I am basically planning on doing a gap year (plus) in Thailand, while taking online college courses. I will recieve approximately 1,000 USD per month from my GI Bill. My question is how can I get my Text Books shipped to me each semester?? I am not sure of the location yet, but I am thinking about staying in Chiang Mai.

I would use a courier, and makesure you use their 'Printed Materials Rate'. You can do the same with standard mail, again printed material rate, but I'd be worried about books going missing, or just as bad being pushed sideways onto surface mail.

I would use a courier, and makesure you use their 'Printed Materials Rate'. You can do the same with standard mail, again printed material rate, but I'd be worried about books going missing, or just as bad being pushed sideways onto surface mail.

Thanks GH,

A courier is what I was thinking would be best. I can have the school ship the texts to my parents, then they can FedEx them to me in Thailand. I assume most major cities (Chiang Mai, Bangkok, Phuket, etc.) do have FedEx..

I have had books shipped from Amazon on at least 10 different occasions. I never had a problem with books getting lost or damaged. Customs never charged a fee either.

I believe Amazon used UPS or Fedex so the package location can be tracked over the internet. In fact, the last leg of the delivery was by motorcycle courier. I knew to within the hour when to expect the package.

I think it took about three for four days for the books to arrive. I used expedited shipping and they added 25% to the cost of the books for this.

I think it might be a good idea to order the books as soon as you know which ones you will need. If you have problems, then you may have to re-order and that will also take time.

If you don't use expedited shipping Amazon may quote eight weeks for the delivery time.

If you already own the books, you could still use Fedex or UPS, but I don't know what the cost would be.

-q