Ship your baggage ahead of you on vacation.

It would probably cost more.

I have an in-law who lived out of town and would ship her baggage to her sister's house before she flew in.

She was in and out of the airport easily and had her stuff waiting for her.

Then she'd ship it back and be home when it arrived.

bag in the mail wrote:

It would probably cost more.

I just ran the numbers for a trip I regularly take. Now I used 25 lbs and the dimensions of a carry on (9-14-22 to go from CO to GA. I opted for 3 day delivery and it was $32.

I figured I could skip the suitcase and just put stuff in a box.

Regularly. Cheaper than checking a bad (unless you fly Southwest). Less chance of it being lost in transit (and if it is, at least you know ahead of time). And it's really nice to fly using just a backpack.

Whenever I travel for a marathon I ship most of my stuff ahead of time; I travel with just the essentials (meds, computer, cell phones, running shoes and racing outfit)

Shipping is a nice option if you are traveling with kids because of all the added crap you need to have.

Another option is buying stuff online and having it shipped, for free in many cases, to your destination.

This is an incredible option if you're staying somewhere for a week or so and traveling with a family. So much cheaper than checking and also much easier. Most hotels will be more than happy to accept and hold the luggage, and it is typically much safer than checking (anyone who has had a bag lost or ruined will understand). As someone else mentioned, you can also use a trunk rather than multiple suitcases, which holds much more and is easy for the hotel to store until your arrival.

We do this for ski trips and international travel.

Worth looking into. When you travel with three kids, you already have enough to deal with. Shipping can be done days in advance and is as easy as dropping it off at the Fed Ex and making a call to the hotel.

Again, it is also cheaper. It may not be cheaper for a carry-on weight bag, but think about checking 5 full suitcases.

If you are laughing at my trunk suggestion, just go check out the summer camp trunks kids use when they go to camp for a month during the summer. They hold a shit ton and are easily shipped.

When I had small kids we split vacations between two sets of inlaws. We got tired of hauling some stuff and just bought some larger items and kept them at each place.

12 years ago we bought this small booster seat for sitting at the table. It is the plastic kind that has a strap that attaches the booster to the seat. It cost maybe 15 dollars at walmart. We had one at my mom's house and one at my MIL's house.

Well that thing is still in use with nieces, nephews, cousins and all their kids. That $15 seat has been well used.

We would also from time to time borrow car seats especially when the kids flew "lap". Although airlines did not charge to check car seats at that time. No idea if they do now or not.

If you go some place a lot where you can leave stuff that can also reduce the need. I actually have left clothes at my sister's house to reduce what I need to bring. I probably have 3 days worth of clothing. It also helps if my checked bag gets lost.

Did you ever ship things to your in-laws or sisters homes with the idea of using them while you were there and then shipping them back to your home?

Only Betas do this. If you're an Alpha like me, you board early and take up a bunch of space. If a stewardess tries to tell me a bag is too big, I tell her, "Yeah toots, what's it to you? I got a big bag, wanna see it?" Then she blushes and lets me take my bag aboard about above across after against along among around at before behind below beneath beside between beyond by down during except for from in inside into... you get the picture.