Have you ever taken an extra suitcase filled with bubble wrap to bring home your treasures from your trips? Pottery, wine, delicacies?

Hi G,

No.

I unroll the bubble wrap and pack it flat in the suitcase.

I bring along a duffle bag to put dirty clothes in, and use the suitcase for the souvenirs.

What ira said....

Hi galestrom, I don't know about other European countries but in Italy you can buy bubble wrap.

I take an extra bag that zips to a small size and unzips to 20x20 or so. Or I've purchased duffle bags in the weekly markets.

If I need it I purchase the bubblewrap at the hardware store in Italy. Or if purchasing wine, many of the shops have the styrophome inserts and may places will pack up a box for you to check as luggage.

no.

If something is so fragile it requires bubble wrap, I'll usually have the merchant ship it home for me. The VAT deduction pays for most of the shipping/ins costs and I don't have to worry about extra luggage and toting around extra stuff.

Departing NYC, I use bubble wrap to protect everything, including my clothes. It's the only way to go with lightweight luggage, especially if you travel with camera equipment.

I use a professional method of folding my delicate garments with the use of bubble wrap that eliminates any need to press the garments once I arrive in Europe. I've been packing this way for many, many years. It works beautifully.

I take an extra bag, usually an easy-folding duffle bag with lots of pockets, and simply fold and incorporate it into another bag on the outgoing leg. If I buy things abroad (which I usually do), I use the bubble wrap from my clothing (now used and ready for laundry) and the extra bag to wrap and carry any purchases home. The duffle bag becomes a carry-on for the return flight.

Depending on how you fly, additional bags and their weight can pose problems. You need to check the rules of your airline and analyze the potential costs. It may be less expensive and/or safer to ship these days. If you plan on flying from one destination to another within Europe, the rules get even stricter.

No.

I wrap things in my own clothes for protection in the suitcase on the trip home. Extra fragile something small, I make room for in my carry-on.

IF I end up buying more than expected I purchase a souvenier tote from the city I'm in.

I like to pack light and to me an entire extra suitcase with bubble wrap is WAY more trouble than it'd be worth.

We do carry on only, so for small, lightweight purchases, they just go in our bag. But anything else we just ship. It is easy, and so far we have not had any problems doing that. Items arrive in about a week and it is sort of like Christmas when they arrive

What suze said.

I've done it. I took a duffel bag filled with bubble wrap and checked that, taking my bag filled with personal belongings onboard with me. I planned to do a lot of shopping in Hong Kong and the extra bag and bubble wrap came in very handy as I bought some porcelain items.

My metod-
Since I pack light and just carry on a rollerboard when flying to Europe from the US, like suze I don't want to check an extra suitcase or take bubble wrap.

I have a collapsable Hartman duffle which magically zips up to the size of a small, flat seat cushion and weighs nothing, which I throw in the bottom of my rollerboard.

I go to the local post office in France/Spain and buy a special wine container with inserts. I can either ship this back as checked luggage or put the postal wine container in my rollerboard and throw my clothes in the duffle, which goes as checked luggage.

For other breakable items, I buy bubble wrap in France/Spain.

I always bring bubble wrap, which I lay at the bottom of my suitcase. Whenever I buy ceramics, the shops usually wrap in 1 layer of bubble wrap, sometimes just newspaper, so back at my hotel, I'll add my own. I bring an empty duffle bag to use for my shopping goodies.

Monica

Never bring bubble wrap. For something like pottery, I will usually just ask for it to be wrapped at the store.

When going to wine country on a shopping trip, I bring a folding luggage rack and just buy a shipping box from one of the wineries. If only a couple of bottles, I just wrap it in clothes.

When traveling to the US, I always bring an extra suitcase or two, since most items are 25-50% less than Europe. Ditto for when traveling to a place like Thailand, Hong Kong, or Singapore, if I am planning on buying some custom clothing.

Yes, I almost always lay bubble wrap flat in the bottom of my suitcase. It weights nothing. Sometimes merchants don't wrap as properly as I would like. If you find that you don't need it, just toss it.

Wow! A lot of great tips and good advice for my question. Ira & StCirq the extra duffle and swapping out your dirty clothes sounds good. jnjfraz - I'll probably purchase the bubble wrap here and take it along flattened as it is probably cheaper here in the US. I'm on the search and destroy for a good collapsible duffle like the one Maribel has. It seems that wine carriers are available so I will check that out but my son shipped back wine from Italy last year and it was quite expensive.
Thank you all for your tips and advice!

We generally take a medium-sized hard-sized piece of luggage, filled with bubble wrap and some of our shoes. On our trip home the suitcase gets packed with our purchases, and the shoes go into our regular luggage after we've thrown away clothes saved for just one more use.

Lately we've included a package of Windex wipes to use on car windows, along with a roll of paper towels for the same purpose--saves a trip to the market.

I forgot to say that along with the bubble wrap we take scotch tape and a small pair of sissors. If you're planning to pack wine, thick socks make a good outer wrapping around the bubble stuff.

Can someone explain why packing things in bubble wrap is better than in your own dirty clothes?

I think the bubble wrap has a better cushion than clothing because of the air pockets.

Monica