Shipping souvenirs home.

This question has been asked many times. It is quite expensive to ship from Italy. The other problems are bad packing (things arrive broken) or they don't arrive at all. I would take an extra fold up bag that you can put your souvenirs in and then carry them on the plane and put them in the overhead on the plane. I'm sure that you will hear from many others the horrors of shipping from Italy Who know you could be one of the lucky ones who doesn't have a problem! Remember that whatever you ship will have to go through customs at an airport in the USA which can hold up your purchases for quite a long time. Have fun.

Agreed with Mark. Don't plan on buying more than you can hand carry back. We usually do carry on. I have room left around the edges of my bag to ship non breakable items, or wrap them carefully in your clothing.

I always buy 1-2 pieces of ceramics every trip. I hand carry these items on the plane and stick them under my seat on the way home.

Don't ship. You will pay through the nose and wait and wait for the box to arrive.

Be a smart shopper and bring on the things you really really can't find here in the US. What stuff do you really need so badly that you can't live without? That is the question you need to ask as you shop for "momentos".

We shipped a case of wine home and it cost us about $150 just for shipping. It was our "splurge" for the trip. That might give you some idea of how expensive shipping is from Italy. It did arrive in a reasonable amount of time and nothing broken. For bringing home souvenirs, we take a small fold up bag in our suitcase that we can unfold and pack with souvenirs to carry on the plane. Not sure how much you pack to take with you and your mode of travel in Italy. We recently returned from a 10 day trip. My husband and I each had a 25 inch roll around that weighed about 35 pounds each that we checked. We also had a small backpack and over the shoulder bag for carryons going over. We added the small fold out bag for the return. We used trains while we were there. Also did the vaporetto in Venice with our luggage with no problem.

We travel carry on but bought souvenirs on one trip then purchased a wheeled duffle bag for $8 on the street to pack extra stuff home. The fragile stuff went in our carry on, extra clothes and non-fragiles got checked in the duffle.

If you can, buy your souvenirs at the end of your trip so you don't have to pack them around.

We shipped from a Mail Boxes, Etc. in Sorrento and the box got home in good shape and before we did. However, it cost 85 euros for a box about the size of a 10-pound sack of flour (weighing 5-8 pounds).

I've shipped packages home from Amsterdam, Brugges, Sienna, Toledo, Morocco, and a few more places I can't remember exactly (not all on the same trip!). Yes, I try to limit myself to what I can carry back, and it can be stunningly expensive, but there are times when I just want to be rid of that stuff I bought (didn't want to drag it across Europe another 2 weeks) and I was OK with shelling out the cost to unburden myself. Things I've sent have always arrived back home in good shape, although the time in transit has varied from a few days to 2 months. If you do ship things, pack it REALLY carefully, and be patient with the foreign postal systems which can seem very strange compared to what you're used to.

We purchased two small boxes from the Italian postal service and shipped home unbreakable/nonperishable items such as cookbooks, brochures, linens, soap, extra pair of shoes etc. I think it cost @30Euro to ship both boxes "paco ordinario"-- meaning the slow boat. It only took three weeks to CA, although they tell you four to six weeks.

Cautions: 1. write your address neatly and don't use abbreviations. 2. write yr. address on every side you can. 3.Cover/protect all the addresses with clear packing tape. 4. Buy a roll of packing tape or take a partial roll with you and use it generously! Reinforce the corners!! Italian boxes are as thin as cracker boxes and were in tenous condition upon arrival-- damaged and torn. If we hadn't used so much tape they would have disentagrated. 5. Put items inside large zip lock bags to keep them from falling out of the box.

In spite of scary warnings, it was well worth it. I would do it again. (Oh, you better bring your phrase book to the post office...)

Costs to ship wine were disappointingly prohibitive. Since there are incredible wines that are not exported try to take home at one least bottle in your luggage (meaning you will have to check your RS carry-on on the way home. oh, well.)

We shipped some handmade copper pots by DHL, this allowed the shopkeeper to deduct the 20% VAT from the purchase price. So, that was worth it.

I bought quite a few souvenirs in my last trip last year plus a lot of clothes. I had 2 carry-on size bags and carrie dthem by myself in the hotels and trains. On the way back to the US I checked one in and took 2 in the plain.
Something else. I prefer to travel with front panel backpacks because they are roomier than a luggage .

What is a front panel backpack??

We shipped home a huge box of stuff in Florence from our fairly misguided shopping the first two weeks in Europe.

I couldn't face lugging around the Venetian sheets I had to have and the precious glasses for a friend's wedding, as well as the detritus from Eurodisney, etc,etc. We went to Mailboxes Etc, in Florence. It was outrageously expensive( $300 or so). I would do it again in a heartbeat. Everything arrived home before we did and the glasses were intact. I will also pack less and buy less. We backpack and travel by train.