As one of the inaugural #BeachesMoms, my family and I recently returned home from a long weekend at Beaches Turks and Caicos for the Social Media on the Sand Conference. As the summer months dissipated into cooler Fall weather here in the North East, I began packing our luggage months before the trip. Nothing made me happier to wash and pack my summer clothes instead of storing them in the closet for a long winter ahead.
My husband is a pretty seasoned international traveler and suggested we consider international luggage shipping services given that we were taking our son to the airport for the first time. He felt that navigating the airport with as little luggage possible would be easiest, especially when dealing with a child, multiple carry-ons and customs. Luggage Forward graciously agreed to provide us with complimentary service to ship 1 suitcase from Turks and Caicos to Boston.
Luggage Forward and I discussed shipping the luggage ahead of time, but in order to have it available to us upon our arrival at the resort due to slow international customs in the Islands, we would need to ship it almost 2 weeks prior to our trip. There was no way I could get myself fully organized to meet the deadline. It wasn’t until the day we left for our trip I realized I forgot to schedule the return service! So with a last minute email and in only a few hours Luggage Forward was still able to arrange our request.
Completing the appropriate registration form was easy to do, which I completed on my iPhone. I was required to input information about our hotel and returning flights. I also had to create the list of items in the suitcase a few days prior and considering I wasn’t sure what would actually be in it on the return, I inputted my best guess, what I knew would be mostly shoes and clothing.
Luggage Forward then emailed to say the next step would be to ship out identifying bag tags and customs forms to be placed with the bag upon our departure from the resort. However, since there was a possibility we might not receive the tags before our scheduled departure 4 days later, they also emailed a .pdf copy of all the necessary forms, which we printed out with the assistance of the hotel staff.
The day we left the resort, we packed the suitcase and said goodbye to it in the departure lounge while it awaited pick-up scheduled for later that day. We were instructed to leave the bag unlocked, which my husband had some reservations about initially, but when it was returned the bag had been closed securely with a zip tie.
When I hadn’t received confirmation of the bag being picked up a day later, I sent an email with our tracking number to Luggage Forward. I received a timely response that for an unforeseen reason DHL had not been able to arrange for retrieval of the bag from the resort. However, the suitcase was picked up the following day and delivered by DHL to my doorstep within 24 hours of being picked up in Turks and Caicos, a week before our guaranteed delivery date.
So you are probably wondering, how much does it cost to ship a bag internationally from Turks and Caicos to Boston? We were provided with the full price quote of $284, one-way. So factor in that it would have cost us $50 to check it if we had taken the luggage to the airport with us, making the final cost about $230, one-way. There’s no doubt it was a lot more expensive than just checking it, which was most likely due to our international destination. The Luggage Forward prices are considerably less with domestic travel and either way there are important factors to consider, especially if you believe that your time equates to money.
- Once we cleared customs in Miami, we didn’t have to spend any time waiting for our luggage or re-checking the bag before heading to our connecting flight to Boston
- We landed in Boston at midnight. I carried a 50 lb. sleeping 5-year-old off a plane. We were able to head straight for the parking lot, without needing to locate a bag or spend any time waiting at the baggage claim
While this particular price for our trip may seem a little expensive for some, depending on where you are traveling and your individual circumstances, I can definitely say with confidence that Luggage Forward provides a detailed, organized and timely process that certainly made our trip home a lot less complicated. It’s certainly a service that is definitely worth researching, either for a standard bag or if you may be shipping large, awkward items like bikes, skis, snowboards and golf clubs.
Luggage Forward provided us with complimentary service to ship 1 suitcase from Turks and Caicos to Boston, any opinions included are my own.