Hi, my daughter is getting ready to return to the US after studying abroad in the UK for two years. Airline allows a second checked bag for $100 but she still has other items to return that could require a third bag/box. This would cost additional $285 via airline. Can anyone recommend any other more economical method? She checked royal mail and DHL but the charge by weight gets quite expensive as well.
The fall back is to donate the remaining items, which she has done with most of her stuff already. So, we are just checking the options now. Thank you in advance for any ideas.
Nope. D2 studied in the UK last fall. I checked, there was no cheaper way. I told her to only bring back 2 suitcases, and to give away or throw away what she couldn’t fit in her 2 suitcases.
I had a niece overseas a couple of years ago. Haven’t you shipped stuff to her the past few years? You know how expensive it is to send stuff there and back. Have your D try to sell the excess stuff, or be prepared to pay for the third bag. It may be worth paying the extra money if the clothes/stuff is worth it.
I bought linens in London and D2 didn’t bring back anything I bought for her dorm room. D1 did the same when she studied abroad in Sydney. If I wanted to buy them anything for them, I used local Amazon or online stores, I didn’t send them anything from the States.
If she’s not in a rush to see her stuff, she could consider sea freight. That’s how our entire household gets moved between foreign assignments: in a 40 ft container.
A freight consolidator will put her stuff together with another customer’s shipment.
Does she know anyone flying from the UK to the US who could check one bag for her?
I do not think there is a cheaper version than paying the airline for the checked baggage. I highly recommend getting rid of as much stuff as possible. That’s what my kid did after spending 2 years abroad.
My D was only in London a semester, but she found a place to donate lots of her stuff to that helped military families stationed there (bedding, kitchen items, etc.).
Thanks for the feedback. It really is amazing. She left with one carryon and one suitcase and I don’t know where she got all this stuff.
Mamon, I never sent her anything while she was there. I would stop in during my business trips, which I was lucky to do and bring her cereals and treats from here, which is all she wanted. Everything else, could be purchased and shipped via Amazon UK, which was not bad and she went to Primark for household stuff since it is pretty cheap. During the last trip, I brought back some clothes but she seems to have more.
Good info about Emirates. She already does have her ticket via Delta, so we will just have to pay the second suitcase fee, but definitely not the third. I believe the change fee is much higher than the second bag fee.
