Five years ago, I had absolutely no idea where to even begin when it came to moving countries. The logistics, the costs, the paperwork — I knew none of it. I assumed you’d need some specialist relocation company to handle it all for you. I was wrong. It is completely, entirely doable by yourself — as long as you take it one step at a time, because the moment you try to see the whole picture at once, it gets overwhelming fast.

Let me tell you how we got here. 🇨🇷🇳🇱

The second time we moved, we did it slowly — too slowly, honestly. But we had a lot of emotional baggage to work through (don’t we all), and we needed the extra time. The third time, though? The wheels turned like a well-oiled machine. We even shipped our car in the container with all our furniture. And that’s what I want to share with you today: what the sequence actually looks like, and what I know now that I didn’t know back then.

What Usually Kicks Off an International Move

In our case, my husband received a job offer in another country. This is one of the most common reasons people relocate internationally — and it’s also one of the most logistically predictable, which helps enormously when you’re planning.

Some companies will cover relocation costs as part of the package. What this looks like can vary hugely: some employers pay for return flights for the whole family, provide temporary accommodation on the other side, and cover the full cost of shipping your belongings. Others — like ours — offer something more modest. We received return flights and two months of temporary accommodation. That was it. Everything else was on us.

Whether your employer is covering costs or not, the sequence of events is largely the same. What changes is how much financial pressure you’re under while executing it.

The Sequence of Events: Step by Step

The biggest mistake most people make is trying to do everything at once, or worse, doing things out of order. Here’s the order that actually works:

Should You Ship Your Car? The Maths Might Surprise You

This was a revelation for us. When the conversation about our third move came up, our instinct was to sell the car before leaving and simply buy another one when we arrived. That felt like the straightforward thing to do. Then we actually looked at the numbers.

We got a quote to add our car to the shipping container alongside our furniture. The extra cost was around €2,300. When we researched the price of comparable used cars in our destination country, the gap was significant enough to make shipping the obvious choice — and that’s without accounting for the time, stress, and uncertainty of car hunting in a new country when you’ve just arrived and still have a hundred other things to deal with.

Obviously, this calculation depends heavily on where you’re moving to and what kind of car you have. But the point stands: don’t assume selling and re-buying is cheaper. Do the maths first.

The Paperwork: Less Scary Than You Think

I won’t pretend there isn’t paperwork. There is. But here’s the thing that completely changed my relationship with it: the shipping company tells you exactly what they need. You don’t have to figure it out yourself. They have done this hundreds of times for the same destination you’re moving to, and they have a checklist ready to hand you.

What the list typically includes (though this varies by country):

• Passport copies for all family members
• Proof of address in the destination country (or a letter from your employer)
• Detailed inventory of all items being shipped
• Customs declaration form (the shipping company usually helps complete this)
• Vehicle registration documents if you’re shipping a car
• Proof of ownership for high-value items
• Import permit or residency documentation (country-dependent)

The key is to start collecting these documents as soon as you’ve booked your shipment — don’t leave it to the final week. Some documents take time to obtain, particularly if they need to be officially certified or translated.

The Hardest Part: Getting the Timeline Right

This is where even well-organised people come unstuck. You’re essentially trying to solve a logistical puzzle with two moving pieces: the date your furniture leaves, and the date it arrives.

International shipments don’t move quickly. Depending on the route and whether your belongings fill a full container or share one with other shipments, transit times can range from two weeks to six or eight weeks. That’s a long time to be living with borrowed or rented furniture — or no furniture at all.

What Three Moves Taught Us

Move one (Costa Rica, unplanned): We learned that sometimes life just sweeps you along, and imperfect is fine. We had no furniture, no plan, and managed. But we also learned that when you do have the luxury of planning, use it.

Move two (slow and cautious): We took more time than we needed because we were nervous about committing. The lesson: overthinking delays everything and doesn’t actually make the process safer. Decide, then act.

Move three (the well-oiled machine): We started earlier, used everything we’d learned, and added the car to the container. The difference was remarkable — not because it was without stress, but because the stress was manageable. We knew what was coming.

The biggest shift between move one and move three wasn’t experience or money. It was simply sequence. Doing things in the right order, starting early enough, and trusting that each step would reveal the next one.

Frequently Asked Questions

You Can Do This

Moving countries is not something that requires specialist knowledge or a large budget to manage. What it requires is a clear head, a respect for sequencing, and the willingness to start early and keep moving forward even when it feels like you’re juggling too many things at once.

You will feel overwhelmed at some point. That’s normal. Come back to the list. Do the next one thing. And know that on the other side of all the cardboard boxes and customs forms is an adventure you chose — and that’s worth every bit of the effort.