Shipping luggage back from Germany

I have no experience doing what you are proposing, but I've seen similar inquiries here and responses to them, and I spent my career working for the US Postal Service, so I'll take a chance and speculate.

There is a possibility that the mailing cost would be lower if your son shipped things from Jordan (through its postal service) rather than from Germany, though no guarantees on that. There may be severe size and weigh limits for packages shipped through the post. Your son can find out what the cost will be by asking at the appropriate post office. It wouldn't surprise me if overseas packages are not accepted at all the local post offices. The information may be on a website, though I'd guess that would only be in Arabic. There may be significant limitations on insurance coverage and/or the cost may be quite high. It occurs to me that your son might be able to make contact with someone at the US embassy in Amman who could provide tips.

The cost to mail from Germany will likely be really painful. The postal service will probably be less expensive than commercial competitors like DHL. You may well be able to find cost information on the DHL website in English. I don't know whether Deutsche Post has the information on its website in English, but it may.

Paying excess-baggage charges to your airline may well be cheaper than mailing/shipping, though I realize you are trying to avoid carting the excess around as you travel through Germany.

If I were in this position, I'd try a combination of the following:

• Son brutally prunes what he has with him in Jordan--gives stuff to friends staying behind, donates to charity, etc. For items not of sentimental value, he needs to consider whether each item is really worth substantially more than the cost of mailing it home.

• Based on what research reveals about cost of mailing from Jordan vs. from Germany, son mails some things home--not using your address since you may be in Germany when boxes arrive. He needs to be careful about filling out the customs form. Used American goods being returned home should be so labeled. Duty should not be assessed on those. I believe there's also an exclusion for books by foreign authors and books in foreign languages. (You can confirm by Googling.) I'd try not to mix no-duty items with dutiable stuff he has bought in Jordan in the same package.

Still, the recipient of the box may get stuck with paying duty and a handling charge, so the recipient needs to be a good friend or relative.

Ages ago I remember having to present a box to a European post office in an open state so the contents could be viewed before it was sealed up. I have no idea what country that was, or whether your son will encounter such a procedure in Jordan or in Germany. I don't think it will matter to the Germans that the goods originated in Jordan; they'll either need to see them, or they won't.

• You and your wife travel with suitcases that are larger and emptier than usual so there will be extra space for including some of your son's excess without paying additional airline fees for the transatlantic flight. This means researching your airline's baggage-fee schedule to be sure you don't go just a bit over one of the size/weight thresholds.

Sorry not to be able to provide more specific information. Basically, whatever you do besides having your son abandon stuff in Jordan is going to be quite costly unless all of his excess can be incorporated in your luggage and your wife's without going over the airline's size and weight limits.

I noted on your other thread that you may be flying round trip to Frankfurt. If this is the case, you could check the extra baggage at the train station for the week of your travels around Germany. You could then pick it up at the end and take it home as checked luggge. Even with airline checked bag fees, that would be much cheaper than shipping.

I agree that paying airline baggage fees instead of postage will be cheaper. We did this when picking up and traveling with our daughter after her year abroad in Switzerland. The four of us each checked a bag of her stuff and had carry-on only for ourselves, so it was quite inexpensive, maybe $25 per bag (second and third bags per person have higher rates, but the first bag per person is reasonable.)

In contrast, we mailed a small box of souvenirs home from Germany and it cost 50 Euro.

Frankfurt airport has a long-term storage facility (up to 3 months), so you can just store his stuff when you all arrive in Frankfurt and pick it up and check it with your airline on your way home. See here. I haven't used it before but will be using it this summer as I have to carry some bigger items for a choir tour, but will be sightseeing alone for a week beforehand.

Thanks for the info. Everyone seems I still have more research to do. I like the idea of getting him to bring enough stuff he would be willing to just leave behind for a charity.

As for our travels it now looks like we are going to arrive and depart from different airports. So checking into a locker wouldnt work. We also take the Rick Steves approach. We only carry backpacks just large enough to fit into overhead bins.

Thanks for the info. Everyone seems I still have more research to do. I like the idea of getting him to bring enough stuff he would be willing to just leave behind for a charity.

As for our travels it now looks like we are going to arrive and depart from different airports. So checking into a locker wouldnt work. We also take the Rick Steves approach. We only carry backpacks just large enough to fit into overhead bins.

You can probably find something like cheap duffel bags to buy (perhaps at a street market?) and use for checked-in baggage on the return trip home, filled with non-breakables. That doesn't help at all with the travel time in Germany, though. Situations like this come up fairly frequently, and there doesn't seem to be a great solution. It sounds as if you son hasn't yet left for Jordan, so you have the advantage of being able to tackle this up-front by leaning on him to take as little as possible with him.

I took language lessons at the beginning of a very long trip in 2015. The book was printed on quality paper (unfortunately), so if was extremely heavy. I had to cart that thing all over the place, and it was not fun. Really, your son needs to pack as if he's going to be switching hotels every couple of nights, even though he isn't. There will be unavoidable stuff he acquires in Jordan, but it will help if he starts very light.

Not sure if this is an option for your situation, but my work has a contract with UPS that we are allowed to use for personal shipping and it really cuts the rate down. I know a coworker setup a shipping label for her parents to ship something home from Europe and they just had to print it out at their hotel and drop the package off at the local office. Just something for you to consider or look into as a possibility.

One of the Professors from Michigan State that will be in Jordan with him knows what to do and will help in ship stuff back.

Thanks for suggestions.

That's great. Please post some details after you return home. It could be helpful to other travelers.