While in Italy, we plan to travel very light to make jumping off and on transportation a little easier..However, what to do with those items we have purchased that we just can't live without. Has anyone shipped thier purchased goods home? Did you use post or shipping company, and how expensive was it. Does the expense outweigh the nuisance of toting around those beautiful hand-painted whatevers you purchased?

Hi Rosie,<BR> You can ship stuff home by FedEx, USP or mail. Mailboxes Etc is a useful service.<BR><BR> US customs says:<BR>Once per day, you can mail yourself $200 worth of goods duty-free; mark the package &quot;For Personal Use.&quot; You can also mail to other people up to $100 worth of goods per person, per day; label each package &quot;Unsolicited Gift.&quot; Any package must state on the exterior a description of the contents and their values. You can't mail alcohol, perfume (it contains alcohol), or tobacco products.

We have sent stuff home from France and Greece by packing it ourselves, mailing it, etc. That, of course, involves buying the tape, boxes, etc., unless you think to bring tape from home. Worked fine, and it was great not to have to carry the extra baggage.<BR><BR>In Florence we easily found a Mailboxes, Etc., and it was nice to have them package it all up and send it. It cost more than doing it ourselves, but it was worth saving the time and trouble. Mailboxes, Etc. seem to be all over Italy.

For those who have shipped items home, how many days (approx.) did it take for them to arrive?

I think the things from Mailboxes got there in about 10 days, airmail.<BR>I've sent things home &quot;surface&quot;, and that can take a couple of months.

We sent home not needed guidebooks and acquired gifts, literature and stuff from Scotland and Ireland. Both times sent in surface. It took a month or so, but it was really fun to open up these &quot;gifts to self.&quot; If you are going for awhile, or gather alot of stuff and don't mind the wait I highly recommend it.

Did I understand that you cannot mail alcohol home? We were planning on buying alot of wine and shipping it home. Any ideas?

Hi areinert,<BR><BR> You can't ship anything that contains alcohol, including perfume. The Fedgov wants its taxes.<BR> Also, many states forbid importation of wine, beer and spirits.<BR> This doesn't mean you can't try, but it will be confiscated if its checked.<BR> You might be able to have a wine dealer in Europe ship it to a wine dealer at home.<BR>

areinert: There are numerous threads relative to shipping or hand carrying wine home from Europe. Do a search and hopefully you will come up with some posts from Dean, who is very knowledgable on the subject. Hope you can work it out--we too are wine lovers.

<BR>Assuming that you are shipping to the US, if you do this directly from the shop or store, you will not have to pay the VAT. In my experience, this pretty closely offsets the shipping costs. In theory, of course, you can eventually get your VAT refunded. In practice, however, despite filling out all the necessary paperwork (at the shop and the airport), we have never received a refund.<BR><BR>Incidentally, my wife has had a least a half-dozen porcelain dolls shipped from Germany, Belgium and England, and not one of them was even slightly damaged in the process. She has also shipped Meissen porcelain and a delicate anniversary clock with equally satisfactory results.

Rosie,<BR><BR>No one has mentioned the approximate cost to ship things home. We have done this both slow(months) and fast(days) and the difference is big. By land and sea it costs about $2.00 per kilo, but by air it could be as much as $10.00 per kilo. That adds up pretty fast. If you can send things back through the place you purchase it, you are much better off. There is usually a $100 minimum, but you do save on paying the VAT which is difficult to get back at the Airport at best. We always try buy only what we can carry and sometimes that even works.<BR><BR>Have a good trip.<BR><BR>Greg<BR>