We do this all the time. I like Fed Ex and have had no problems in the years I have been doing this. We ship from the northeast, and typically 2 large suitcases with a combined weight around 90 pounds. The most our bill has ever been is $60 for the 2. We take them directly to a Fed Ex center to ship. If you ship through a service like MailBox, you may pay extra. We ship about 5 days from our arrival date and the bags are waiting for us when we get there. The sad day we head home, we take the bags to the Guest Relations counter at the hotel and they ship back for us. Many of the travel gurus advocate shipping your luggage ahead of time. Peter Greenberg, who does a segment on the Today show on occassion, has touted shipping as the way to go. In case you missed it, we use suitcases, not boxes. Fed Ex is gentler with the luggage than the airlines!