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This weekend marks the 2-year anniversary of our big move to Germany! For anyone wondering how much it costs to move abroad, here’s an inside look into our personal expenses from April, 2017…
Have you ever dreamed of living abroad? Have you ignored your dream because you’re afraid of the high cost to move abroad? Well, you might be right…
For the second time in the past year, J and I have moved from the US to Europe. We moved from LA to Hamburg, Germany last summer, Hamburg to Chicago last fall, and Chicago to Frankfurt, Germany this past weekend. Wir lieben deutschland!
With three international moves under our belts, I now feel qualified to talk about the crazy expenses of moving abroad.
Of course every move and every family is different. I can’t offer a hard and fast number for your potential relocation to a new country. But I can warn you about some unexpected expenses. And I can provide some tips to minimize some of them.
Expense #1: Getting yourself and your family to your new country
Expenses to consider:
- Ground transportation to the airport (or to your new home on this continent)
- Airfare (if you’re going overseas)
Ground transport
Here’s why it’s so important to consider ground transportation costs to the airport: you might save big money on airfare by flying out of an airport not located in your backyard.
When J and I moved from LA to Hamburg last year, we decided to fly out of Chicago instead of LA because 1) flights were way cheaper, like almost $500/person cheaper! and 2) we wanted to visit family in Arizona and Colorado on the way. So we needed to consider the gas money and rental car expense of driving so far.
Even if you’re flying out of a closer airport, you should budget for the cost of gas or public transportation to get you and your family to the airport.
Airfare
The problem with booking a flight for an international move is that you usually don’t get a whole lot of notice. At least not when you’re moving for work. You get hired and maybe get 3-4 weeks’ notice before your start date. And as we all know, airfare is expensive on short notice 🙁
How expensive depends on a million different factors. Different airlines, flight routes, number of stops, time of day, day of the week, time of year, and on, and on. The best tool I’ve found for comparing flights is Google Flights. It lets you play with these million factors to find the best solution for your situation. You can check multiple airlines over dates and times from one place. Even check multiple airports to see if it’s worth flying somewhere farther from your final destination and taking ground transportation from there.
Our cost summaries
Your expenses will be different, but to give you a ballpark idea, here’s how much we spent getting ourselves to our new locations for each move:
| LA to Hamburg | Hamburg to Chicago | Chicago to Frankfurt | |
| Ground Transport to Airport | $765.35 (driving LA to Chicago) | $183.98 (train from Hamburg to Berlin) | $0 (thanks to a free ride from family!) |
| Airfare | $1,535.64 (Air Berlin) | $1,973.10 (Air Berlin) | $2,422.92 (United. Also covers a return trip for a wedding in a few months!) |
| TOTAL | $2,300.99 | $2,157.08 | $2,422.92 |
Tips to minimize costs
- Book as far in advance as you can.
- Only take 1 checked bag, 1 carry on, and 1 personal item per person, and make sure none of them are over the weight limits. Being over weight limits can cost as much as $200 per bag!
- Consider adding stops to your flight instead of flying direct.
- Consider booking a round-trip flight if you have plans to return to the US on vacation.
Expense #2: Getting your pet to your new country
Expenses to consider
- Required vet checks (and required tracking-chip implants)
- Required approval from the US Department of Agriculture – Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
- Airfare
- Customs
We had no idea taking our dog with us would be such an ordeal! Of course she’s part of the family, so we would never move without her. But still, it was a giant, expensive pain in the tush! If you’ll be moving your pet with you, take note of these expenses.
Vet checks
Most airlines require a vet check the week or so before your flight. They need to know the pet is healthy enough to fly. This vet check is also required by most countries to be sure the pet isn’t carrying a disease that could affect the health of the animals in their country. Some countries also require that the pets have a GPS microchip implanted so they can be tracked in case they get lost.
Approval from the USDA APHIS
For most countries, it’s not enough to have a vet sign papers saying the pet is healthy. These papers have to be certified by the USDA APHIS. The USDA seriously just reviews the vet’s paperwork and stamps it, but it’ll cost you around $40.
Airfare
So we’ve flown Peanut internationally a few times now, and it’s always been around $150-$250 one-way because she’s too big to ride in the cabin (she’s like 30 lbs). With years of experience telling me this would be the price, I didn’t even check pet prices when booking our most recent flight.
Imagine my surprise then, when United charged $598! And imagine my outrage when that $598 jumped to $843 at the airport because the actual weight of her in the kennel was 5 lbs more than the estimated weight, pushing her into a higher weight/price bracket. But what was I going to do? Leave her behind? Of course not. I paid the excessive fees and learned a valuable lesson. Always price shop!!!
Customs
As far as I can tell, customs fees for pets range from $0 to hundreds. And it depends on the state you fly into, not just the country. So be sure to check the state rules and regs to figure your customs costs.
Our cost summaries
| LA to Hamburg | Hamburg to Chicago | Chicago to Frankfurt | |
| Vet | $295.60 (vet check and microchip) | $0 (not required in this state) | $69.00 |
| USDA Check | $36.00 | $0 (not applicable in Germany) | $38.00 |
| Flight | $200.00 | $200.00 | $843.00 (United, grrr…) |
| Customs | $0 (not required in this state) | $0 (not required in this state) | $77 (in this state) |
| TOTAL | $531.60 | $200.00 | $1,027.00 |
Tips to minimize costs
- Consider the airfare for your pet when deciding on your airline.
- Weigh your pet with their kennel, bedding, food bowls, and anything else that will be in the kennel so you can get an accurate quote for the airfare.
Expense #3: Getting all your crap to your new country…or to storage…or both
Costs to consider
- Shipping belongings to your new residence
- Storage unit rental
- Ground transport of belongings to a storage facility
Deciding what to take with you and what to leave behind is really hard! You most likely need more than just your airplane bags to start your new life, so you’ll probably be shipping something. Clothes, dishes, pots and pans, other kitchen utensils, blankets, towels, books (fellow nerds!), wall art, curtains, maybe even all your furniture.
Shipping belongings to your new residence
Shipping an entire house with furniture is crazy expensive. Quotes for our 2 bedroom + home office move from LA to Hamburg ranged from about $10,000 to about $14,000 😐
We decided, instead, to ship a 100 cubic foot crate of necessities-minus-furniture for about $2,000 with UPakWeShip.com (email me if you’re interested in my unbiased opinion of their services). But if you’re not shipping all your stuff, you need to find storage for your remaining stuff. And pay to move the stuff to storage by renting a moving truck or hiring a moving company.
Storage unit rental
Storage units can be super expensive or dirt cheap, depending on the location. Do you need the units to be climate controlled so your stuff doesn’t melt in the summer or freeze in the winter? Do you need it to be close to friends or family in case you need something? Lots of shopping is required to find the best deal on a unit that meets your needs.
But an even better option: family or close friends with a big attic, basement, or garage! We were very lucky to have family willing and able to store all our crap for free. We just had to get it all from LA to Chicago to be stored.
Ground transport to a storage facility
Even if you’re just moving your stuff to a storage unit a few miles away, you probably need to rent a truck to get it all there. Don’t underestimate the cost of these moving truck rentals. Or the hassle of packing and loading and unloading everything.
Our cost summaries
| LA to Hamburg | Hamburg to Chicago | Chicago to Frankfurt | |
| Shipping crate | $2,009.22 | $1,515.00 | $1,609.02 |
| Moving remainder to storage | $2,646.15 (ZippyShell moved all furniture from LA to Chicago to be stored with family) | $0 (stuff already stored for free!) | $0 (stuff already stored for free!) |
| Storage | $0 (thanks to family!) | $0 (stuff already stored for free!) | $0 (stuff already stored for free!) |
| TOTAL | $4,655.37 | $1,515.00 | $1,609.02 |
Tips to minimize costs
- Your least expensive option is probably to ship some boxes, and store your furniture and the rest of your stuff in the US.
- Free storage space with friends or family is awesome if it’s available.
- DIY your move to storage: pack your own stuff, and load and unload the truck yourself. No need to pay for movers if you are physically able to DIY.
Expense #4: Getting a temporary residence so you have time to find a permanent address
Costs to consider
- Hotel or Apartment Rental
Expense #4 is pretty straight forward. You don’t want to commit to a long-term apartment without physically seeing it first. So you need a short-term rental to temporarily crash when you land.
The perfect solution is to crash with friends or family if they’ll have you 🙂
AirBnB is the next best thing. You can rent a furnished apartment (or even just a room if it suits you) for a couple weeks or a month. This lets you live like a local while you get your bearings. It’s also usually cheaper than a hotel. And most come with a full kitchen including all the dishes you need. So you just make a quick grocery run the day you land, and you’re set!
Our cost summaries
| LA to Hamburg | Hamburg to Chicago | Chicago to Frankfurt | |
| Temp Residence | $2,181 AirBnB | $0 (thanks again to family!) | $2,117 AirBnB |
Tips to minimize costs
- Crash with friends or family if they’ll let you.
- Shop around to find the least expensive place the meets your needs. You’ll only be there a short while, so a studio apartment might work just fine.
Expense #5: Getting yourselves and your pet from the airport to your temporary residence
Costs to consider
- Transportation to your temporary residence from the airport
This cost is often overlooked because it’s sorta assumed to be minimal. If you have family or friends to collect you from the airport, you’ve got it made! Or maybe you have a quick subway ride to the AirBnB and you’re done! But it’s not usually so simple.
Keep in mind, you’ll probably have a bunch of luggage. A checked bag, a carry-on, and a personal item per person plus maybe a pet in a kennel. That’s a lot to be juggling on public transport. You might want to take a cab.
Oh, and some airlines (United!) take your pet to a separate building upon landing. You might need to get a cab to that other building, then a cab from that building to your crash pad.
You might even need a long-distance train if your final destination is in another city. Budget for those train costs!
Our cost summaries
| LA to Hamburg | Hamburg to Chicago | Chicago to Frankfurt | |
| Transport to Temp Res | $234.11 | $0 (family to the rescue again!) | $102.50 |
Tips to minimize costs
- Can you get family or friends to pick you up?
- Ok, yeah, public transport will be cheaper than a taxi, but the taxi might be worth the splurge. You’ll be tired after a long flight and dragging around a bunch of luggage is exhausting!
Other random expenses to consider
In addition to all those expenses listed above, you may need to also consider the following:
- Passport: About $100 if you don’t already have one.
- Residency fees: If you’re moving for work, your employer will sponsor you and should pay these fees for you. They seriously vary by country, so do your homework if you have to pay these yourself.
- Travel insurance: Your new country might require temporary travel insurance while you wait for your new benefits to process. Expect $100-$500.
- The deposit and rent for your new long-term apartment: Some apartments require first and last months’ rent upfront, and the deposit is usually equal to one or two months’ rent.
- Rental fees for any real estate you own: If you’re renting out your house or condo to move, you can usually get a better rental rate by hiring a real estate agent to list the rental and screen tenants. Expect to pay about 50% of one month’s rent for this service. On the plus side, you probably don’t need full property management services. You can just have the new tenants contact you directly to make payments and report any issues. Skipping these full property management services saves you fees of about 5-10% of the rent amount every month.
Our cost summaries
| LA to Hamburg | Hamburg to Chicago | Chicago to Frankfurt | |
| Passports | $0 (already had passports) | $0 (already had passports) | $0 (already had passports) |
| Residency Fees | $0 (paid by employer) | $0 (not needed in the US) | $0 (paid by employer) |
| Travel Insurance | $0 (didn’t know about it!) | $0 (not needed in the US) | $90.24 |
| Deposit and first month’s rent for long-term apt | $0 (didn’t stay long enough to need a long-term place) | $0 (stayed with family) | $3,035.46 ($1,517.73 for the deposit and $1,517.73 for the first month’s rent) |
| Rental fees for any real estate you own | $1,225.00 | $0 (same tenants remained in house) | $0 (same tenants remained in house) |
| TOTAL | $1,225.00 | $0.00 | $3,125.70 |
Our total cost summaries for reference
So how much should you expect to pay for the full move?
Again, your circumstances will vary, but here are our totals by move:
| LA to Hamburg | Hamburg to Chicago | Chicago to Frankfurt | |
| Expense #1: Getting yourself and your family to your new country | $2,300.99 | $2,157.08 | $2,422.92 |
| Expense #2: Getting your pet to your new country | $531.60 | $200.00 | $1,027.00 |
| Expense #3: Getting all your crap to your new country…or to storage…or both | $4,655.37 | $1,515.00 | $1,609.02 |
| Expense #4: Getting a temporary residence so you have time to find a permanent address | $2,181.00 | $0.00 | $2,117.00 |
| Expense #5: Getting yourselves and your pets from the airport to your temporary residence | $234.11 | $0.00 | $102.50 |
| Random Expenses | $1,225.00 | $0.00 | $3,125.70 |
| TOTAL | $11,128.07 | $3,872.08 | $10,404.14 |
The Lesson
I am certainly not telling you not to move abroad. It’s a life-changing experience, and I’m so glad we’ve done it! What I’m saying is 1) know what expenses you’re getting yourself into, and 2) be prepared for them.
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Leave a comment to let us know if you’d ever consider moving abroad and if you think it’s worth the cost.
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