Mailing or shipping packages
 

We are attempting to travel light for our 3 week European trip - UK, Amsterdam, France & Italy - especially since the one bag rule, so we thought we could mail or ship home our souvenirs and gift purchases as we go along. Would anyone know if this is terribly expensive and what would be the best way to do so - post office, UPS, etc? Anyone have any experiences that they can share their knowledge with us? We would appreciate the help. Thanks in advance

Hi L,

Rick Steves often advises that one should ship or mail souvenirs home.

You might want to google his website.

((I))

I typically ship a package home with gifts that I have bought on trips to Europe, Australia and NZ. It is not cheap, but to me it is worth not having to carry an extra bag since I travel by myself. Last fall I shipped a package back from Switzerland and I think it cost about $50. I have found that the local post office is the cheapest way to go.
Martha

Sent a box of very fragile (masks, hand-made paper, leather albums and ceramic lamp) goods home from Florence via local post office. No problems. It is not cheap, but neither would it be to purchase these unique things from the local high-end design/gift boutique, even if that was possible.

Hi L,

Look up the Customs regulations regarding what has to be written on the outside of the package.

We didn't follow the rules one year and our stuff ended up in a bonded warehouse. Cost $60 to ransom it.

((I))

We contemplated sending a couple of boxes from Paris to Canada but the cost, size restrictions on the packages and the red tape involved in the customs declarations, changed our minds... excellent suggestion from ira to look into the customs regulations and requirements. I don't think this sort of thing is near as easy as it was prior to 9-11.

My husband and I, last summer, shipped 4 big boxes back full of gifts and items we bought for ourselves, including 2 bottles of wine as well as wine glasses, mugs, etc. We shipped two boxes from Germany and two from Switzerland. All 4 made it back ok with the exception of one bottle of wine breaking. Thankfully, nothing was ruined from it breaking.

It was expensive ... depending on how you ship it and purchasing the box, tape, bubble wrap, etc. We figured it was better to go this route than to 'lug' it around with us from town to town and then end up paying for it at the airport when our luggage went over the weight limit.

I'd say each package took about 3 weeks to reach us back in the U.S.

Also, keep a look out for some of the retailers that will ship packages for you. We bought a ton of Christmas items in a christmas store in Rothenburg and the store shipped our package home for us.

I had thought about doing this until I tried to even buy stamps at the post office in Gordes. They pretended not to understand my French. Then they charged me twice as much as I had paid for the same stamps at the tabac in Paris.

It's probably easier to have the store ship for you. Unfortunately, that probably negates the tiny one man country store.

In the UK, you could hit the locak MailBoxes etc. for shipping your things home. They also do regular mail with no extra charge so I frequently mail things from them when the line at our local post office is too long.
http://www.mbe.uk.com/

The equivalent exists in Italy, too...be prepared to show your passport to ship stuff back to NA.

Thanks for all the great advice - I will be sure to check the customs sight and then just prepare to pay whaterver it costs-as all mention, it will be worth not lugging it around. Have a beautiful day

When we were in Germany, we had items shipped home directly from a couple stores. Couldn't have been easier. They charged a flat rate (25E or something along those lines). Totally worth it not to have to lug things home or have it shipped ourselves - or even carry them back to the hotel - LOL. The boxes arrived about a week after we returned. We had a few other souveniers that we bought here and there that we just packed up and carried home (brought an empty duffle bag for that purpose, used that as our carryon and checked our clothes).

thanks, J Correa, great idea, thanks all

I have done this from several countries, different trips. Post office often sells boxes right there. I take a sack full of souveniers or clothes (if you are changing climates mid-trip, i've shipped home my fleece vest, for instance) to the post office, buy the box, pack it up, mail it off. It was not cheap but not outrageously expensive either. I often include printed material I've gathered and want to keep, but don't need any more on the trip.

Suze, maybe I was in too small of a town. Did you have any language problems with the post office? How large a town does one need to be in to find boxes?

Some countries have a max of 20 kg per package thru the post office.