Would you send your case on ahead?

When my DS and his family visit me from their home in Spain they only carry hand luggage and send the rest by a carrier. It is picked up from their home and delivered to me, they don't have to wait for their luggage on the belt and it is much cheaper than putting cases in the hold on a Ryanair flight. On their return I know exactly when it will be picked up and he knows when it will be delivered. So easy !

When I went on a cruise I used a baggage service on my return to UK. I had struggled with my suitcase on the train to Southampton and didn't want to have to do so on my return trip. The service I used didn't normally deliver to my area so sub contracted it out to someone else. This did mean the case was delivered a day later than anticipated but the whole process made travelling much easier.

Flying out of Stansted or London City, neither do well with cases or parking. Sending cases ahead is brilliant.

One used to able to do this on longish distance train journeys within the UK. I did it between north Lancs and Dundee during the seventies. It was before the days when students and all their clobber got taken to uni by their parents. Nostalgic sigh.

bags We have the large trunk that MiL and FiL used to send by train from London to the West country when H and his two sisters were young.
That would have been early '60s

We did it once when travelling to Switzerland , as it meant flying to Geneva and then taking two trains and finally a taxi ( not to be reccommended to the faint hearted) we didn't want to carry more than hand luggage.It worked well, but we didn't get the cases until the following day, so you need a few clean bits and anything needed for overnight with you.

We recently did this for a short visit to family abroad. No queuing to check in baggage or waiting for it to be unloaded at other end - brilliant!

How does one go about this please ?

I sometimes send my luggage via courier, just to my duaghter at Reading because I can't manage it on the train it works very well and only cost about tenner, makes life a lot easier when walking is tricky and getting around train stations isn't easy.

Thanks for that everyone. The scary bit is that they will evidently want to pick up about 8 days before. Could I be that organised?

I know I could have done this for our recent cruise, but I have never thought of doing it when I visit my DD in Cornwall, some 6 hours away. I find the drive tiring these days, and painful for the arthritis, but hate taking the train because of the struggle with the luggage. I am so grateful for this thread, and will look into sending my case down next time. How would I go about it?

I do this when I visit my son and family in Spain. I've used DPD around 8 times now (not always for holiday luggage but always larger items) and they've never let me down. Their tracking facility is excellent.

I found that collection from the south coast of England and delivery to Barcelona takes two, sometimes three days.

You should read their T&C's though as some items can't be transported - for instance nail polish.

Musicelf Google luggage transporters and you will find lots. I definitely found it made travelling by train a lot easier.

I haven't heard of that before, I think it is a great idea. Go for it!

We have done this once and it worked really well.

They have a fantastic system in Japan. When travelling by train any hotel will arrange for luggage to be picked up the night before and it will be waiting at your next hotel so you can travel with only a small overnight bag. And train travel is such a pleasure in Japan!

I would like to ask like grannylyn 65 how to go about this fabulous service?

When my 86 auntie comes to visit us she sends her case on the day before so when she arrives her case is here waiting. So much easier for her travelling on the train for six hours.
She's used a couple of company's and all has gone well.
I can't think of the company but if you google 'carry my suitcase' then you will get several come up.

I regularly use this service and I am only travelling in the UK. The companies either pick up the day before I travel or in the case of one company 2 days before travelling, and the case is usually waiting for me in my Hotel room.

The case is picked up from the Hotel reception on the day I leave and usually arrives the following day about lunchtime. I am blind and need to carry a long white stick, so this makes my life so much easier.

I did have a slight problem once when the driver failed to pick up my case and it was a company based in Italy who I had contracted to take my case from Leeds to Devon. I emailed them at 6pm to say I was concerned that my case had not been collected, and they telephoned me and made arrangements for me to leave my case with my daughter and they collected it from her house on the same day I was travelling. My case still arrived a few minutes before me at my hotel in Devon.......

We did this for a rail holiday to the Dordogne and it was great. The disadvantages are that the case was picked up a week before and did not arrive for eleven days after we returned (delays due to French elections and Bank Holiday). But the freedom of travelling with just a rucksack when others were struggling to get cases on and off trains and coaches was wonderful and I would do it again.

Sunseeker, thank you for your information. I have just checked on Google and there are plenty of firms to choose from.I had no idea such service existed, what a brilliant idea.

We went on a Great Rail Journey for Christmas and used the baggageman to send on our luggage and it was wonderfully convenient. I wouldn't hesitate to use them again as it certainly saved us hauling a large suitcase on and off trains.

When going to visit my mother once I posted my things on in advance, packed in a small carton, because I was going to make a detour into London to meet a friend and see an exhibition before going up to DM's, and didn't want to carry everything around with me.

It was wonderfully liberating to fly with just a handbag and my friend complimented me on "travelling light"!

I've never heard of this and it sounds great. I've travelled the last three years with children and luggage by train and it means getting a taxi to central London, a mainline train, then a 2 coach very overcrowded local train, then taxi so the cost would be offset by not having to take taxis.