Departure

The first immigrants had to reach their port of departure by coach. Regular connections existed from Luxembourg to the French port of Le Havre and the Belgian port of Antwerp. From Sierck, on the French-Luxembourg border the journey to Le Havre took 30 hours according to an 1852 advertisement by emigration agent Renault from Sierck. The French "Messagerie Imperiale" announced 48 hours from Luxembourg to Le Havre. Similar coach offers proposed a route from northern Luxembourg via the Belgian Ardennes (Spa, Pepinster) to the port of Anwerp. This transportation mode was very uncomfortable, not to speak of the duration of the trip, which suffered many interruptions as horses had to be changed regularly.

In later years the railway gradually replaced horse-powered transportation towards the harbors. The inauguration of Luxembourg's railway station took place 4 October 1859. It was the occasion of the presentation of a patriotic song "De Feierwon", which can be considered as Luxembourg's second national anthem. The first train left the railway station towards France 11 August 1859, whereas the first departure towards Belgium took place 15 September of the same year. From then on emigrants left for Le Havre via Metz in France and for Antwerp via Arlon in Belgium.
Whereas a major part of the emigration flow went through Antwerp, the Moselle emigration often went through France, probably due to the proximity of emigration agents Renault and Chevalier in Sierck. On 12 March 1855 a group of 114 persons left from Remich, 19 were from the municipality of Wellenstein, 13 from Remich, 19 from Stadtbredimus, 20 from Erpeldange, 8 from Canach, 4 from Wintringen, one from respectively Lenningen and Greiveldingen and the rest from Prussian border villages. 30 of these emigrants were less than 12 years old.

Once arrived at the harbor, it was rare the passengers could board right away and and leave. There weres some repairs to be made to the ships, it had to be loaded. So usually they had to stay for one or two nights before boarding, a stay which was of course costly. Some emigration agents, in order to avoid that their clients be exploited in their search for a sleeping place had some boarding houses under contract. Others boarding houses in Antwerp as well as Le Havre were kept by fellow Luxembourgers, they were well visited by emigrant Luxembourgers.