[harwood]

Hey guys,

im a 20 year old aussie male, heading on a 6 month oddyssey from january 17th to june ish from Mumbai To Kathmandu, im hoping to travel all the way down the west coast ( Goa, mangalore, trivandrum ), all the way up the east coast( madras, Bangalore etc )  to Kolkata and Sikim, then west again through veranesum(sp), agra, new delhi, rajahstan, then up north to Kashmir, then finally back to New delhi, then to kathmandu!

Now that the itineary is out of the way, im wondering how im going to haul around all my various finds from these wonderful parts of the world. As im backpacking, there wont be much room for the amount of stuff I intend to bring back with me, so how do I go about sending parcels back home? is it cheap, is it reliable?  its going to be absolutly neccesary, at one point I intend to purchase a full sized Sitar, so you get my drift    . Any tips, pointers or general knowledge is much appreciated.

Cheers!


Max

[cyberhippie]

Seems to be pretty reliable these days, though there are always exceptions of course but most seem to report their stuff reaching home intact.
Here´s a link Postal Calculator

[jyotirmoy]

Go to the GPO(General post office)/Main post office at the big cities like Chennai, Bangalore, Delhi, Kolkata. You will find people who will pack your stuff for a nominal amount. Get it packed properly to withstand the transit. After that you can post it to your place. There are a lot of courrier services too but they charge much more.

Trying to post or even lug a Sitar while you backpack appears mighty difficult.

Btw Bangalore is no where near the east coast, in fact it is not on any coast.

veranesum would be Varanasi.

[harwood]

Thanks heaps for all that info, as far as  the Sitar is concerned,  im gunna pick it up in my last week, and have it as carry on luggage on my flight home. sending instruments around is a dangerous business me thinks. the prices for a 5 kg parcel via surface mail is only rs. 945 , which is  very reasonable. a 3 month transit I reckon? its totally worth it   oh and jyo- thanks for the tips haha. After 3 days of mapping place names ill tell ya im over it mate  

cheers again guys!

Max

[john.sw]

India Post is very reliable, and I normally pay a few rupees extra to send by Registered Post.

In my experience it is not worth paying extra to use Speed Post (International).

While you're in Kerala you will probably want to pick up some fresh spices, tea, coffee, etc., so you should be aware that you cannot import Cinnamon or any other tree bark or seeds into Australia.

Don't ask me why, but the Australian government must have a reason!  

Some things you can't post to Australia (or take in your luggage):-

• seeds including vegetable and flower seeds, unidentified seeds, birdseed and some commercially-packaged seeds*
  
• gifts, ornaments and toys filled with seeds
  
• pine cones
  
• raw nuts
  
• grains and legumes including lentils, popping corn and cereal grains
  
• raw/green coffee beans
  
• tea containing seeds, fruit skin (for example citrus and apple peel) and fruit pieces
  
• remedies and medicines containing herbs, seeds, bark, fungi and dried plant material*
  
• dried flower arrangements and potpourri
  
• dried herbs or leaves
  
• handicrafts – including wreaths and Christmas decorations – containing seeds, raw nuts, corn, pine cones, grapevines, bark, moss, straw or other plant material
  
• wooden items with bark or signs of insects present
  
• Tigers, dead or alive (or tiger parts)!

[iwanttogoback]

john, lots of things are banned or need to be treated before being brought into the country. apparently australian quarantine is amongst the strictest in the world, but it's worked so far to keep outbreaks to a minimum.

actually, you can bring in cinnamon, and most spices, but they must be declared and inspected.

the australian quarantine inspection service has a database, here,that lists over 20 000 items that are either banned or needed to be inspected. probably also worth checking here,for what you should know about quarantine before you leave, particularly in regards to what you can't bring in.

i bought back spices and teas and declared them all. only one was confiscated as it had a small bird feather in the packet.  

[john.sw]

I guess you already have more than your fair share of nasty creepy-crawlies and poisonous beasties in Australia, so you don't want any more!

I got this info from the "Sending Mail to Australia" web site:

http://www.daffa.gov.../mail/cant-mail

Quote

only one was confiscated as it had a small bird feather in the packet.

I wonder what customs would have done had the bird flown from India to Australia...  

[iwanttogoback]

Quote

I wonder what customs would have done had the bird flown from India to Australia...

marvelled at the strength of its wings to fly so far.

i just realised you were talking about posting, i got sidetracked into what you can bring back in person!

[john.sw]

iwanttogoback, on Dec 9 2007, 10:58 AM, said:

marvelled at the strength of its wings to fly so far.

i just realised you were talking about posting, i got sidetracked into what you can bring back in person!

One Arctic Tern, ringed as a chick on the Farne Islands off the British east coast, reached Melbourne, Australia in just three months from fledging, a sea journey of over 22,000 km (14,000 miles).  Now, if you could train Arctic Terns to carry your cinnamon and seeds to Australia for you, you'd get them through customs with no bother!

When you post these things to Australia, the customs people open the parcels and remove any offending items.  You can't appeal, and they also have the right to make you pay for their trouble!

[iwanttogoback]

did you know that, amongst other things, you can't post condoms to zimbabwe?

[malkers]

Whilst I lived in India I posted 8000 parcels all over the world and only one got lost and I'm not even certain that it did.

99.9% of my parcels went by registered airmail which costs just 15rs more than regular airmail but seems to work, friends who posted without registering often lost their parcels.  For valuable items I would occassionally use EMS Speedpost which gets a signature that can be viewed online and is guaranteed with compensation.

I only used a cloth wrapping service on about 10 occassions all for leather items to prevent scratching, I'd wrap these in bubble wrap before getting them stitched into cloth bag.  Not all post offices have a wrapping service but most small tailors will be happy to do it for 50 - 100rs.

Padded envelopes that we call jiffy bags are known as Foam Covers in India and are readily available from stationers though some may have to get them in for next day for you, they are very cheap and strong enough for most things but the self seal tape is useless so a good idea to always carry a roll of sticky tape with you.

If you are sending home damageable items like a wooden box for example, its a good idea to buy a cheap small throw to wrap it in and prevent it bursting through the package, the packages arrive home quite beaten but usually intact.

Put your address on the package more than once and on both sides.

Don't send a sitar by post, and if you use surface mail you'll be lucky if you ever see your package again and if you do it will be beaten and damp.

Finally, depending on what side of Oz you life I used to find that for some reason air mail parcels used to take longer to get there than other countries, 10 - 15 days usually compared to 5 - 6 days to UK and USA.

Cheers
Malc

[malkers]

And, do any of you lot know why that Arctic Tern flew those 22000 km?

[cyberhippie]

To breed. I seen them in Sutherland in May.

[malkers]

No, they fly because it's too bloody far to walk  

[digital drifter]

malkers, on Dec 9 2007, 06:24 PM, said:

And, do any of you lot know why that Arctic Tern flew those 22000 km?

to drop a turd on Howard?  As you know he lost the election.

[john.sw]

malkers, on Dec 9 2007, 12:54 PM, said:

And, do any of you lot know why that Arctic Tern flew those 22000 km?

At a guess I'd say it was caught stealing bread from a bird table...

[harwood]

Ok, so dont use registered surface mail for parcels? this was my plan...air mail registered is a bit too pricey...I looked at 10kg packages, was way toom much..but only Rs. 2800 for 10kg parcel with registered surface mail. the months to get it doesnt bother me, but if ill never see it, thats a concern advice?


Max

[john.sw]

I've never used the surface mail option - it's not a good idea at my age because the parcel would probably arrive after my funeral  

[jyotirmoy]

john.sw, on Dec 9 2007, 01:50 PM, said:

I've never used the surface mail option - it's not a good idea at my age because the parcel would probably arrive after my funeral  

God forbid

[malkers]

One other thing I just thought of, try keeping your parcels just under 1kg as they jump up rapidly between 999gm and 1000gm, the increments make no real sense at all after that.  So, often its better to send multiple packages instead of compiling all in one!

I only have one experience of dealing with surface mail, but that once it never arrived and registering is no form of guarantee and there's no compensation.  Others I know lost stuff on surface mail.