Sending Luggage ahead of trip...
I may be going to a warmer place for a couple of weeks prior to my Week in Scotland in July 2022. Has anyone sent a suitcase to the hotel ahead of time for your tour? I have found LUGGAGE FORWARD, in Boston, that could take my suitcase and deliver it to the first hotel in Glasgow for a reasonable price. Has anyone shipped their luggage ahead? Thanks in advance
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I’ve never sent luggage ahead. Thinking of these Covid times, if your tour was canceled last minute, would the company be able to collect your luggage and send it back?
Scotland can sometimes have heatwaves, if you don’t send luggage ahead, you may be able to wear the clothing from your warm tour and just add a layer on top of those in the. Oiler evenings.
One of the things I loved about living in Scotland was the lovely long hours of dayLight in the height of summer… not going dark until around 11pm!
British, Thanks, good point about the cancellation issue, I'll look into that. The tour is in July 2022 so I'm hoping there won't be covid restrictions in the UK by then, but who knows, can't predict the future for sure these days.
We have never ‘sent our luggage ahead’, but BA once sent it somewhere else for us. We went to Russia and our luggage went on vacation in Germany, and then returned home without us.
I have a similar question I was going to post at some point, but this seems a good moment. I am doing K & T in early July, and following up with 4 days in Amsterdam on the way back. I know that baggage is restricted on K & T. I don't know that our needs for Amsterdam will match that for safari, and was thinking of having a bag for the Amsterdam segment sent ahead. For those who have done K & T, how mismatched will our needs be for safari packing versus Amsterdam? Thanks in advance, and stay safe and well.
You can take the usual suitcase to K and T. You will be provided with a duffle for the restricted luggage part of the tour,. Your main suitcase and clothing you don’t need, will meet you again at the end of the tour. Laundry is cheap on this tour, except at the Four Seasons, if Tauck still goes to what I think is a most disappointing hotel. so you should be able to take less clothing for the Safari than you might think. Consequently, you should have plenty of room for a couple of outfits for your Amsterdam time. It’s very casual there, we love Amsterdam.
No worries ‘sevenseas’, some of us like the Four Seasons Serengeti quite a lot … other than the laundry … cheaper to buy new clothes. (;-). We are on the K&T trip that straddles June/July, probably the one before yours. We normally travel with the Tauck duffels and a rollaboard. We rarely opened the rollaboard when we had it. K&T is all safari, so all you need is three or four sets of safari clothes, and sometimes a jacket for the cool mornings. We have a really tight connection in Amsterdam so we will probably check one or both duffels, and travel in safari clothes.
Your luggage is not restricted that much on K&T, you just move some of it from your big luggage to a duffle bag for two segments. You are re-united with your suitcase in Nairobi. The sun is stronger due thinner air at elevation, but remember, most of K&T is at over mi. high so, despite being very near the equator, it is not really that hot. It is almost temperate. Go to WeatherSpark and compare the two locations. Unless you will be wearing full-on safari garb the entire time- to, from, and during K&T, you'll likely have some clothes appropriate in style and for both climates- especially for just 4 days.
I must interject: in my usual life I’m always wearing black jeans/slacks; often with a black sweater! I was told to avoid wearing black (and blues) on safari to avoid tsetse. I was also told to avoid bright colors as well to avoid startling the animals (I’m just reporting). So that left me with khaki slacks and khaki or white tops. After K&T we went to CAPETOWN for 10 days —I pulled out my usual black outfits. I had plenty of room with both sets of clothes - and was within the weight allowance. However after 10 days in CAPETOWN, I was grateful for the business class luggage allowances!
Good feedback and suggestions - I think that is the best of what this forum is about. We are on the 7/2 K & T departure. And we are going business class for all segments, so will as Nancy notes appreciate business class luggage allowances. Thanks to all.
So back to my original question, has anyone sent a suitcase to the hotel ahead of time for your tour? If so, which shipping company did you use?
Yes, twice I have sent luggage while traveling to a later hotel destination. Both times I worked with the hotel concierge and charged to my credit card. When I checked in at the later hotel destination I was notified that my luggage was in storage and the bellman would bring it to my room.
Luggage Free is the ship ahead company you would want to use whether domestically or internationally. Or ship Fed EX domestically by shipping it yourself. Pretty hasslefree.
I have arranged with Luggage Forward out of Boston to pick up my bag in Edinburgh at the end of my tour and deliver the bag back to Rhode Island, while I continue on. I changed my tour date from this original post, so I'm going to Scotland on the tour first in June, then I go to Greece after.