souvenirs!
It's a good idea to leave a little room in your bag for souvenirs. As a girl who loves to shop, I usually bring less clothes than I might need, knowing that I'll probably go shopping, find something I like, and wear it whilst on my travels.
Anyway, I know I need to come back with some dark chocolate covered digestives from the UK. These are available in the U.S. but not as readily (so I assume they're not as "fresh," if you can qualify a processed food as "fresh,") and it's just more fun to get these from their place of origin (or most popularity, since I'm not positive that digestives originated in the UK).
Elsewhere, I'd like to pick up little kitschy things for my friends that scream, "This is where I visited!" but not in a completely useless way like an ugly refrigerator magnet or poor-quality keychain. I find that for peers, it's usually easy to pick up shot glasses (unless you have sober friends). Other easy gifts can be found in the duty-free shops of the airport. For example, when returning from my trip to Madrid, we picked up a bunch of bottles of olive oils to give out (because Spain rivals Italy for really delicious olive oil). Bear in mind that smaller airports will either have no duty-free shops or if they do, the selections will be limited and horrible, so don't rely on that as a last resort. Find out ahead of time whether or not you'll be able to do some decent shopping before you hop back on the plane headed home.
Things like journals or books with the foreign language of the holiday destination can be nice gifts for certain people. Actually, this post is sort of useless because it's hard to make recommendations. You know your friends and family best, so you make an informed decision.
Anyway, I know I need to come back with some dark chocolate covered digestives from the UK. These are available in the U.S. but not as readily (so I assume they're not as "fresh," if you can qualify a processed food as "fresh,") and it's just more fun to get these from their place of origin (or most popularity, since I'm not positive that digestives originated in the UK).Elsewhere, I'd like to pick up little kitschy things for my friends that scream, "This is where I visited!" but not in a completely useless way like an ugly refrigerator magnet or poor-quality keychain. I find that for peers, it's usually easy to pick up shot glasses (unless you have sober friends). Other easy gifts can be found in the duty-free shops of the airport. For example, when returning from my trip to Madrid, we picked up a bunch of bottles of olive oils to give out (because Spain rivals Italy for really delicious olive oil). Bear in mind that smaller airports will either have no duty-free shops or if they do, the selections will be limited and horrible, so don't rely on that as a last resort. Find out ahead of time whether or not you'll be able to do some decent shopping before you hop back on the plane headed home.
Things like journals or books with the foreign language of the holiday destination can be nice gifts for certain people. Actually, this post is sort of useless because it's hard to make recommendations. You know your friends and family best, so you make an informed decision.
HAHAHAHAHA I love the last line. I only had a little money to get souvenirs in London so I only got tea and jam for my mom. It's really hard to try to pick out things that you "can't get at home" with the internet and everything LOL.
ReplyDeleteExcept to me, anything 'acquired' in a foreign country MAKES it cool, so you could give me a rock and I would LOVE IT because it was a DUTCH ROCK. Hahaha.
A couple things I picked up along the way that were free that I love having around to remind me of my trip were British newspapers and the little dutch flags they stick in your appetizers. HAHAHA. I have one on my bureau and it makes me happy.
Another thing to consider would be researching the price of mailing gifts home mid-trip rather than carrying them around, or for us anti-checking-bags people that would like to gift a bottle of wine (or drink it ourselves when we get home) hahaha
HAHAHA yeah, i think collecting kitschy little things (like foreign ketchup packets that are shaped different from u.s. ones) is the funnest part!
ReplyDeletehm, good point! i should look into foreign postage prices