I've accumulated too much stuff! - TravelPUNK Backpacker College Student Budget Travel Message Boards!

LittleMiss1565 · 07-17-2005, 06:07 AM

I've been studying in Prague and my program ends on the 22nd. I have a flight home from London on Aug. 3rd. My original intention was to engage in a wee bit of travel before flying back to the states.

So now i've got a bunch of stuff (including breakables and alcohol) that will no longer fit in my backpack. What should I do with it? Will shipping it all home be too expensive? Can I ship alchohol? Bah!!!

**worldwidemike** · 07-17-2005, 10:37 AM

Check out how much it'll cost to ship home. As global as UPS and FedEx are these days, I'd try them first before going to the local post office.

I'm sure they can help with restrictions on what is permitted to be packaged and what isn't.

For shipping bottles of alcohol, try this method. I once got a painting home from Korea by going to a store that sold fabric by the yard off giant rollers. Well, the fabric is rolled around the thickest, most heavy duty cardboard tube you've ever seen. I simply rolled the painting up in one of these tubes and packed it inside my army duffel bag.

You could find a cardboard tube of appropriate width, slice it into sections a bit longer than the bottles, then insulate and pad the open ends really well. Pop the bottle inside with foam peanuts or whatever, and you've got a mailing tube.

Just a suggestion...like I said, I haven't tried it for mailing, but I think it would work...

worldwidemike

**travelpunk** · 07-17-2005, 11:05 PM

How bad do you need these things? I'd personally be inclined to sell my possessions, drink the alcohol, and hit the road.
Maybe ship one box and fit whatever you can, and save a bottle or two for souvenirs. My thinking would be that if I ever wanted to have some of the alcohol again, it'd be a good excuse to buy another plane ticket and re-visit the country sometime in the future.

The only things that I take home from Spain these days (or when my gf asks me what I want from there, every time she visits) is extra virgin ecological olive oil. The good stuff from the country side that you can't get here. Yummers

....

This last time I went, other than the olive oil, I bought a tube like WWM described and bought a few prints of paintings that I liked and still have yet to put up around the pad. Took it with me on carry on, but if I was backpacking it would have fit in my pack no problem and didn't weigh anything.

I saw a commercial on the Travel Channel yesterday that said, "Souvenirs are for tourists."

**SuDz** · 07-19-2005, 08:46 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by travelpunk@Jul 18 2005, 01:04 AM
"Souvenirs are for tourists."

Exactly. Like everytime my family goes somewhere they bring me back something random that just says like FLORIDA or what not on it. I never have any idea what to do with stuff like this since I kind of just look at it and think "Oh.. thanks...clutter"

SuDZ