1. You can bring your lamps. You just need an adapter plug and German light bulbs they screw in without a problem.
2. Bring along canned soups, salad dressings, creamy peanut butter, hot sauce, cake mixes and frostings if you like these things since you will have a hard time finding them here and if you do they will cost a lot of money. Look in the other things about Germany for a more complete list of things to buy and bring along.
3. Remember, German homes do not have built in closets. Leave home or give away as much clothing as possible. You will have to buy Schranks here and they are not as big as the closets in America. The same applies to linen closets and towels, etc. that you are bringing along.
4. Bring lots of extra clothing in your air mail shipment. We found the weather to be very unpredicable.
5. Buy your converters in the States. They are much more expensive here. Although some web-based companies will ship overseas but you have to pay a customs tax.
6. You can buy and order American books and novels here ....you don't need to bring them all with you. You can also order American books on Amazon.de--but some of the forms are in German. There is also a book store here called Huggendooble that has a section with American books.
7. Our American computers and printers (if they are relatively new) work here with out a problem with a converter attached. But you will only be able to by A4 paper here.
8. Credit cards are not accepted in most restaurants and stores you need a EC European debit card or cash for almost everything. Make sure you have a good supply of cash until you can transfer money into an account here in Germany.
9. Gas is about $5.00-6.00 a gallon here.....you'll find yourself walking and riding a bike if possible--so bring your American bike along--buying bikes in Germany is expensive. But I found I did need a car for many things (make sure it has a navigation system--it helped me be more mobile and not lost).
10. Join the American Women's club. They have many great trips at low cost. We are taking a cruise on the Eastern Mediterranean for $2,500 for our family of four for a week. They also have a lot of ways to meet English speaking women in your area. You can also buy things that others are selling as they head back to the US.
11. Plan on buying an extra refrigerator and freezer unless you like shopping for groceries everyday to put in your small frig.
12. If you have a dog, bring it. They are welcome everywhere even in stores and malls. Our yellow lab thinks she has died and gone to heaven....the sausage vendor at the open air market even gave her a couple pieces of his sausage every time we go there. They love dogs here. They'll be more accepting of your dog than your children.
13. You will find many English speaking people in the area around Frankfurt. It will almost feel like you never left home. You'll even find enough people from Michigan to play Euchre with on a regular basis.
14. Don't bring any large size cookie sheets or baking pans for the oven. They won't fit. The ovens here are very small.
15. If you end up in temporary housing here with a washer and dryer, bring some towels and washcloths. The towels here are the size of hand towels and they don't use wash cloths. You won't find washcloths in any European hotels....bring scrubbies.
16. The Germans are really into recycling. Find out about your neighborhood's recycling policy before you put out any trash. The Germans recycle everything: all glass, all plastic, all cardboard and newspaper, all food leftovers, all cans, all containers, etc. Each type of recycle material goes into a different container, and each town does it differently. Talk to someone before they don't take your recycling because you have done it wrong.
17. Tell your movers that you will be calling them in a couple of weeks to take away the empty cardboard boxes and paper. They will charge you for this pick up. The city only picks that up type of stuff for recycling once a month in my neighborhood. We'd be moving back before I got rid of all the cardboard boxes and packing paper at that rate.
18. Watch your packers like a hawk. Get someone to help you if you can. We ended up with boxes and boxes of things that were supposed to stay in the states in storage and came over in our sea shipment instead. They paid no attention to everything that I labeled. And you'll find that you may not have much storage space in your home here in Germany, so extra boxes to store are not want you want.
19. Measure your furniture and your rooms carefully. You can usually get a house plan from the landlord. Bedrooms tend to be small here. King size beds won't fit.
20 You have to have your passports ato get a cell phone. Cell phones are called Handies in Germany.
21. I was here for 7 weeks before I was told that you can get a 60 euro fine for talking on your cell phone in the car. The police actually take a picture of you and then mail you the ticket.
22. When you buy furniture ask about the cost of assembly and delivery (most furniture stores sell everything unassembled) . Both are expensive and may make you think twice about buying that piece of furniture.
Other things to know when coming to Germany--Click here.
