Pack Too Much Stuff? Mail It Home!
May
If you’ve brought too much stuff on your travels, you can almost always mail home the gear you are no longer using. In some cases, you may just want to throw it all away, but in the case of expensive clothes, electronics, or other such gear… mailing it home is a great option.
I don’t like spending money on postage to mail home things I already own, but it always feels good after I’ve sent the package to have all that excess stuff off my back or out of my packs.
In the video above I show how I’m able to eliminate a significant amount of clothes and other items from the list of gear I am carrying on my current bicycle tour in Europe.
Everything mentioned in the video above was mailed home in the yellow box below. The box and the cost of postage was a little less than 24 Euros. I sent the package from Salzburg, Austria to Ventura, California, USA.
While we are talking about mailing things home, here is a picture from 2003 of a box I mailed home from my 2003 East Coast Bicycle Tour. In 2003 I spent a month and a half riding my bike up the east coast of the United States from Raleigh, North Carolina to Portland, Maine.
It looks like I was carrying a pair of gloves, a collared shirt, some rubber bands (Why did I mail those home? I should have just thrown them away!), my speedometer, an emergency blanket, arm warmers… and more!
My point is this: If you find yourself carrying too much stuff (stuff that you are no longer using and don’t plan to use in the future), you can always mail it home!
