Once you’ve decided to make the big move, one of the most difficult decisions you have is deciding which of your belongings to ship to your new home, and how to ship them. After a lot of careful thought, we determined there were a few options available to us as far as what to bring:

1. Sell everything and buy everything new in Curaçao (just bring our clothes and what we could pack in suitcases)…and the pups!
2. Ship our truck, buy everything else new in Curaçao
3. Bring the truck and absolutely everything
4. Bring the truck and selected items
5. Bring all household items, but sell the truck and buy a new vehicle in Curaçao

We decided on #4; to bring the truck and some, but not all of our stuff. Here was the thought process. Remember, this is what was best for us. You may have other thoughts on this.

Our truck was just one year old. This meant we could ship it without paying import duties as we had owned it totally clear for more than 12 months. If we hadn’t owned it clear for that duration, we would have had to pay duty of 36% or more: 25% CIF tax (Cost, Insurance and freight) and 9% sales tax. The value of the truck was about $55000cad. To buy the same truck in Curaçao would have been nearly $60000usd (nearly $80000cad). This helped us make our decision easy…it would be cheaper to ship the truck than to buy new. Decision made. Ship the truck.

For the rest, it was a bit tougher. One thing we figured out was that because we were shipping the truck, we would need a 40-foot container, so, after speaking with a shipping company, we determined we may as well fill the thing up!!

We brought all our kitchen stuff (counter top appliances, dishes, pots, cutlery, etc.) because for the quality of our things, it would have cost a fortune to replace here (especially my sauce pot!!). We also brought our decorations, gym equipment (small stuff, not machines or heavy bags), coolers (coolers are stupidly expensive here), mattresses, BBQ, and all our tools and gardening stuff.
We chose not to bring most of our furniture because it would take up too much space in the container. It turns out furniture is also expensive here and we now we wish we had brought a bit more: ex. night stands and tv unit, and patio furniture.

What to bring is a bit of a conundrum. I have friends that said they wished they had brought nothing but their personal items, and I have other friends that said they feel they should have brought literally everything. The reasons for each decision can vary, so it will be up to you to determine what will be the best for your situation.

Now, how to ship it;

Again, we determined we had a few options.

1. Ship everything straight from Canada
2. Drive to Florida with all our stuff in a covered trailer and ship from there
3. Ship our belongings from Canada, and drive the truck with our suitcases and dogs to Florida. Ship the truck from there, and bring the rest with us on the plane.

The problems with option 2:

• What do we do with the trailer once we get to Florida? We could try to sell it, but who knows. Renting a trailer also seemed to come with a lot of headaches…
• It would take three days driving. Once you add gas, food, 3 days of lodgings (dog friendly) we’d save no money
• Transporting the dogs would have been a nightmare. Travelling through the states would mean a second set of bureaucratic nonsense to get them on the plane, etc., plus, the Canadian paperwork is only valid for 10 days, so there would be a time crunch as we would have had to get those done at least a few days before we leave.

Option 2 eliminated.

The problems with option 3:

• All the same problems regarding lodgings, gas, dog paperwork, etc.
• We then have to ship the truck from Florida. This costs $$$ and by the time you add it all together, you save nothing, but gain a million headaches.

Option 3 eliminated.

We chose option 1!!

Not only was option 1 the easiest for us, it ended up being no more expensive than any other options. When you consider the cost of vehicles, cost of other household items, shipping just the truck vs shipping everything or shipping all our belonging only and having to buy a new vehicle, this was really the only option that made sense for us.

Lastly, choosing your shipping company:

My wife, Stephanie, was the lead on this. She contacted 3-4 shipping companies. One sent us a very generic “estimate.” There was no personal contact or interaction, and we really couldn’t gauge what we were getting into. One or two others either never replied at all, or we received some sort of auto reply that was not helpful

One company, Taylor Moving and Storage, replied with a personal email from a sales executive, Matt. Matt and the company came with great reviews from a couple of other people we know that used them as well, so we already had a good feeling. He replied the same or next day with a ton of great info and a set of questions as well. We set up a Zoom call and chatted for over a half hour about their processes, services, etc. He made us feel super comfortable, was polite, engaging, knowledgeable, and at no point did we feel like he was “selling”, despite his title. He told us we would book a video walkthrough of our home where we could show him everything that would be shipped, and that he could give an estimate after that. This made sense to us.

Our decision was made. Matt and Taylor Moving would be our Team!!

From there, everything was actually super easy. We did the video walkthrough and a few days later, Matt contacted us with a quote. For a 40-foot container containing my truck and all our belongings, packing and unpacking, door to door service, it would cost $26000cad. I know this sounds like a lot of money, but go back up and read the part about truck prices. It would have cost me over $20k of that just to get a new truck in Curaçao. This was a no brainer.

Taylor would have packed all our stuff, but we had sold our Canadian home early, so all our stuff was packed and in storage. Matt kept us updated on timing of pickup. First, they came for my truck, then a couple days later for our household contents. The partner companies Taylor engaged were also professional and our stuff went to Montreal, then Nova Scotia, where it was placed on a boat to Columbia, then to Curaçao. We could even track our container and the ship on the internet! Once in Curaçao, Caribbean Moving Services handled everything, and they were incredible!! Our contact was Roderick and he was incredibly efficient and professional. The movers came to our house with all our stuff, unloaded everything into the house and were ready to help us unpack every box. We just had them take all the packing bubbles off and haul it away and we unpacked gradually on our own…but the service was included!! Special note: the moving guys were INCREDIBLE!! A few days later, when my truck cleared Customs, Roderick called me to pick it up.

All in all, we couldn’t have been happier with the experience and service.

Matt, Roderick, and the entire team of people that handled this did everything they said they would, on time, and with professionalism. I can’t give a stronger recommendation than I do for them.

If you have any Questions, please use the Contact Form, or come ask on the Curaçao 4 Canadians Facebook page.

And lastly, here is the contact info for Matt at Taylor Moving and Storage:

Matt Czernikiewicz
International Sales Executive, Taylor International 
1200 Plains Road East, Burlington, ON, L7S 1W6, Canada
Tel : (+1) 905 632-8010 Ext. 250 / Tel :1-800-263-9143 / Fax: (+1) 905 632-8130  

**Please note: This service was used in Ontario and services may vary in other provinces

Make sure to let them know that you heard about them on the Curaçao4Canadians.ca!