Holidays, what do you bring home from yours.

Gifts for the family - that’s all.

33 years ago I took my son to Disney in Florida. At the time I was doing a cordon bleu course where the lecturer advised us that the heavier the rolling pin the better. Walking round a supermarket in Orlando I saw the biggest, heaviest rolling pin I had ever seen, couldn't resist and carried it back in my hand luggage. I still use it whenever I make pastry.

Just gifts for the family. We can’t bring any food, we are not allowed to and you get a huge fine if you try it. That applies to all the air travellers but if you are travelling by car you can bring some things across state borders ( not fruit).

My hone is filled with souvenirs and furniture Ive imported from all over the world. From where I sit I can see ivory and mother of pearl inlaid tables from the middle east, wood carvings from Bali, and wonderful fabrics from India. For me a greater part of the attraction in travelling aboroad used to be the shopping. This was before the internet. Now, of course, you can order these goods from anywhere in the world. I still buy from Ebay and at auction from the USA and all over Europe.

Because of my love of geology I usually bring home rocks pertinent to the region.
Also pebbles as near to the shape of a heart as I can find.
Our cases are a bit heavy to say the least when we return home😁

French goats cheese and aniseed sweets from France. Incense and spices from India along with lovely silk and homespun fabrics. None of the above is available here.
And as an aside our shops in Edinburgh have become very boring with only mainstream items. We have lost the more interesting shops where you could get more exotic things.

I just bring back wonderful memories, maybe one or two photos

Just back from Portugal with some lovely memories, photos, an apron(!) and a lot of washing.
Our house is full of ornaments from our travels. Once bought a small version of an ancient Roman oil amphora and when we unpacked it out came a huge Tunisian spider - promptly despatched by DH. When we used to drive to France we came back loaded with wine and cheese.

We always buy something for our Christmas tree! If we're lucky we might find a bauble with the name of the place we are visiting inscribed on it but we have fish, boats, key rings and even a Viking (called Erik after the Norwegian stallholder we bought him from!)
Every Christmas when we decorate the tree we also have a happy trip down memory lane, reminiscing!

Philippa111 - I agree on local shopping being so mundane. It seems as tho all the import shops that had items from around the world have disappeared, leaving us with regional and national chains offering the same old (Chinese) mass produced goods. You see yourself coming and going with your purchases.

The best ornaments and household accessories, dinnerware and textiles all came from these import shops, and my travels. Irreplaceable. I think Etsy is the only place that has handcrafted, uniquely made, interesting pieces… but be prepared they are sold out or very expensive.

Always bring something home from your travels as you’re not going to find it anywhere here.
USA Gundy

I remember buying a beautiful white Madeiran embroidered tablecloth, but was so disappointed when I returned home to discover that it had been made in China!

Well this last little holiday we all brought Covid home

We always bring back a Christmas tree ornament with the place name & date. Our tree holds a lot of happy memories.

I always bring back a thimble from places I have visited both in this country and abroad. I have well over 130 now, and most of them are displayed in a big old printer's drawer that I picked up in a local junk shop which I have hung on the wall. It has little compartments for the metal printing letters and some of them still have the letters written in pencil next to the compartments.
The rest are in smaller wooden display cabinets.

It's getting much harder to find souvenir thimbles now when we visit places or travel but I still look out for them.

Oh, the drawer is on the wall, not the junk shop!!!

Surely it depends where you go and what the local specialities are, be they food, drink or crafts- and how you travel.

We always drive to Italy, so bring back olive oil and wine.

We've brought back paintings in cardboard tubes and had them framed when we got home 🙂

On my first trip to Paris, age 18, I bought three prints, carried them around for weeks before I managed to bring them safely home via trains and ferry.

Usually a few extra kilos.
But I also like to buy locally made things- scarves, shawls, ponchos, place mats, craft items (not tourist tat) and have often done a load of Christmas shopping on an Autumn city break holiday.

I tend to bring home quite a bit of contraband such as teabags, coffee, sugar, sauce(s) sachets for the homeless, this is mainly when we cruise, if we do hotel based hols then I don't bring as much, am I wrong to do this? I personally think giving homeless shelters sachets etc etc especially in times like this.

One year, after our several months in France, a plait of smoked garlic, fortunately in MrJ’s car, not mine. Nearly three days before we got home, I was not popular.

We once stupidly bought Pont L'Eveque cheese and a string of smoked garlic...our car told the story in smells for several months!

Lemons and oranges from Portugal

I've often bought local art or crafts from holidays. Having nice pictures that remind me of a particular holiday is good. I haven't bought any for a while as I no-longer have room to display more pictures but when I downsize I may have a rethink and treat myself to something new. Pictures may have to be hung closer together!

Nannylovesshopping

Lemons and oranges from Portugal

You’ve reminded me of when we wild camp in Portugal.
Every morning a young lad would cycle to us with large bags of oranges. We would buy a bag and have freshly squeezed oranges with breakfast.

@jackyD
There will be souvenir tea towels in Germany
Lots of souvenir shops in the big towns - I know Munich was just full of them, the smaller town may have a souvenir shop in or near the townhall where you should find everything your heart desires.