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We did NOT pack light and now must pay.

So, we failed to follow Rick's advice to pack light. However, we are in our 70's and arrived in Italy via a re-positioning cruise with no restrictions on luggage. We then flew to Paris and then took the TGV to our house in Brittany where we live 3 to 5 months a year. We now will be flying back to Wisconsin. This year we have developed some medical problems which will make extremely difficult to drag around 3 checked bags and must find an alternate method. We do leave a lot of things at our little house in Brittany but some clothes and electronic gear must come with us. Can anyone please recommend alternate baggage shipping companies which they have used which are not horribly expensive? To clarify, we are currently in west central France and need to get to Paris by a combination of regional bus, high speed train ( TGV) and taxi. Any suggestions are very much appreciated.

Sign me One Old Fart from Wisconsin.

Posted by
23579 posts

All bag forward companies are expensive and so is any shipping company like Fed Ex. There is not a simply solution to your question. Either pack lighter or live with the bags using a lot of taxis.

I don't know how valuable your stuff is. Perhaps, you could consider getting rid of some things (flea market?). If you are staying at one location - you can just use a taxi and fly back and pay the baggage fees at the airport.

Posted by
10572 posts

Mike--your problem isn't clear.
Are you stuck in Italy and can't get to your village in the Morbihan because your have too many suitcases to pull, or you can't get all your stuff home from France to the States?

If the first, if you can get yourself to Menton somehow, you know that SNCF has door-to-door luggage service.
If it's the second, just bite the bullet and pay for the extra suitcases to fly back with you.

Posted by
437 posts

It sounds like you are in Rome and need to send some of your bags to France. One service I used for my daughter is SendMyBags which picks up your bag and delivers it in 4 to 5 days. You need to print out the provided labels and be available to meet the pick up person. Then someone needs to accept the bags if you won’t be there before your bags arrive. We had no problems using them when my daughter went to semester abroad and was traveling before school started.

Good luck!

Posted by
1194 posts

I would find a money hungry teenager to haul my bags to the airport.

Then have someone meet you at home.

Posted by
755 posts

Perhaps Eelway can help: they transfer baggage from home to airport or arrange transport through DHL back to the US. Not inexpensive but worth a call to discuss your problem. https://www.eelway.com/en

Otherwise, could you fly from Rennes or Lorient direct to CDG? Again, not inexpensive but perhaps “expeditious” .would need to check on baggage limits.

Posted by
85 posts

Find a young person from your village who would love to have the adventure of traveling to Paris with you. Buy him or her roundtrip tickets to CDG, he or she can wrangle the luggage from your home to the ticket counter at CDG. Then s/he can take the trains and bus back to Brittany. This would very likely be cheaper than paying for baggage service from your French home to your American one.

Posted by
503 posts

If you are in no hurry to get certain items home, use the local post office to ship home 3rd class. It may take a month to get home, but would probably be the least expensive. My parents did this once and it worked out well. They consolidated their "must haves" into 2 bags they could handle and shipped the rest home.