The easiest, fastest, and most convenient way to get your stuff to Cambridge is to bring it with
you on your flight over from the US. For details on your luggage allowance, you should call
your airline or look online. Usually, you are allowed two checked bags, one carry-on item, and
one personal item. There are size and weight limits for all baggage; 70 lbs is typical for
checked-bags (40 lbs for carry-ons) on international flights. You are allowed to check-in
6
additional bags for a fee, usually around $80 per bag. If your bag is overweight, at best you will
have to pay some amount for each pound overweight it is. The pricing is such that it is usually
better to pay for another checked bag rather than even going a few pounds overweight. At worst,
you'll have to sort through your luggage and take things out to get the weight down to the limit,
as the limit stems from the fact that they don't want people having to lift and haul 100-lb. bags
onto and off of the airplane. One option to consider is splitting an additional checked bag with
another MIT student headed to Cambridge.
If this is not enough to get all your things to Cambridge, shipping may be the answer. (Or if you
want someone to send you something after you've arrived in Cambridge, shipping is probably
the only option.) If you're going to do this, plan ahead; the slower the service, the cheaper it is,
though it will probably be pretty expensive no matter what. For example, a package about the
size and weight of a medium-sized textbook will probably cost more than $30 to ship. That
given, you can see why paying for an extra checked bag with your flight over might be the best
idea, especially because your things will go with you on the flight instead of taking days or
weeks to arrive in the mail. But for bulkier items that just won't seem to fit (like sports
equipment), past students have found the USPS was the cheapest method. Also keep in mind that
whatever you bring over (unless you're planning to sell it) you'll have to bring back; shipping
the other direction (UK to US) costs more than going the other way, so be careful what you bring
over. Some good websites to check out for shipping information and rates are: http://www.usps.com/ http://www.parcelforce.com/ http://www.ups.com/.
If you are shipping books, most of these shipping services will offer lower book/media rates, so
ask and you might be able to save a bundle.

  • No labels