American University of Cairo--Luggage?
 

I am sending my daughter to AUC this fall. We are traveling in Europe right before she goes to Egypt, and we are trying to decide whether to forward her luggage (either one large suitcase or one large and one medium suitcase) to our last European destination, Vienna, or to the University in Cairo.

Does anyone have an experiences in handling this?

Not sure why you want this. Are you worried about luggage being stolen? If so, there's at least as much chance that it will disappear in Vienna as in Cairo. What does AUC say?

How exciting the AUC! I wouldn't want to drag her school stuff all over Europe so I would probably send it to the University First. At alternative would be to send it to the hotel you will be staying at in Cairo.

Most of the European carriers have flights into Cairo so perhaps you could send it cargo with whatever airline operates from the 1st city you fly into. IE in Germany-LH, France-AF, UK-BA.

Hope this helps. We are going to see my husband in Cairo in June and I was thinking I should take my teens to see the University there.

Sunshine--Theft is not our worry. Not at all. It's "lugging" her semester's worth of luggage as we city hop. She packs light, even for college, but she will certainly need to check the suitcase or at worst, suitcases, and quite frankly, the intermediary trip we've planned won't really work with checked luggage.

She's not going to a Cairo hotel--she'll be heading straight to the dorm. We will be waiving goodbye in Vienna, so we're useless!

AUC's handbook advises that she arrive on the same flight as her baggage because of otherwise exhorbitant customs costs, thus the major reason to forward it to Vienna before she gets on the plane. Her flight from VIE to CAI is a straight shot. So there's some logic to getting it to Vienna.

On the other hand, if I can find a good way to get everything there without her having to drag it through Cairo airport, that would be nice. Speaking from experience, it's so much easier to think when you don't have to monitor/herd possessions.

Here are my current obstacles: AUC offers no information about a place for storage, etc once the stuff gets there, and we haven't a clue as to WHEN we'll get a dorm assignment. If you knew what we had to go through to find out if she had been admitted to AUC, you'd understand why I'm not considering the school to be my best primary info source at this point.

Hence, my request to find out if anyone else has done this!

I've talked to two luggage "forwarding" companies. They both told me the same thing--that I'd pay a premium to have it sent to Egypt, but that premium includes what they already anticipate as custom costs and hassles.

That all makes a lot of sense and would convince me there is basically NO choice but for her to accompany that luggage into the country. When she takes it through Customs she will probably walk through with NO problems. If you ship it here, there will be a lot of customs charges that don't have to make any sense. Get that out of your head right now. Don't be thinking they have to explain anything they do or charge, and NO, you can't complain about it and have anything happen.

Bite the bullet and send the stuff to Vienna and have yer pick it up there and escort it all the way into Egypt.

Have a nice trip.

I agree with Debbie. When I moved to Cairo, I brought 11 (that's not a typo) suitcases/duffles with me on the plane. There were plenty of people working there who were happy to help me out for a fee.

OR

you can contact Thomas Cooke or American Express or similar travel agency to "meet and greet" her at the airport. They have employees who will meet her airplane (holding up a sign with her name on it or repeatedly say her name), pick up her baggage and take her to her destination. If she were my daughter, I think that's what I'd do. It will give you peace of mind for not so many dollars.

What does AUC suggest about visas? Is she supposed to get a tourist visa at the airport & they will help her get a student visa? If that's the case, then make sure she has US money -- exact change -- to pay for it. Her meet & greeter should be able to help her get the tourist visa at the airport once she arrives.

I know AUC has a web site that discusses life in Cairo. Have you seen it? I'll try to find it for you.

She will have a blast. I know a young woman of 20 who is just finishing a year at AUC. She's loved every second.

Thanks, Casual and Sunshine. My husband and I discussed it again, and at this time,our only reason NOT to send the luggage to Vienna is that we have to leave one Austrian destination in the early a.m., get to Vienna, find the hotel (as yet unbooked, but that's minor) to pick up her luggage, and then go to the airport. In other words, we're adding probably one to two hours into that day on a pretty tight schedule. But it's doable, and it's the way we're leaning now.

AUC does provide an escort to meet her at the Cairo airport for a fee--we booked that service as soon as her admission was confirmed.

Sunshine, I think we have the Life in Cairo information--we have a hard copy of the handbook they have online. But you may have found a URL we have not, and I would be very interested in that. Thank you.

Again, revisiting having the luggage sent forward, both luggage forward companies will make sure that my daughter doesn't have to put up with the hassle--it's not HER problem with them to get the stuff through. As I stated above, their fees for Egypt are based on the $ and hassle it would take the companies to pay the customs problems and get the stuff through.

Another factor in all this is that Egyptair baggage allowance is 40 lbs in Economy. I'm not seeing much on the Egyptair website regarding how much excess baggage costs per pound. Oh well, another thing to figure out.

Thanks again!

Feel free to ask more questions.