Dear experts -- I have a question about shipping luggage. My family came with too many suitcases and then accumulated some more things during our months here in Italy. We would really like to ship 2-3 suitcases back to the US rather than lug them home with us. A few years ago we shipped a suitcase home from Siena for a reasonable rate, but we can't remember where the storefront was, or exactly what type of shipping it was. I stopped by Mailboxes Etc. here in Lucca but it was very pricey. I know that a couple of years ago the suitcase arrived within a few weeks, and that suited us perfectly -- again, we need something cheap and slow. Does anyone have suggestions about how to find this sort of option again?

Kaydee, a regular on this forum, has this post where she speaks of methods she used to ship from various locations in Europe back to the U.S. She and her family traveled abroad for over a year.

One suggestion that she makes that I would also suggest (I have experience with this one) is to try to find an Internet Train in a city that has a lot of students. A few years ago I was in Italy for three months and shipped clothes that were no longer warm enough to wear back to the U.S. from an Internet Train in Florence. I don't remember exactly what I paid but I remember thinking that it was less than I thought it was going to be. They also provided me with an extremely sturdy box.

Good luck!

Allison, thank you for your reply. I was in Florence today and stopped by the Internet Train in SM Novella to ask my question about shipping. I got a brush off from the man behind the desk there, but now that I check the Internet Train website (http://www.internettrain.it) I see that this site does not have shipping but others branches of Internet Train in Florence and Siena do offer shipping. It's good to know that I'm on the right track. When I find a specific place in Florence that ships I'll make sure to post the details. Thanks!

I used the Internet Train in Florence on Via dell'Oriuolo, not far from the Duomo.