Londoner's - Help - postal services?

[sprinkles]

Hello All,

 

I'm driving myself crazy trying to figure this out - suggestions please. Coming into London via a t/a cruise. Spending a couple of nights in London then flying to Frankfurt for an 11 night bus tour that only allows one 50lbs suitcase with no carry-ons on the bus larger then a backpack.

 

How much and how easy would it be for me to find (I am staying at the Grange Tower Bridge Hotel) some sort of postal center near my hotel on a Saturday afternoon to ship cruise clothes/souvenir's home? Some place that will pack up say a 20lps box and help with customs forms, etc? Price really is not that big of an issue, I am looking at spending around 90 Euros to store a suitcase/rolling carry-on at Frankfurt airport (not to mention the hassle of finding the storage facility before and after my flights.

 

Thanks for any help.

 

Tammy

[Morgans]

There are a couple of post offices near your hotel - one is in Houndsditch which is easily walkable and the other nearest is in Wapping Lane, a short bus ride on the 100 bus which is a few minutes ( or longer depending on traffic) but the bus will drop you only a few yards from the post office and you could use it as part of your site seeing as it's a very interesting route and easy back to your hotel. Have a look on Google maps. Note the Saturday afternoon, post offices are closed in UK. It could be very expensive to use the postal service if your goods are heavy.

[Pet Nit Noy]

Coming into London via a t/a cruise. Spending a couple of nights in London then flying to Frankfurt for an 11 night bus tour that only allows one 50lbs suitcase with no carry-ons on the bus larger then a backpack.

 

How much and how easy would it be for me to find (I am staying at the Grange Tower Bridge Hotel) some sort of postal center near my hotel on a Saturday afternoon to ship cruise clothes/souvenir's home? Some place that will pack up say a 20lps box and help with customs forms, etc?

 

You've asked about a postal service, but have you considered one of the international shipping companies like DHL or FedEx? FWIW, I find DHL to be the most readily available company originating in international locations. There are four DHL offices with a London address plus additional offices at Heathrow and at Gatwick.

 

http://www.dhl.co.uk/en/express/shipping/find_dhl_locations.html

 

Furthermore, many hotels that cater to business people have a business office where the services include international shipping. Even if the hotel where you're staying doesn't offer shipping service, perhaps you're located close to a hotel that does.

 

Finally, I'll gently recommend you reconsider the quantity of clothing/stuff you're planning to take on your TA cruise and whether or not you should take the full 50-pound limit of clothing/stuff on the bus tour. Although the tour provides significant assistance getting the luggage into the bus and into the hotel, travelers are still doing plenty of moving of luggage into/out of rooms. I've taken two alumni bus tours in my life. Both had weight limits of 40 pounds which really turned out to be enough to include a reasonable assortment of daytime touring clothes and somewhat nicer dress clothes for dinner. After those two experiences, my husband and I have been successful at keeping our suitcases around the 40 lb mark when we travel.

 

You haven't posted the time of the year you'll be traveling but a trans-Atlantic probably means you're going to pack some clothes for cool days at sea. There are products on the market that are lightweight and compress well. For example, avoid bringing jeans (heavy and take forever to dry). Do bring lightweight Polartec fleece ; these weigh less than a sweatshirt and dry overnight. (After washing, it feels almost completely dry within five minutes if you roll the fleece in a towel after washing and press like crazy on the bundle.) Finally, consider buying an ultra-light down jacket. LL Bean is just one of many brands that sell this product. (Bean called its jacket a 850 down jacket.) With a scarf, hat, and gloves, an ultra-light will keep you warm to the freezing mark at a fraction of the bulk and weight of an ordinary down or fill jacket.

Edited January 14, 2015 by Pet Nit Noy

[Bob++]

23kgs (50lbs) is a pretty standard limit for luggage in Europe as anything heavier may cause an injury to the handlers.

 

The Grange Tower Bridge Hotel is business oriented and I would be surprised if the cannot help you. Your best bet would be to email them at: towerbridge@grangehotels.com and ask. I suspect that it will be expensive though.

 

As mentioned upthread, Post Offices will be closed on Saturday afternoon.

 

Let us know how you get on.

[Cotswold Eagle]

There are many DHL Service Points where you can send standard size parcels in stores in London such as WH Smith and Rymans. There are Rymans in the City, but I can't immediately think of one close by the Grange. See this link for more info and I'm sure the DHL website too. You could then compare prices with the postal office and anything g the hotel can organise.

 

http://www.ryman.co.uk/dhl

[Globaliser]

Note the Saturday afternoon, post offices are closed in UK.

I don't think that one can generalise about this any more.

 

The "Houndsditch" post office (actually at 11 White Kennet Street, according to the Royal Mail website) isn't open at all on Saturdays. This is typical for post offices in its area, as it's largely a business area.

 

The Wapping post office is open on Saturday mornings but not Saturday afternoons. (As Morgans may know, it's run by a bunch of very friendly and helpful people.)

 

However, there are at least two nearby post offices which will provide at least some postal services on Saturday afternoons. There's one at 12 Philpot Street and another at 208A-210 Whitechapel Road (both in E1) that are open until 5.30 pm on Saturdays.

 

However, a quick look at the Post Office's price finder suggests that a 20 lb parcel will cost something like £100-150. In that context, the charge for the storage facility at FRA doesn't seem so bad. It will also be worth getting quotes from other shipping companies, as Pet Nit Noy suggests.

[Cotswold Eagle]

£89.95 for 12 kg to the States via DHL.

[Cotswold Eagle]

You could also do at the airport on the way out to FRA - the company that runs the left luggage facilities in the terminals also does baggage shipping. See

 

http://www.excess-baggage.com

[Morgans]

Some good info here. I think the easiest and cheapest might be to rethink the luggage and packing!

[JPRLHR]

The post Office is no good to you as they don't accept personal effects for international carriage. By far your best bet would be to use one of the specialist unaccompanied baggage services like First Luggage. http://www.firstluggagevip.com/

 

They don't require bags to be dropped to them. Just give them a call, pay by credit card and they'll email the tracking label through to you or the concierge at your hotel and then arrange for your case(s) to be collected, usually by Fedex.

[sprinkles]

Thanks for the replies,

 

Trust me, I am re-thinking all of this to no end. I have taken one bus tour before with a 40lbs limit (but it was all bus tour - no cruise and we were allowed bigger carry-on's) but DH was with me and let's face it - he travels lighter. I am totally solo on this one so make-up, curling iron- etc all has to be in my suitcase.

 

I will do some more research and get back to you all (starting with the Grange Hotel). Cotswald Eagle - have you ever used the service at Frankfurt? Would it be fairly easy to find when I land and then more importantly - to get back to when I fly home. I am flying into and out of Frankfurt on Lufthansa?

 

Thanks for all the suggestions - I did not realize that the post offices were closed on Saturdays - I have no idea what time I will get to London from Southampton, but I expect it to be well after noon.

 

Tammy

[Cotswold Eagle]

I was thinking of the services at Heathrow or Gatwick on the way out to FRA. That does assume that is what you are doing, of course! No point paying luggage fees on the European flight, if you can send it home from London :)

[sprinkles]

Thank you all so much for your help, the luggage forward service was a really good suggestion. I think I have decided to bring my rolling carry-on and store it at the left luggage in Frankfurt, the least amount of fees that way and I can expand it, add to it and check it for my flight home at the end.

 

Thanks again,

Tammy