Coming home... That's all it was. I had put in my time in this wintry wide-open and now was being told I was getting transferred back to the States, moving to the USA from Russia where I had spent 2 years as a sales rep for Xerox. [Can I say that?] I can't say it was a bad experience, it wasn't. But I have a large family, a big house, and for two years had been away from them all. I was happy to be going home.



So the question: when one is moving to the USA from Russia, how does one do it? My company had taken care of all that, when sending me over. This time, though, they asked that I hire an international moving company myself, now having a handle on language and systems in Russia.

So I talked to some people; it's the only way to really acquire services here that can be trusted. And some friends had a handle on it; they knew an international moving company that would get me and my things safely home; a long trip on which anything could happen. I would pay any amount of money to make sure that I didn't have to stress later about stuff lost, broken, or messed up.

When moving to the USA from Russia, it's tough to remember that you're dealing with two completely different ways of thinking. There is very, very old world thought in Russia and they have taken millennia to construct ways and means of preventing anything from actually getting done. The paperwork is astounding. Then there is the new world thought of the US, where every civil servant believes, indistinctly and they wouldn't call it this, that their piece of this puzzle is the absolute most important.

Moving to the USA from Russia becomes, then, a bevy of lines and forms, requiring untold time and patience. This is where the international moving company that you've hired becomes invaluable.

They describe the process, hand you the forms and request more documentation from you, schedule you and your vehicle or whatever you're taking for the requisite pokes and prods, prepare you for the myriad fees, duties, and taxes that you'll have to pay, outline what cost is for what object, come to your house and box everything (I once found a sugar bowl, still filled and with the spoon inside, wrapped and taped inside a kitchen box), and send it on its merry way. I give you a miracle of diplomacy and obstinacy: the international moving company.

Once hired, you'd best check your wallet. These firms, the good ones, are expensive. You can't just look up international moving company and pick the one at the top. Get references and talk to friends who have worked with them. Make sure that you yourself feel comfortable with the rep that you have.

The money you pay, you will save when on the other side.