there could also be longing for the usual secure environment they are accustomed to, even for their beloved bedroom.
  
• Teens will miss their peers and friends with whom they have established friendly relationships.
  
• Involve children in entire moving process, if possible also in the process of choosing their new home, moving planning, and other activities according to their age and interests.
  
• Entrust them with the packing of their favourite items – they can even paint or otherwise decorate their item boxes, so they can be the first ones who see their items at the destination and can be the first ones who receive the belongings.
  
• Organize farewell parties for the children so they can have one more chance to spend good time together with their friends. Don’t feel shy to remind the children to exchange contact information so they can continue to stay in touch with friends even after moving.
  
• Plan in advance how the children can continue doing their favourite activities (for example, playing sports, dancing, etc.). By resuming their favourite activities, children will be able to become familiar with their new area faster.

The main idea of these few advices - how to help children to fully participate in all the processes of this family life stage, how to live with the thought about moving, and how to help them fit better into the new conditions. Allowing the children to pack their belongings and also to express their opinion about the new home can be a true help in an already busy period, when everything must be organized and arranged for the new period of life.

By involving all the family members in a united process, all the tasks can be done more fluently together with entire family without stress and misunderstandings – a common goal has always made people closer one to another.