Done Schleppin' Bags, Esp. With Kids

[Savage1701]

I posted this under one other control-freak thread, and I'm sure others have posted this, but when traveling with our son we now do the following:

Due to high costs of baggage checking, I have taken to shipping much of our baggage back. I'm sure others have posted this, but I do the following:

1. Pack as much as I can into duffle bags.
2. Have one hard suitcase. Put some 18*18*18 flattened shipping boxes in and a roll of tape. If you can find them, you could use those heavy poly shipping bags a lot of clothes sellers use. They self-seal. Use the hard suitcase for makeup and such that can't be carried on or are fragile.
3. As the trip progresses, I dump my dirty clothes (or clean, if we have done some laundry) into the boxes, one by one, as well as toys and such (after the 1-day thrill wears off). Seal each box, walk it to the business center, and ship it ground UPS (3 days for us).
4. By the last box on the last day, I throw the duffels in as well. I save small amount of toiletries, meds, and one change of clothes in my small carry-on. We check that one hard suitcase with the makeup and such.

If you really want, and I'm the only one adventurous enough in my family to do this, you can pre-ship half your clothes in those boxes a few days before. I've done this at the Mirage in Vegas. I then pack 2 changes of clothes in my carry on, to allow for a 1-day UPS delay, and when my stuff arrives I go to business services and pick it up. Since UPS now offers recall, if your trip got cancelled you could just recall your packages in transit.

our local airline charges $15 for the first and $25 for the second bag. Believe me, you can ship a lot of stuff for $40 especially when your hard suitcase burns 10+ pounds of your weight allowance. I'm so sick of schlepping suitcases through airports this is the only way to go for me.

And I would trust UPS way more than an airline. Any time. Any day.

Just a thought. This may make a little less sense in a DVC suite with laundry, but who among us is smart enough to pack exactly what we need? I'm not, especially if it's a month like January that can be cold one day and pool warm the next. You almost have to double pack.

Anyway, just a thought. It's worth it at any hotel that has a business service desk. The UPS overbuy charges they levy are not that bad vs. having a shipping account, maybe 10%.

 

[brymolmom]

Great idea, but to me, that's more work than throwing in a load of laundry (not just for DVC - every resort has them) or two during swim time in our trip. In Sept, I plan to likely check a single bag for our family (me, dh, ds7, dd5) for $15 - then each of us will have a rolling carry-on that will have - bathing suits, some shorts, shirts, etc. They aren't big bags - so it won't be a huge pain to put them thru security. We'll basically end up with about 4 - 5 outfits each (with a couple extra t-shirts and underwear thrown in) - and then I'll do a quick load or two of laundry on day 4 of the trip.

Luckily - we're going in hot weather so I don't have to worry about sweatshirts or pants!

 

[ancestry]

I do it the easy and cheapest way -- if it doesn't fit in a carry on bag it doesn't go with us! We have learned how to travel lightly which makes life a whole lot easier. Packing and shipping would be way too much work for me. LOL!

 

[littlbugmom]

I've thought about shipping to the hotel ahead of time but we haven't had a need, so far. The airline only charges for bags over the weight limit. It will allow1 bag per ticket. There are 4 in my family, so we're allowed 4 checked bags free.

1 bag for kid's clothes
1 bag for adult clothes
1 bag for shoes, toiletries etc..
1 bag for surprise gifts for the kids


We do a load of laundry midway through vacation.


Do you have the option of shopping airlines?
Charging for every bag is ridiculous.

 

[bumbershoot]

For hot/cold times, I would likely pack for hot, then bring one or two things for cold that can go over the hot-weather clothes.

All of this shipping stuff seems like a lot of work! I'd probably just go with southwest and get 2 checked bags per person.

I don't trust UPS much at all, having worked for amazon and having seen how many things UPS loses track of in a typical day.

I don't mind visiting a laundry room on vacation (especially since hubby usually feels bad for me and goes instead).

If you go to WDW often, have you considered getting an Owner's Locker, get some duplicates of things, and leaving them in the OL?

 

[taitai]

Wow, glad this works for you but it is too much work for me. We are a family of five and we bring two carry on bags and one checked bag. That is it. We have managed this system for both domestic and international travel and it works for us. If it doesn't fit...you don't need it. If it is just my DH and myself then we just do carry-ons.

One thing we do that has been a lifesaver, is to pack a little of each person's stuff in each bag. That way, if a bag gets lost or misplaced, everybody still has clothes.

Good luck with whatever system works for you.

taitai

 

[LWatson]

I have to agree w/ others that it seems like a lot of work. We fly SWA anyway so we get 2 checked bags per person paying.

 

[lissawynn]

I also fly SWA and have had nothing but great service with them. Since my sister and I are taking our kids this time around, each child can carry-on one bag and check two. They are two and four, so I'm not going to have a big suitcase for each child, but I am considering three big suitcases so we have room for the purchases we make.
Thanks to ME, we only really have to worry about checking the bags at the curb to and from MCO.