New York, New Suitcase?

Subliminal

Hi, im heading off to NewYork in January, i know its probably been said, but i get so many conflicting stories, thought id ask..

Some people have said bring an empty suitcase, but others have said buy a suitcase over there, and put your shopping in it. Which is the best to do, does anyone know have expeerience of the safest/best way? I dont plan to bring woodbury common home with me but with the amount of presents ive to get etc, i dont know what the best thing to do is.

Im staying at the New york hemsley, anyone know of anything interesting i should check out out in that area? I will be travelling further, but with jet lag etc, i thought somthing local would be the best 1st days bet.

Any tips at all appriciated.

Cheers

BuffyBot

You could buy a case in Woodbury...

LegacyUser

Buy it over there — at least it won't be sh!te Dunnes stores quality. Make sure to dump all tags and receipts (or else post the recepits to yourself) off all your purchases and put some masking tape or something on the suitcase — I do this anyway for easy identification at baggage in the airport.

Also, anyone that tells you you can't bring an extra bag back is full of poo .... it depends on the weight of your baggage, not how many items.

Enjoy the spree!

homeOwner

I would buy a really, really cheap dunnes stores suitcase and bring it with me empty. Afterall you only need it to get your stuff to the airport, it will sit on the plane and then you take it off the other end - it doesnt have to be durable. You dont want to waste precious shopping time looking for a suitcase when you are there. There will be so many types, brands, prices you could waste time deciding. You wont even know where to go to find cheap ones and it could cost you a few hours getting to a particular shop to get one, before you even start your real shopping. You can always dump it when you get back home.

Unless you want a good quality suitcase, in which case buy it over there!

Ruu_Old

hey dont diss Dunnes Stores! quality clothing!
wouldnt push your luck and bring a heap of stuff back, put as said before take off all the receipts and labels on it.

Gandhi

Is there any way customs on the way out would note that you have an empty suitcase and flag you to be searched on the way back?

If you are going to buy a new suitcase, you might as well buy a good one. If you are only going to use it this once, wouldn't you just borrow one from someone? Most people have a suitcase that is sitting in the back of a press for 95% of the time.

tabatha

personally i have always brought an empty bag. it you choose to bring a bag it would be easier as you can always put ur full bag into the empty bag. did this in august and worked out a treat. didnt have to check in an empty bag!

LegacyUser

homeOwner wrote:

You dont want to waste precious shopping time looking for a suitcase when you are there. There will be so many types, brands, prices you could waste time deciding. You wont even know where to go to find cheap ones and it could cost you a few hours getting to a particular shop to get one, before you even start your real shopping.

I'm assuming the poster is heading for Woodbury Common — buy one in the Wilson store there — then you have a suitcase for lugging your shopping around while in Woodbury Common, instead of bringing it to the airport, checking it in, collecting it the other side, bringing it to the hotel and then on the bus/car to Woodbury.

Jeez, why do people make life difficult for themselves.

Benedict XVI

If you are flying back to Shannon, don't worry about customs, there were none to be seen there when I got off a flight from Boston last month
And speaking of Woodbury Commom, here is an article on it from teh BBC today
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4528192.stm

Our man in Havana

Ditto for Customs at Dublin Airport. No need to worry.

BTW customs don't know what you have taken out of the country and they don't care. They have much bigger fish to fry!

Funkstard

I've been back from America three times in the last two years with new clothes/electronics etc coming out of my ears, and the customs channel everytime has been empty. I think I even went through the 'items to declare' one once and still there was no one there. I wouldn't worry about it at all.

But obviously take off all the tags and stuff

rugbug86

yeah, as others have said, buy the case in woodbury

register on www.premiumoutlets.com and print off a voucher for an extra discount book which u can collect there.

and go to jack dempseys and buy a few beers, then ask for their VIP tix for the empire state - free and no queues!

yer wan

Dunnes have a great holdall for 17euro which folds up and will fit into your handbag if required. It holds a huge amount of stuff and is really sturdy. I am just back from Boston and it took everything. Why waste money on a bag over there when you could spend it on something else. By the way bring industrial walking shoes and industrial thermals, it's bloody freezing!! Enjoy!