I don't do it often, but a few times I found myself locating items I wanted from overseas. I live just about in the middle of the USA, in the rocky mountain region. A couple of times I ordered small items from Australia from a company called BNA model world. The items were small, sent by air mail, and actually cost less to ship than if they came from SB's, just a couple of state lines away from me.
I have also obtained items from the Czech Republic (Eduard for one) and Germany. One item I ordered surprised me as it was shipped from eastern Europe eastward and came the long way around the planet. And then of course a few items from Canada as well.
Another item I ordered off of Fleabay one time was shipped from Slovakia (a non modeling item). I didn't realize where it was coming from until I got the shipping confirmation.
Surpizingly, most of these items, shipping was cheaper that I thought. Other items I declined to order as shipping was more that the product. England and Japan seem very expensive.
I have almost circled the globe a few times and was just curious if any you have done the same.
I would also mention that a few of the things took almost 4 weeks to arrive.