We recently got a call from a new client who told us they wanted to ship a rowboat from the United States to Dakar, Senegal so he and his team could row across the Atlantic Ocean from Dakar, Senegal to Miami.

We’re proud to say that Rainier Overseas Movers, Inc. was privileged to be a part of this amazing adventure.

A group of four brave men who are a part of an expedition and research team for O.A.R Northwest (Ocean Adventure Rowing & Education) and the Canadian Wildlife Federation based in Seattle, Washington worked with David Wiviott, move coordinator for Rainier Overseas, to ship their specialized four man rowboat from Seattle, Washington to Dakar, Senegal.

This move included amazing logistics and all went without a hitch thanks to fantastic teamwork and assistance from multiple agents worldwide.

We trucked the boat across the United States from Seattle to New York City, where it was loaded into a 40’ container for it’s voyage via ocean freight to Dakar.

The boat made it to Dakar without incident, and today you will find this amazing crew rowing westbound across the Atlantic Ocean at a whopping speed of 1 to 3 knots on their journey to Miami.

You can follow their adventure at www.oarnorthwest.com.

Real time tracking is available along with daily Facebook and Twitter updates from the team.

Such speculation has intensified as two other corporate powerhouses have declared their intentions to relocate from the USA as well: electrical equipment maker Eaton Corporation is planning on finishing off a merger that would land it in Ireland instead of Ohio and Pentair, the water technology company, recently made the move from Minneapolis to Switzerland.

While there are other reasons being listed for the moves of these companies, tax laws seem to be the common thread in all three cases and experts have pretty much universally agreed that this was the overriding motivation for relocation in each occurrence.

The question now becomes whether this trend, disturbing as it might be to the US financial community, will persist. There continues to be calls to reform the tax codes of America and, without doing so, many professionals believe that this trend will indeed keep up and that major corporations will pursue the possibility of fleeing America for the potential to save up to several million dollars in taxes by relocating to places such as the UK. As the United States Presidential election draws upon us and the economy continues to be one of the biggest concerns (if not the biggest) among voters, the pressure will only be turned up on decision makers to lower these corporate tax requirements by at least 15% and to make the final amounts more competitive with the rest of the world.

It would appear that, as the pundits have suspected, whichever Presidential candidate chooses to embrace the potential of tax reform stands to get a very big leg up on the coming race.

Rainier Overseas Movers has helped countless people move to the UK from the USA. Contact us for a free quote today.

However, a mass exodus from the US is not the only threat being bandied about. Others contained rioting and even violence. Some of the more disturbing of these messages included the following: “I Heard Mitt Romney , Tryna Take Away Food Stamps , If He Do .’IMA START A RIOT , IMA START A RIOT’” from Tommy Pickles@ThugPickles and “I want to shoot Romney in the penis. Why do we let him talk? If he wins I’m moving to New Zealand.” from Rafiki the Ukulele@lovingschneider.

While the vast majority of people have written off these countless posts that have hit the Twitter sphere as harmless threats from some frustrated voters the truth is that these are dangerous precedents being set that should have the rest of us fair minded American citizens very concerned, regardless of political leanings.

One of Americas finest characteristics is the right it gives its citizens to vote for the leader of our country in a fair and democratic way. The mindless threats being callously thrown about by these hooligans does nothing but undermine all the rights of freedom that America was founded upon and stands for. While these folks think they are doing what is right for the country, in reality they are smearing the country’s reputation and putting the notion in the minds of people around the globe that US citizens get what they want or they throw a tantrum.

This is not what America is about. This is one of the greatest countries in the world and if these people truly do intend to take matters into their own hands should things not go their way then I suggest they do indeed move to Italy, Scotland, Canada or any of the other places mentioned regardless of how the election turns out. These people do not represent the real America anyway.

If you’re moving to Italy from USA contact Rainier Overseas Movers today for a free quote and any other information you may be seeking.

That was the word out of Germany as news spread that the standard for trying potential criminals of war-crimes has been lowered and that the country would therefore step up efforts to force suspects to leave their homes in America to come and stand trial in Germany.

The change resulted from the successful prosecution of John Demjanjuk over one year ago that charged him as an accessory to murder in almost 30,000 cases stemming from the Second World War. Demjanjuk lived in the USA but was charged in court in Munich. He was a guard at one of the infamous death camps of Poland and, as many have over the years, escaped prosecution on the basis of his claims that he never actually committed the murders but was just “working” at the camp.

This has been a common story over the decades. However, as authorities have learned more about the war and the way that these common “workers” also very likely had a helping hand in the brutal murder of millions of people they have been able to prosecute defendants without having to tie them to specific crimes.

Another high profile case, being investigated against Johann “Hans” Breyer of Northeast Philadelphia, has also gained global attention. Breyer has long claimed that his job in the camps did not involve any illegal activity and, in fact, a federal court ruled several years ago that he could remain in the U.S. However, the case of Demjanjuk has reopened the case and Breyer, 87 years old, is again being pursued.

While the constant moving back and forth of Germans and Americans has been an extremely positive development over the decades since the end of the war, it is good to see the German authorities not resting on these laurels and willing to push the issue while knowing that this could strain the relations of the two countries. It has been proven again and again that even workers with supposedly legal jobs at the camps often rotated duties with some of the other overtly violent workers and that very rarely was there someone on the premises of the death camps without blood on their hands.

Let’s hope that the German Nazi hunters continue their thorough pursuit of these alleged perpetrators and that friendly relations and back and forth transfers will not cease between Germany and the USA as a result.

Rainier Overseas Movers will give you a free quote for your move to Germany from the USA. Contact us for more information.

The start up group, locally referred to as “pigeons,” has long felt the restrictions imposed by France and bemoaned the difficulties of starting a business there in comparison to the US. Capital gains taxes are substantially greater in ”pays des droits de l’homme” (which means country of the human rights, a nickname for France) and tax laws there are historically slanted to favor the larger companies.

A direct quote regarding the complaint aptly describes the position of future potential start up entrepreneurs: “They are protesting against aspects of Hollande’s tough crisis budget for 2013 which, they say, are unfairly skewed against the small business sector and would kill the start up boom, forcing young digital innovators to flee France. They argue that a €2bn (£1.6bn) increase in capital gains taxes on equity sales would force entrepreneurs who sell their new companies to pay up to 58% to the state, discouraging them from getting new ideas off the ground in the first place.”

It appears that this issue will go straight to the heart of the long held debate of the pros and cons of one of the basic financial tenets of the USA vs. France. Since the beginning of the hi-tech era there has been speculation and, some would say, out and out resentment from the global financial community about the US’s seeming overwhelmingly dominant position as the preferred start up destination of the world as opposed to some of the other financial heavyweights around the globe, such as France.

Hopefully Hollande’s new tax laws will strike an extremely sensitive chord amongst the financial leaders of France and will force them to take the needs and desires of future start ups into account. You can only take away so many local incentives to start a business somewhere before the field of prospective innovators begins to dwindle and they decide to pursue their dreams elsewhere.

Rainier Overseas Movers is a global leader in helping people move to France from the USA. Contact us any time for a free quote and any other questions regarding your move.

This is an idea put forth in the latest blog posting of Elizabeth Carlsson, a journalist for the internationally renowned “The Local” which is one of Sweden’s most respected English language news sites.

While the news of these findings put forth by Carlsson may seem trivial in regard to the global big picture, in truth there are a startling high amount of thoughts and theories presented by her that match the common characteristic stereotypes of Europeans that many in the world have grown to be accustomed to.

Chief among these is Carlsson’s assertion that, to many of the men she has dated, she will always be a “foreigner” and she seems no closer to shedding this label. She says that she is frequently regarded as the American with all of the typical American traits that USA citizens supposedly possess and that that has hindered her ability to meet, date and, ultimately, find her soul mate since relocating to Europe.

The irony in the story is that this is the exact reputation that Europe has been trying to avoid. They have been pushing for decades the concept that the general population refuses to stereotype foreigners and to have a well known publication such as “The Local,” with its army of readers, publish such a story to paint so much of Europe in a negative light (Carlsson first lived in London before Stockholm) cannot be something that puts immigration officials in a good mood.

It is yet to be determined what effect, if any, the publishing of such a story has on the situation on the ground. Will European officials urge community leaders to fight against this seemingly everlasting stereotype of its citizens being cold and un-accepting of foreigners? Or will the story get ignored along with the many others of those who move to Europe from the USA and continue to tell similar tales?

Contact us any time at Rainier Overseas Movers to get a free quote for your move to Europe from the USA.

Being where we are in society today it is no surprise, then, that many of these people are taking their concerns to the Internet and, happily, there is tons of useful information for this group to allay their fears. I came across just such a piece today entitled An American Girl in Shanghai which is the blog postings of a woman from the USA who moved to China with her husband and wanted to share it with the many who are either making or thinking of making this move in the future as it provides both encouragement and inspiration for anyone else on the cusp of such a change who is feeling that “big step” anxiousness.

The woman takes you through many of the day to day doings in her new surroundings and takes you along for her shopping trips, a visit to the Shanghai Marriage Market, Olympic viewing, challenges receiving her luggage, road trips, her first week of teaching duties, ventures to local events and more.

As someone who himself has made that dramatic move from the USA to a foreign country I can say first hand how valuable such stories are. While movers can read all of the “how to” guides and country brochures that are available (and there are lots) there is nothing that can provide a more calming influence on someone making such a drastic relocation as the real life happenings – and mishaps – that a real life person in a similar situation is undertaking. Stories like these always helped to soothe me and my family when we moved our lives to a different part of the world and I highly recommend the blog posts of Anne Marie and her husband Chris to anyone else who is looking for that extra boost of encouragement.

Rainier Overseas Movers provides free quotes and information to people moving to China from the USA. Contact us any time for more information.

As moving to Australia from the USA has gotten more popular amongst Americans throughout the country it was extremely apropos that I came upon a great discussion regarding a twenty year old with a father with a deep military background who has moved quite often throughout his life and is now considering moving permanently to Australia from America.

The discussion underscores the immense popularity of Australia as this is a person who has traveled all over the world and he has found Australia to be the most attractive place to relocate to. The replies to the potential immigrant were both varied and fascinating and I think it was the first response that really carried the tone of the conversation and stressed the general feelings of those around the world that have made relocating to Australia so tempting.

The responder spoke of how Australia was one of the few countries in the world that has come through the global financial crisis with unemployment holding at record lows, how the climate in Australia is generally magnificent throughout the year, how it consists of friendly people who welcome outsiders and more.

These are generally all of the usual reasons you’ll hear about why people have decided to move to the Land Down Under. With all these reasons, in addition to some of the most beautiful beaches in the world, a reasonable cost of living and a democratically elected government, it seems safe to say that the trend of moving to Australia from the USA and, really, from other places throughout the world, will only continue to keep moving in a positive direction.

Contact Rainier Overseas Movers when you are thinking of moving to Australia from the USA to receive a free quote and answers to any questions you may have.

When you handle 5000 international moves annually it means that you have customers that are literally all over this world.

After the March 11th earthquake hit Japan we followed up with a recent client of ours who lives in the northern region of Japan to check if they were ok. Fortunately all was ok minus some structural damage to their home and damages to a few material items.

Hearing their story of the traumatic event, Rainier Overseas Movers wanted to help others in Japan that were not as fotunate. The question was how?

Sunny Suzuki and her family including their dog flew back to states a few days after the earthquake hit as they actually already had the trip planned to finalize another move Rainier was coordinating.

In a very short time Sunny Suzuki and Rainier Overseas Movers came up with an idea of shipping a 40ft steamship container full of relief supplies from Seattle to Japan.

After all, this is what we do every day for our customer’s personal effects and setting up the logistics would be simple.

With the help of our agent in Japan, Springs International, and a local Seattle moving and storage company (Hansen Brothers) we had everything in line to start receiving donations.

Sunny Suzuki setup a donation website (http://www.reachjapan.info/) and has worked tirelessly to spread the word. Contacting the local media and speaking with various companies around the local northwest community the idea is now creating a quite a buzz.

Kiro TV even did a special interview with Sunny and her family on March 31st!

If you would like to help or learn more, please visit the website for contact details - http://www.reachjapan.info/

Or contact Dave Wiviott in our Seattle office.