snowball

Now that my daughter has received her long awaited package from me, we are trying to figure out what to do with her luggage at the end of her semester abroad.

The family is going to travel to Italy after meeting daughter in Madrid. She left with two very full duffles when she went to Spain and I am sure she will have a good bit more before the end of the semester. I do not want to drag the extra suitcase (filled with winter clothes and gifts) around Europe with us. I have heard about the luggage shipping services and was wondering who has used any of them. It will be quite expensive, but as the suitcase will be over weight, I am thinking what we pay in overages on each plane or train might be close in price to the shipping.

While I know it is expensive to ship a package by FedEx and UPS from the US to Spain, I am wondering if it would be cheaper to send it by mail from Spain. Of course, there is the whole customs thing if I go through the mail or UPS; it looks like the luggage shipping companies take care of all that. So what would be the best way to handle getting her luggage back home?

The companies I have read about are Luggage Forward, Luggage Free, First Luggage, and Excess Baggage.