Receiving Mail in Europe
 

Hi Everyone.

Someone PLEASE help. I've read a few books that seem to point to American Express as being a focal point to receive mail while traveling throughout Europe. This would be ideal for my needs, (email will work for other things, but I need to receive hardcopies, no faxes, of documents while on travel), and I have contacted AMEX about this service. I've talked to 3 different people, and they all seem to come back with the same response, "no such thing".

Furthermore, the concept is great. Since I will be moving around from country to country, I will not have a stationary mailing address. But, since there are so many AMEX offices scattered throughout the countries of Europe, I'm sure I can get a list of the addresses, and have people send things to various addresses as I will be arriving in the respective cities.

If ANYONE knows anything more about this, PLEASE, let me know ASAP. I wish to resolve this matter before I leave.

Also, if there are any OTHER ways, or options that I may not have considered, PLEASE email me, I would GREATLY appreciate the help!!

Thanks!

Funny, I was just talking about this the other night. When I was a kid traveling in Europe with my family, we used to pick up our mail at the Amex office - this was a free service. But I don't think it's offered any more but there's certainly a long history of this service being provided.

Hi rfmaster1,
Can't you set up an address such as 'Hotmail' and go to InternetCafe's or library's?
I have several addresses and one I call muckies on tour@**** which the family specifically use when travelling.
I also store travel docs itinaries, hotel confirmations and photocopies of my passport or visas on this site just in case I need to get them urgently or I lose my originals.
Sorry never heard of this AMEX service in UK.

Muck

It used to be that you could have mail sent to the main post office in every city, addressed to your name and "Post Restante". The post office would hold the mail until you came to collect it, showing your passport for identification. As I recall, they would hold mail for up to 6 months.

I live in Switzlerland, and just took at look at the website for Swiss Post. I could not find anything there to indicate that they offer Post Restante services, but you might take a look yourself: post.ch. You could also call their customer service number 011- 800 888 777 00 (for international calls from the US, if you are calling from elsewhere, take off the 011 and use your international dialling code).

You might check the websites for the postal services in the countries you are visiting to see if they offer this service. Also, post your question on the website for the Lonely Planet guidebooks. This website is primarily used by young backpackers on long trips and so receiving mail could be an issue for them. The website is "lonelyplanet.com". Get onto the chat/talk site and post your question. The area of the site you need is called "Thorn Tree Posts".

Also, you could have documents sent by UPS, DHL or Fed Ex directly to your hotel, or held at the UPS, DHL or Fed Ex office in a city for you to go and collect them. There are many shops affilaited with Mail Boxes Etc in Europe that I assume would also hold mail for you. To find UPS locations or Mail Boxes etc locations, go to the Mail Boxes Etc website and run a search. go.vicinity.com/mbe. You can also access it through mbe.com, click on store locator.

I think the option to use Fedex or DHL etc delivery services is probably the best idea. This sounds like business needs, so a business should pay for that. I suspect AMEX may have stopped doing that because there are so many delivery service options now and there didn't used to be any -- also, probably for security reasons as AMEX offices have been targets of terrorism in the past.

Depending on how long you will be in a place, regular US postal service may work (if you're in US, not sure). I recently mailed a check to Paris via regular USPS Global Priority Express Mail for only about $5 and it got there within a week.

Fed X has always worked for me.
Fluffy