Moving abroad with all your favorite, sentimental things in a suitcase might seem to be very stressful and expensive. Carrying all your belongings from A to B is not the best way to enjoy the holidays. Furthermore most of the airlines are starting to charge for checking your luggage in and sometimes prices can be ridiculous. Shipping suitcases can avoid the head and muscle aches.
This is what happened to me, after living for a while in New Zealand and realizing that it’s not my favourite place to stay I decided to relocate my home back to Europe. Nevertheless I planned to make a stop in the Maldives to gather some vitamin D and Sea after the cold weather in Hobbit land. As I already mentioned taking all your clothes to a paradise destination can cause a burdensome experience and empty your bank account in one click.
So I decided to ship my beloved 20+ kgs of stuff back to Germany first. I found Luggage Forward on the internet and felt comfortable and secure with sending my suitcase with them. The website is very easy to navigate: Already on the first page you can see the costs of your door to door delivery. Prices depend on the size and type of the luggage, you can even send your bicycle case! The distance and the speed of service that you select also plays significant role. I chose the standard bag 23kg for $679 and will be delivered within 5 days.
You need to create your account, it takes just 10 minutes. This will also help you to track your suitcase and follow every step. I’m the one who asks a lot of questions so I contacted support@luggageforward.com and a very friendly consultant helped me with all my questions within 12 hours! Important to mention that you definitely need to have a valid passport and detailed list of items packed in the suitcase.
I would suggest to plan sending your luggage at least 2 weeks in advance and not just one week like me. The company still needs time to send you tags for the bag, which will come separately one week after you confirmed your pick up. I almost missed my tags because the courier thought that no one was at home and left a note that he will bring it on the next day but my bag needed to be picked up on the same day. So in the end both, the delivery and pick up men, arrived seconds apart from each other. The pick up is by the way between 1-3pm. Nevertheless it’s amazing when your bag is collected from your home, so you don’t need to worry about tiring shlepping, overweight or waiting lines at the check in at the airport! Moreover you know that it will arrive safe within the next 5-7 days at your other home without getting lost or damaged.
I sent my luggage to Germany to my mum’s address and unfortunately Germans are famous for controlling everything. Important to mention Germany is one of the few countries that requires passport and baggage content specifics, most of the destinations allow allow simple pickup & delivery with very little documentation. My mum received a letter in a written in a terrifying way that they have my luggage and they need more information about me like the exact reason of sending it, if I’m moving back to Germany, the reason why and proof for it plus exact details what’s inside. If they won’t get information within the few days they will send the suitcase back and I will need to carry the costs. The curious fact is the info was already included. Germans are just famous for their bureaucracy that always makes myself and I know the whole country panic. I contacted Luggage Forward and they replied within a few hours despite the time difference that there is no reason to worry, they will take care of everything. And they did! So thanks to the Luggage Forward – Team for their support!
All in one I can say that Luggage Forward is an attractive alternative to travel light. It might seem pricy but what you gain in convenience and reliability is definitely worth paying a few extra dollars. And isn’t it great to travel light knowing that all your precious belongings are safely waiting for you at your next destination?
Wow, didn’t knew there was a service like that. I wonder , if this kind of service is there all over world, my gosh I can get many things from the world. But hey, if this launches in India, I am pretty sure it would be very useful for my people.
I can’t even begin to imagine how tough it must be moving country when you’ve got to ship all your stuff. This sounds like a good option though x
This is such a smart idea for when you’re moving long distances like you did. I have a friend moving from Canada to Europe soon and she might be interested in this service!
Wow! I had no idea a service like this existed. I wish I had known about something like this a few years ago, when I hauled 150 lbs of luggage through an airport, along with my cat 🙂 This type of service makes moving between continents and across the country so much easier and less stressful!
Interesting. Good to know companies like this exist. Germans and bureaucracy, huh? lol? I can imagine your mum panicking and blowing up your phone in worry.
Wow being a traveler myself this can be really helpful for me . I didn’t knew anything about it . Thanks for introducing it 🙂
Luggage forward was not something I knew off till I read your article. I have overheard someone speak of this but never knew it was implemented. This seems like a stress free process of getting your things to a new place without any hassles.
Never heard for such service. And yes, European birocracy can be exhausting and impossible to handle.