We will be spending 3 weeks in Europe at the beginning of November, traveling from the U.K. to Prague via France, Switzerland, Austria and Hungary, and we only want to travel with carry-on luggage. Our 3 week Europe trip ends in Le Havre, France, where we will be boarding a cruise ship that goes transatlantic to the Caribbean, where it will be very hot. We don't really want to have to take a full-sized suitcase all around Europe with us, so we were hoping we could ship our cruise clothing (about 25 lbs. max) in a box from the U.S., using USPS to the cruise company's facilities in Le Havre. Towards the end of our Europe travels, we would look around for a cheap suitcase with wheels to put our cruise clothing in. Has anyone done this? Do you have any other suggestions? We've looked at storing our suitcase in Paris, but even the cheapest storage costs quite a bit for 3 weeks and we would also be paying for a full-sized suitcase on Norse Air from New York to Gatwick. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated! We are willing to think "outside the box" - no pun intended.
Posted by
Mandeville, LA
38 posts
This is a service provided by Luggage Forward. It can be costly.
Posted by
Tresana, Highlands Ranch, CO, USA
23868 posts
We have made similar trips but through use of layering have held our total luggage to three carry-on size rolling bags but we do check the bags. . But we haven't done a temperature range as wide as you might encountered. We have been close between Paris in December and the Med for New Years. The Caribbean will not be that hot at the end of November. (We generally spend Jan and Feb in the Caribbean on cruise ships.) For what you are proposing, I am not sure you can do just carry-on. I think we could do it with three rolling carry on and one carryon size back pack but we would check at least two bags. We have never bought into the idea that it is evil to check a bag. Good luck.
Posted by
1320 posts
What size is a full size suitcase? Curious here. Most talk here concerns carry ons. Most want to know how to do it?
What are people taking with them that needs anything more? I am curious because when I am at checking in at airport I see enormous luggage. After that on the concourse you only see carrons, so those big bags seem like they don't exist. But they do if you go to a baggage carousel. They do indeed.
Posted by
Alsenborn, Germany
2214 posts
I think shipping anything to Europe right now is going to have issues with actually getting shipped.
I'd seriously consider just buying stuff in Europe.
Posted by
Bellingham, WA
1297 posts
Assuming that you are a M-F couple of average fitness and mobility (my apologies if you're not; just going off the usual RS demographic), you can almost certainly make this trip work without the hassle of shipping anything. There are LOADS of strategies for lightening the load (see 25 years of RS videos and this whole site, plus YouTube, etc). You don't need 25 pounds of clothes for a cruise. If you do, then you can probably afford the luggage transfer service mentioned in a previous comment.
Maybe consider each using a lightweight, slightly larger than carry-on size roller bag (25-inch max) that can carry a smaller bag over its handle (that's your carry-on) and a backpack as your personal item. I couldn't easily find such a bag, so I would suggest a "regular" 22-inch carryon that you check.
Or you can share a larger but not massive checked bag between you. Here is one that weighs less than 6 pounds and holds twice as much as a typical carryon (https://www.osprey.com/ozone-2-wheel-80l-27-luggage?size=O%2FS&color=Black).
Organizing your things with packing cubes and flat-fold "envelopes" will help to keep you organized and not overwhelmed.
Pack up and see if you can carry it up and down a flight of stairs (which you will probably need to do in a train station a couple times).
Posted by
Somewhere out there
163 posts
Find a baggage shipping service and compare their cost with what a premium seat on the airline will cost. Or simply pay for extra bags on whatever flight you take.