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I will be flying from Portugal to the Netherlands but I will be only taking hand luggage. What is the cheapest ways of bringing more luggage (excluding the air plane)? (around 30kg).

This question can be extended to Europe. It's not the first time I have had this problem. What is the most affordable way of transporting luggage if you don't carry it along with you while travelling?

Note: Usually companies like TNT and UPS mainly work with other companies. If you ask them a quote it's either very expensive or you will hear a "No". Mail services are usually very limited in weight and are very expensive.

Note2: feel free to give any comment on time constraints. I think this may be useful. I've been in both situations: Where the time for my belongings to arrive was not very important and the opposite while travelling for short periods.

Note3: This question is getting more relevant with low cost plane companies charging extra for luggage. E.g.: When you travel from A->B->C, sometimes it would be very nice just to have things shipped directly from A to C. You may save money and you travel light.

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    How are you travelling? Flying? Train? Bus? Do you mean shipping luggage or travelling WITH the luggage? (I ask because of your last sentence)
    – Mark Mayo
    Jan 24, 2013 at 8:58
  • Hi Mark, I am going to clarify my question. Still, I think I give some clues when I say I am travelling with hand luggage. That is usually air plane terminology and that means my extra luggage won't go with me as extra luggage.
    – nsn
    Jan 24, 2013 at 9:54
  • It's what I assumed, but that last sentence sounds really odd - in English, if you don't 'bring it along with you', you can't 'carry' it, so that's why I was checking. And judging by the upvotes - there's agreement on that confusion too! ;)
    – Mark Mayo
    Jan 24, 2013 at 9:59
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    Ok. I understand what you mean. Thank you. I will clarify that as well.
    – nsn
    Jan 24, 2013 at 10:02
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    Hello Vince. Price, traveling light, the reason is not important. The important thing here is that I am going to travel and I need to take luggage from one point to another. That luggage can't travel with me. The note 3 is just an hypothetical scenary where this may also be important. I've been in this situation and I would have payed (if the price was good) avoiding being charged twice by a low cost company and having the benefit of traveling light.
    – nsn
    Jan 24, 2013 at 11:12

6 Answers 6

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Essentially, you're after private shipping companies, I believe.

When I moved from the UK to Canada, I used Excess-Baggage.com to ship a couple of boxes over here. They ship all over the world, including from most major places in Europe.

I checked, and they do indeed service Portugal and the Netherlands.

It took its sweet time to arrive here, but the service was excellent. Note that there are some things you can't ship (stuff with batteries, for example), but almost everything I had was able to be packed and sent.

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I usually put all the heaviest things (ie. books) in my carry-on and then get the biggest suitcase and stuff the rest in there, or 2 suitcases and pay the extra fee. This is possible if your things fit into the suitcase and are not strange sizes.

It is difficult to move that size luggage at a good price since it is too small for putting on a boat or truck but too big for a normal luggae on a plane. I also usually leave some stuff behind and label the boxes with 1,2,3 based on priority of bringing it to the new place, and when friends and relatives visit they pick up the next box.

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  • "It is difficult to move that size luggage at a good price since it is too small for putting on a boat or truck but too big for a normal luggae on a plane". Very true. Plus, usually companies like TNT and UPS mainly work with companies. If you ask them a quote it's usually very expensive. This, if you don't receive a "No". Mail services are usually very limited and expensive.
    – nsn
    Jan 24, 2013 at 10:06
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I have used Seven Seas Worldwide in the past and they're really good and reliable. They offer door-to-door service.

They used to have this service where you start with one box which can hold up to 30Kg for 120 pounds and the next boxes is just 30 pounds per box. But not sure if they still have that service.

I'm not sure what you thing how much is expensive. I used to live in London and I shipped all my stuff in my apartment (books, clothes and other stuff) around 5 boxes back to Thailand. They arrived in Thailand in 30 days in front of my door with around 200 pounds.

And if you ship things across continent please check the content as you might be liable to pay some taxes.

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I just got a tip from a friend that used Europarcel.

It`s not a traveller oriented service but it seems to offer good deals in some cases.

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When I moved from Germany to Italy, I sent a parcel with household items using https://gls-group.eu/. Their prices were reasonable (around 20-25E for a parcel up to 40kg).

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I experienced that shipping from Germany to other European countries is reasonably cheap (for example to Spain: 29€ for up to 25 kg with Hermes; 40€ for about 32 kg with DHL). The other way around options may be harder to find. I couldn't find any cheap carrier from Spain. However, Portugal > Germany is cheap with Chronopost (27€ for about 30 kg).

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