Posting things home

We%26#39;ll be travelling light on our trip to Laos, hopefully using only cabin baggage. But this means we won%26#39;t be able to carry any souvenirs with us. I was hoping we could post things home instead.

In my guide book it says to use the DHL depot in Vientiane for international parcels. Does anyone know why we couldn%26#39;t use the main post office instead? Is it a language barrier problem maybe?

Also, is it possible to post international parcels from Luang Prabang%26gt;

Many thanks.

Posting things home

Hi peanut - no answer im afraid but i have a question.... Once the parcel arrives back in the UK, do you have any taxes / duties to pay that you know of?

Posting things home

Good question!

I assume not if it%26#39;s been sent as an individual rather than a company, but I%26#39;ll check it out.

Ofcourse you can post things home. I post things to my Mum in Australia all the time. Maybe the guide book sponsors DHL?

Thanks Rufuscat. You%26#39;re a mine of information for me on this forum and it%26#39;s much appreciated.

I take it you think the same will be true of Luang Prabang and that your mum doesn%26#39;t pay any duty on the parcels you send?

Regarding the duty: you have to be careful how much you post back. My rellies have never paid duty, but I do know of some people who have, so I guess don%26#39;t post too much.

Also be careful not to include any vegetable matter. there are some beautiful sets of paper in Luang Prabang, but they have leaves impregnated in them. I have had some confiscated by customs.

Never posted anything from LP but i would guess its the same as Vientiane.

I%26#39;ll try to send smallish parcels and not all at once then.

I don%26#39;t think the UK is as hot on restricting imports of plant and animal material, but that may just be within the EU so I%26#39;ll take your other advice on board too.

Re-entering Canada from a trip abroad one of the questions you answer on your landing card is whether all goods acquired on your trip are accompanying you. I assume it%26#39;s similar in the UK.

I once put ';yes'; on the form, forgetting that I had shirts, etc. coming from a tailor in Bangkok. Canada Customs then charged me duty when the package arrived in Canada a month later. I got the money refunded when I established, using boarding passes, etc., that I had purchased these items on a trip and had forgotten to declare them on entry.

Sure, you can send things home as ';gifts,'; but you can also mail souvenirs home to yourself so long as you remember to fill out the landing card properly.

Thanks but I don%26#39;t think we have anything like that in the UK. Even returning from Hong Kong I didn%26#39;t have to fill in a landing card.

I%26#39;d be interested to find out how customs decide which parcels they charge duty on.

No customs declaration on return to the UK from a trip outside the EU?

There is a customer declaration but only in terms of walking through the ';nothing to declare'; route or goods to declare. There are no landing cards to complete for UK residents.