A couple of years ago, a friend of mine went on a round the world trip, stopping off at lots of exciting locations across the US and Asia, as well as travelling across Australia and New Zealand. Obviously she wanted to buy some souvenirs of her amazing trip, which she did… but very early on in the trip, she realised it wouldn’t be feasible to keep hold of all the things she’d picked up along the way.
This is why, several souvenir t-shirts, ornaments and boxes of delicious American sweets later, she decided to admit defeat and send her souvenirs home. This was great, as it meant she could continue on her journey without having to worry about losing or breaking any of the trinkets she’d lovingly collected in each city. However, obviously she was worried about getting them back in one piece. There were lots of presents for family and friends, and of course she wanted to enjoy all the reminders she’d picked up of her trip so far. She also wanted to send home two disposable cameras filled with snaps in case anything happened to her digital camera.
She managed to pick up a large box at a post office in San Francisco and filled it with scrunched up newspaper to help stop everything from smashing against the sides of the box. In first went the t-shirts and other soft items of clothing to protect everything else. The glass trinket boxes and china plates she’d picked up from a vintage boutique earlier on her trip were the things she was most concerned about, and she had to devise a strategy to get them home safely. She wrapped each individual component in bubblewrap (including wrapping the glass box lids separately) and taped them all together outside the bubblewrap in order to keep them together.
Then she filled the entire box with as many polystyrene shapes as she could fit in. It’s very important to make sure everything is securely wedged into place so that nothing can come loose and break in transit. She used some industrial strength tape to seal up all the edges of the box, using a generous amount to reinforce the corners, as these are often easily damaged on the journey. She wrote her address in block capitals and covered it with sticky back plastic to make it waterproof, and sent it on its way.
She was very concerned about her parcel, and wondered if it would ever make it home. However, a week or so later, she received an email from her parents telling her it had arrived safe and sound. The only thing to worry about then was that her box would be opened before she got home, leaving everyone free to eat her delicious American sweets!
Emma Lawson is a keen travel enthusiast who blogs about the many corners of the world she has enjoyed