Luggage + California Trip

apoch632

Two questions from those more experienced from me at doing this

I've to move to Philadelphia for work from June to September. And I'm planning on heading over to California for a few weeks after that to catch up with Friends in LA

Firstly. Seeing as I will be taking 3 months clothes with me to Philadelphia I don't really want to lug them around California when i'm on holiday as well. So can you recommend any shipping services that I could send them home with Fedex etc to my house here.

Secondly
Spending most of my time in LA but looking to head up the coast a bit as well. Anything to recommend in terms of hiking walks, where to go swimming in the Pacific that kind of thing. Would be way more interested in that, than say doing the Hollywood style tours

InTheTrees

Consider buying clothes in Philly when you arrive too so you dont have to bring much with you. Summer will be Hot and humid so you may need new stuff anyway. Is it the kind of job where you have to dress well or is it tShirt and Sandals?

FedEx, UPS and the USPS (us Postal Service) are the main players and you should be able to get a reasonable price to ship your stuff home again. You can alawys send it "surface" wgere it takes a month or more but is a reasonable cost. (I think they still do it?). Depending on how much youve spent maybe you'd consider just donating stuff to charity? Just a thought.

As regards hiking in California, using LA as a base.... There's so much choice, you'll probably change your mind between now and september, north is spectacuar coastline, and east is desert and mountains.

Swimming. The ocean off California is pretty cold. Its really the reason that the coast hasnt been built up with high rises like in Florida.

apoch632

Type of Job where I have to dress well. But I have the clothes here already so I'd hate having to spend twice.

I'm pretty set on LA because I'm visiting friends out there, so it is pretty set in stone as a base. All I'd be looking for is suggestions really

apoch632

Oh can I add another question to this as well. I'd love to head up some weekend to Toronto for a visit. What is the story with Visas etc. I'll have the US work visa but do you need one if you were to travel to Toronto for a weekend

InTheTrees

I meant you could change your mind about what kind of side trip to take from LA.

Las Vegas is only a short drive away for instance, a good place to go with friends. The Grand Canyon is close by LV.

iusedtoknow

apoch632 wrote: »

Firstly. Seeing as I will be taking 3 months clothes with me to Philadelphia I don't really want to lug them around California when i'm on holiday as well. So can you recommend any shipping services that I could send them home with Fedex etc to my house here.

Secondly

Spending most of my time in LA but looking to head up the coast a bit as well. Anything to recommend in terms of hiking walks, where to go swimming in the Pacific that kind of thing. Would be way more interested in that, than say doing the Hollywood style tours

Three months worth of clothes? Will it really be that much? I assume you'll be doing laundry/dry cleaning etc and you won't in reality be bringing too much more than you would be on business trip or holiday. You'll be constrained anyway by your airline allowance.

I would just bring it with you to LA instead of the hassle of shipping stuff back for the sake of it.


As for hiking, you'll be spoiled for choice. Yosemite is great in the summer for hiking trails, a further afield would be Lake Tahoe. We did a great trek 4 day trek/camping there in September with stunning views. Swimming will be difficult as the pacific is actually pretty cold, and the currents are pretty nasty up and down the coast.

Dave1442397

You really might be better off buying clothes here. If you need suits, Joseph A. Bank are noted for their ludicrous sales, where you can frequently buy 1 suit and get 3 free, essentially getting 4 suits for around $600. The suits are decent quality.

www.josbank.com

Also, consider that whatever you bring from Ireland will likely not be comfortable in a Philadelphia summer, where it can easily hit 35C with 95% humidity.

As far as shipping stuff back to Ireland, there's no 'surface' mail anymore. USPS is still the cheapest way to ship, but it's no longer a great deal.

If you're going to Toronto you'll need to check with the Canadian embassy in Ireland to see what the visa requirements are. It has nothing to do with your US visa, apart from the fact that you'll need the US visa to cross the border back from Canada to the US.

InTheTrees

apoch632 wrote: »

Oh can I add another question to this as well. I'd love to head up some weekend to Toronto for a visit. What is the story with Visas etc. I'll have the US work visa but do you need one if you were to travel to Toronto for a weekend

Done it lots of times by road and ferry and I've never had any issues just showing up at the border. No visa required.

(I'm a green card holder).