On my last trip to the DR, on which I traveled all over the country, I spent a major part of my time there investigating what?s available and at what price and what?s not.
I must say that I was surprised to find less market going on than in Ecuador, Colombia etc, even though the DR would seem closer to the US.
I think I have seen many places but I may not have seen it all yet? Anyway, I am presently facing a similar situation as I am also planning my move over to the DR, so, here?s what I am (so far) considering bringing along:
- I am a technical person and most would call me quite handy with a screw driver? this may or may not be your case, but if it is: I did not find a great or satisfactory and competitive supply of tools (at least by far not as to what I found in Ecuador) so, if I was coming from the States, I'd be making a generous shopping stop at Sears for hand tools and Home Depot for machines. Yes warranty may be an issue on machines, but I fear it might be an issue if you buy on the island anyway.
- Furniture: Again, I might not have found the insider sites and if somebody knows, please post. In most Latin American countries, you?d find sometimes entire streets in most cities or whole villages of certain parts of the country dedicated to building furniture. You?d get anything made well and for dimes on the dollar ? from country style over medieval to Luis XV or modern. I did not find that so far in the DR (?). Also what is being offered for sale in the cities (SDO or STI) is not much and if it is nice (seems to be import too) it is prohibitively expensive. Again, this makes me considering loading up on quality furniture to bring over.
- Bedding and decoration: No Bed-Bath-and-Beyond, Bedding Barn or Pier 1 Import franchises here. I?d load up on Bed-in-a-bags, quality towels and such too.
- I am picky about cookware and kitchen utensils, so I will be bringing along new quality pots and pans, silver ware and dishes. It?s available in the DR but not at the variety as in the US or EU. No need to bring your toaster and such? there are many places offering these in the DR generating some kind of a competitive market, thus the pricing can be OK.
- Entertainment electronics: If you?d ever consider owning a flat screen TV, this might be about your last chance to it without paying x-fold. I?d even bring more than one, if you don?t use it, you will be able to sell them at a profit that will pay a good portion of your transport fees, if not all.
Same goes with computers.
- If you come from a 110V area (like the US), you might consider a generator that runs on diesel or even better on subsidized butane/propane (even thou I believe? well, let?s not get into that again here ) and all the other 110V gear you might have or love to have. Appliances are available but pricey even for some pretty dated or basic models.
- Finally, if you are into music? well, I?m maybe not the typical guy as a play steel guitar, so even most large music stores in the US won?t be able to impress me much? but I still visited some of the larger music stores in SDO and (well sure, no Hawaiian git-tar there, but?) I was surprised at their prices. I just got a nice pair of large congas here in Spain for about USD 110.oo (the pair!!) and I only found a cheap looking set starting at about twice as much in SDO? and congas? well you know, in the land of Merengue, Salsa and Batchatta? you would think they sell better than steel guitars on Maui. So, if you plan to yodel on your porch watching the sun going down over the mar caribe, you better bring along your li?l git-tar and some spare strings.
So, these are just some of the things I would (or actually
am considering) bringing along. I have moved overseas in both directions various times and I found out that there are basically two options that work (for me):
1 ? Sell everything before leaving and come with a suitcase with ?cash? and one pair of shoes and a shirt.
2 ? Keep the good stuff / sell the garbage, buy everything that you can get at a considerable discount (some to keep, some to sell) and stuff a container. 20? or 40? does not matter (you might have heard it before; size does not matter, it?s how you use it
), as prices do not vary as much. BUY the container if you don?t have a place set up to unload every thing safely at once. They are not as expensive as one would think (used but in
overseas shipping condition) and they can be resold, used as storage room, shops and many other things.
Keep in mind that most countries will let you bring in almost everything that can arguably declared as your household goods almost tax free, but only ONCE, when you arrange for permanent residence there, and I believe to understand that the DR offers that deal to new residents. Check with your immigration lawyer and have him arrange the whole thing with his customs broker and the shipper? that almost sounds like legal advise, but be advised that it is not (now
that last part almost was legal advise!
)? it?s just what I plan to do.
I hope this is of help to you? J-D.