The advantages of doing the pack-and-ship if you are flying distance is that a) a lot of the stuff you need/want may be out of stock in the A2 store, b) a lot of it you are going to need no matter what (sheets, pillow, mattress pad, towels, bathroom bucket, comforter, hangers, small rug, maybe mattress topper, desk lamp, surge protectors, batteries, fan, trash pail, et al.) – it would be a real pain to pack up and fly with all this stuff, c) it saves a lot of time in A2 to have all this ready to go, and d) you don’t have to pay a cent until you check out at the A2 store.