<p>My DD will be studying in Copenhagen for the fall semester. She would like to travel with a friend for a week after her program ends. They plan to visit Berlin and Amsterdam. I've gotten prices for a round trip multi city ticket to get her there and back to the US. She will fly into Copenhagen and out of Amsterdam on Icelandair. It didn't make sense for her to go back to Copenhagen. </p>
<p>My question is about luggage while traveling during the extra week. I'm sure she'll need two bags (Icelandair allows two bags at 50 lbs) for her semester stay in Copenhagen but that means she'll have to pay extra baggage fees while flying from Copenhagen to Berlin and Berlin to Amsterdam and schlep them around. </p>
<p>Any other choices? Do people ship home a bag to the US and how much does that cost?</p>
<p>My son and friends traveled when their study abroad term was over. They found that flying round trip from London to their destination was cheaper than flying home from their trip. You may find this to be the case too, especially if you have to pay for baggage.</p>
<p>To ship luggage home is very expensive. We looked into that when D1 was Sydney. It was cheaper for her to pay for an extra bag. You could check online for the cost.</p>
<p>It might sound crazy, but does she need to bring everything home with her at all? When DD did her abroad in Copenhagen she wound up just getting rid of a bunch of things she didn’t need anymore or didn’t make sense to drag home. Also, it would be cheaper to repurchase some things when she gets home, than it would to pay to fly them all over Europe. Things like toiletries, or electronics that won’t work here anyway were not worth bringing home. Or shoes that were getting worn out, or clothes that are stained, just get rid of them.</p>
<p>As far as shipping goes, it was so expensive to ship to Denmark that it didn’t make sense to send her anything, and I am guessing it is going to be the same coming home. But you should check, because some of the cost might have been that tax they force you to pay on things coming in to the country.</p>
<p>Parent of People: Thanks for the heads up. Good point about tossing stuff. My son will also be studying in Copenhagen this fall and I haven’t even thought about the luggage yet (although as a boy, I think he will bring only one suitcase…no need for the X-box he lugged to college!). A little off-topic, but I wonder how your DD liked Copenhagen? My son will be doing the bio-medicine program and I am wondering how people like it. Denmark study abroad seems popular at his U (Brown), but he hasn’t had any friends go.</p>
<p>And to OP–what is your DD going to study? I’m sure our kids will meet (I assume we are talking DIS?) I stumbled across your post this morning, just as I was looking into making his plane reservations. Small world.</p>
<p>I haven’t done this for years, but it used to be possible to ship things by “slow boat” instead of air, and it was much less expensive.</p>
<p>They might also consider just doing their travels around Europe by train (with a Eurail pass) instead of plane, and carrying the bags with them.</p>
<p>L.A.Parent DD did DIS and loved it. The thing about DIS is that it is not just a European party vacation. It is actually a serious school which is probably why it is popular and accepted for credits for Brown students. As part of DIS, she also had an opportunity to take a graduate class at The Copenhagen Business School which was a great opportunity. </p>
<p>The only negative was that she was not comfortable in the section of Copenhagen where they housed her. She tried to move her but they were not very responsive and by the time they found her a place she was leaving in three weeks, so it didn’t make sense to move. It is also a VERY expensive city.</p>
<p>POP–Thanks for the info. I am a little worried about the housing since many of the options were already full by the time he applied (he only decided to go at the last minute…typical!). The commute will be a shock to him as he lives on campus at school. I am also a little concerned about the expense of Copenhagen, but it sounds like a terrific program. My older one studied in Italy and had an amazing experience. Makes me want to be a college student again!</p>
<p>Thanks for all of the replies. I guess she’ll have to figure it out once she gets there. More than likely she’ll just have to pay the extra money. I doubt she could travel for the fall/winter in Denmark with one bag. I like the idea of train travel but I know from D1 who studied at Oxford for a full year that it doesn’t save much money and is far less convenient than air travel. She did choose train travel at times just for the experience and seeing more of the countryside but for D2 with only one week to travel to two cities I think the plane will be best.</p>
<p>D2 is studying economics at DIS. She does know a couple of people who have studied there previously from our home town; one from Bowdoin and one from Brown. They both had wonderful experiences. She has asked for a home stay for living as opposed to the university apartments. Though the DIS program was a good match for her academic interests I think she feels like a bit of a cop out going to an English speaking University. She took many years of French with the thought of doing a year abroad in France but once she had a decision to make she couldn’t imagine leaving her campus for an entire year! (Her sister thinks she’s foolish.)</p>
<p>The excess baggage charges are often really really expensive on short haul European flights. The cheapest way would be to send one bag back by sea freight but even air freight, assuming you could collect at the other end, is often not as expensive as you might think. It would be worth checking SAS airlines (the big Scandinavian airline) to see what they’d charge. Is there any chance of a friend visiting her? The other obvious solution that my students (British ones on exchange at Copenhagen university) use, is to get someone to visit for the Christmas markets with hand luggage only and take a bag back with them, but obviously there’s a big difference in air fare for such a visit.</p>
<p>bca it was required for my DD to take danish language and culture classes while she was there, but I don’t know if that was a DIS requirement or her home university. It did seem like most people took that class and they did travel with it as well. We had a similar dilemma over not going to a Spanish speaking country, but she now has another language that she is familiar with so it worked out. If your DD has a chance to take a class at CBS it would be a great opportunity for her.</p>
<p>My dd studied abroad in St. Petersburg, then spent the rest of the summer traveling all around Europe. She opted to ship the large suitcase home (not to me, but to a friend in NY, where she was attending school). I didn’t pay for it so I don’t know what it cost, but my impression was that she managed to do it for something reasonable. I know she had to shop around to find a shipping option, and had told me that she wasn’t willing to pay more than $100.</p>
<p>DS traveled throughout Europe after a 3 month stay in the UK. He arranged for the hotel his group had been living in for 45 days to store his excess luggage while he traveled. He and his friend finished their trip and returned to London one night, picked up bags and flew home. The difference is their trip tickets were RT from a single destination. We used Bravofly as a way of locating inexpensive flights from London to Lucerne, Rome, Frankfurt and Paris. We also used TripAdvisor to find great, safe hotels, that the local citizens like and were walks from subway systems., etc.</p>
<p>Last year, D spent semester in Rome and summer in Spain–went with backpack/laptop–just had a few basic clothes. She was able to borrow stuff during the semester, give away stuff before summer. She traveled alone before returning and had to feel comfortable carrying everything. It worked. She was glad she traveled super light-- and other students were amazed/wished they’d done the same.</p>
<p>MY d did this last summer after studying at Oxford. They left their excess bag in a " left luggage" near Gatwick. They flew back to London after 3 weeks back packing round Europe, picked up extra luggage and then flew home the next day. They carried on their back packs to avoid the baggage fees within Europe.</p>
<p>DS is considering semester abroad next spring, possibly Edinburgh. He’d likely do some music classes because not many comp engineering credits would transfer. But darn, I’ve been sweating the tenor sax issue if he travels afterward.</p>
<p>The baggage recommendations sound great. But before planning an extended tour after your semester, make sure your visa will be valid. </p>
<p>If you are studying for a semester in a Schengen country (most of continental Europe) you will need a Schnegen visa since you will be spending more than 90 days in the zone. The host country issues the visa and controls the expiration date. That date can be one day after the end of the semester or several months - you won’t know for sure until it is issued. You must leave the Schnegen countries for at least 90 days before re-entering. My son’s school cautioned about making post-semester plans until you know when your visa expires - or limit your post-semester travels to non-Schengen countries like the UK.</p>