bholson

We are rafting in northern India and then doing central and southern India for three weeks. We do not need our sleeping bags, cold weather gear ,etc. We would like to ship a duffle home directly from our hotel and not hassle with taking the bag anywhere. Any suggestions? DHL seems awfully high, $400 for 40 pounds. We don't need to have it back in the states in a rush. Thanks

Cicerone

I have done this once, but before I give details, I would ask this: is there a city in India where you can store during your trip south? Are you flying to south India from say Delhi or Mumbai after the rafting, and then returning to that same city for your international flight? If so, can you leave it at a hotel where you may be staying for an overnight before your international flight out at the end of the trip? This will be a LOT easier than shipping it. As long as you are not over your baggage allowance for the interntational flight (which should be 2 pieces of 50 pounds each, which if you are will be an issue for your flight to India anyway), storing it would IMO be a better plan. The hotel should not have an issue keeping it as long as you are coming back. They may charge you a nomial fee for 3 weeks of storage, but that has got to be cheaper than even sending it surface mail.

Also, I believe some train statins in India have luggage storage facilities. You might want to post a question on this point at lonelyplanet.com. They also have a chatroom where you can read comments from travellers or post questions. This issue may already be covered there or you can post a question. The area of the site you need is called "Thorn Tree".

An outfit called FirstLuggage apparently has a tie-up with FedEx and will ship luggage, take a look at http://www.firstluggage.com/. I know nothing about their quality or their prices. I saw an article in the paper about this some time ago, and was hanging onto the info for myself. You might Google similar services, I recall seeing a thread about a US company that did this too, but not sure they do it internationally.

I have shipped luggage once via an air freight handler. I have done this from Hong Kong, not India. You have to take it to the airport (perhaps they will collect it in India). It then arrives at an airport near your home and you have to go collect it after the freight forwarder has cleared it through customs. It is fairly inexpensive, but kind of a hassle, IMO. (For example, the luggage went to JFK, not Newark which would have been much more convenient for me, and it goes to the air freight offices, not the passenger terminal, and finding the place in the labyrinth the industrial area of Queens around JFK was not a lot of fun.) I have to say I did this before 9/11 and so have no idea if the process has become more cumbersome. I found the air freight forwarders in the Yellow Pages, you might try your hotel, or a Google search (India is farily well wired).

Another thought is to just mail it via air mail or surface mail using the Indian postal service. 40 pounds is a big box of stuff, but should be doable if you pack it well. For rates and info, take a look at the Indian postal service website at http://www.indiapost.gov.in/. Surface will be the cheapest and the slowest.

bholson

Thanks so much for your relpy. First Luggage does not ship from India.
We are not doubling back anywhere in India.
Is the India Post a real hassle? I do not want to spend my few days in Dehli dealing with the the paperwork. How much saving is it? Thanks

kaneda

It is very expensive shipping anything back from anywhere and I think it best to travel light and buy things with that in mind.

Excess baggage on planes is a money-maker for them and I got hit badly earlier this year by GulfAir. But on the plus side the guy felt sorry for me and gave me a free upgrade to Business Class .

The airline staff are open to some negotiation if you plead poverty. I have got some large reductions in the past.

Cicerone

I have not used the Indian Post office for package shipping. I don’t imagine there is a lot of paperwork, just address information and a customs declaration for US customs. If it is used clotting, there is nothing to pay as the US customs does not impose duty on used household goods, just write the contents on the declaration form. (You would pay duty on the US end anyway when you collect the package, i.e., they will not deliver it before you paid the duty.) The biggest hassle you may find are queues/lines: there may be one queue for mailing and one for paying and perhaps one for submitting the customs declaration. There will probably be some stamping of the various bits of paper by several people requried. This is just a guess from knowing how Indian Gov’t operations tend to go. It could potentially take a bit of time. Cost would be per kilo, I assume the website gave that. Would depend on air versus surface and whether you want to insure it.

You might want to post a question on this on the Lonely Planet website, as I imagine people on that site have been through this process and may have concrete experiences to relate. Go to lonelyplanet.com and then to Thorn Tree, it’s a site similar to this for budget travelers.