Van made it to USA

Would be really interesting to hear the process for shipping your van out.
Have a fabulous trip and keep posting pix.
 
That should be brilliant. Have a great trip and please keep us posted on here.
 
Hope you have a great trouble free time and as bill (2cv) stayed how about setting up a blog of your journey ??
 
Well where to start?
Having looked in to RV ownership or shared with their pros and cons ,we decided now or much later.Our son getting married in 2019 would mean 2020 at the earliest.
Because of other funsters posts we had obtained our 10 year visas late in 2017 in anticipation.
You need this to achieve up to 6 months in any one trip.A normal holiday visa called ESTA is quick to obtain but max out at 3 months.
Others in the past have been able to cross in to Canada or Mexico and after a short time get re entry for another 6 months.My research on this idea shows it may be frowned upon my the customs officials who at a whim can refuse re entry.
Note- the van has 12 months before export required .
Don't much fancy being stuck in Mexico with a van although you can ship home from Halifax in Canada if you wish to roll the dice.

The visa was not difficult,some form filling and a visit,for us, to the London Embassy for a 1hr queue for a simple interview.Other locations available I think.

So,with the news of a forthcoming wedding it brought all the dithering to a end and I made a request to Seabridge for a quote to sail asap.
Just Google.
They are a German company who have been shipping motorhomes worldwide for many years and have started to promote themselves at the NEC recently to tap in to the potential UK market.
It helps that they started to offer shipping from Liverpool instead of the continent from 2017.
They also speak very good English during my phone calls.

We moved on this very quickly ,confirming the quote early June and the van was shipping on 5 July.Based on our 8mtr van the shipping costs are based on volume.So I removed the sat dome , rear scooter and bike carrier.
We paid £3400 shipping which included port and agent charges and US documents.It will be similar for the return.
Also marine insurance £1300 for here and return.
The road insurance for six months £2200.

So £10,300 for 180 days = £58 per day.
Try to hire a van like ours to beat that ?

We paid extra £150 shipping for the scooter and £480 for its road insurance.

All arrangements through Seabridge.

They send email documents to print,fill and we photographed them and returned jpeg.

Nothing complicated along with pictures of driving licence ,log books .You need a International Drivers Permit from the post office for a small amount.

You receive a EPA exemption certificate .Must have this before shipping.It gives authorisation to import for one year without modification.

We shipped from Liverpool which seemed very laid back ,we parked up amongst Range Rovers due for export and left keys on dashboard!
Of course it's in a secure compound but still unerving .We never met the shipping agent just a few emails and some friendly phone chats.All info provided on where to go and who to see for delivery.Everything stored out of sight and we covered everything in lightweight plastic you would use when decorating.
Seabridge send you a link that allows you to view the ships location.It leaves weekly ,they have a fleet.It goes to Halifax, Canada then New York and Baltimore.

Here I went to the shipping agent and paid their fees to be given the release papers with customs clearance already completed.You have to pay 75 dollars for a escort service.They picked me up from the agent and delivered me to the van through various custom controls.I followed her to the nearest fuel station to fill up and we were "good to go" as they say here.You can only have one person collecting so Glenda remained in the nearby hotel with noon check out.I was at the agent for 9 am and back in the hotel car park by 11 am.

Three screenshots of route idea
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Our first proper shop on Walmart without rushing brought up some interesting items.
All the times we plan to spend on National Parks it may pay to buy a hunting bow.Fresh meat instead of road kill would make a pleasant change.
And what a great time saving device for my socks !
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Thanks for keeping up the reports. I love the states and have visited 36 of them. You've got some real treats to come on your planned routes.
 
Others in the past have been able to cross in to Canada or Mexico and after a short time get re entry for another 6 months.My research on this idea shows it may be frowned upon my the customs officials who at a whim can refuse re entry.
You can always apply for an extension of stay which would eliminate the need to leave and risk re-entering the US after a short period, which is usually frowned upon by the immigration officers.

Regards,
Del
 
No more effort than getting back home from Canada or Mexico if you're refused entry at the border :unsure:

Regards,
Del
 
Thanks for the info on how and costings. When I looked at it, you had to get the van to Hamburg.
Your van looks so small parked up! Is the British plate getting comments?
We always planned to do this but went and got ourselves dogs.
 
eye opener on how run down a lot of communities are that we travel through.Most properties are timber built and are simply abandoned ,left in ruins.
If we want a Aldi just look for the poor part of town,they seem to locate themselves in poorer locations.IMG_20180802_163414.jpg
 
Got distracted again.Plan was to visit Dayton, Indiana for the Wright Brothers historic flight field and the National Aeronautical Museum .This morning read about some very old native culture's in Ohio .Did not put much thought in to viewing history much further than the displaced Indian tribes.
Logically they must have ancestors that crossed the Baring Straights thousands of years ago.
This is what we went to discover.
The first location was the Serpent Mound near Peebles on the 73.This huge snake like formation is suggested to be the largest earth mound in North America , possibly the world!
Off course we just had to view it.
It's not known who built it but certainly either the Adena culture (800BC-100AD) or the Fort Ancient Culture (1000-1650 AD)
It was remarkable,truly as large as suggested.

On about 50 miles north to a town called Chillicothe where large burial mounds are protected as a NP.
The Hopewell Culture thrived and traded extensively between 100-400 AD .They built similar designed area's throughout the Eastern Board for ceremonial purposes.
It would have taken huge efforts to create the mounds that revealed many artistic artifacts.
So a day of planes turned in to a day of education.
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