Holidays, what do you bring home from yours.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

Well this last little holiday we all brought Covid home

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!

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

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!

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.

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

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.

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😁

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.

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).

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.

Gifts for the family - that’s all.

When I was young it tended to be wine and cheese from France. About 40 years ago I brought my sister a pair of red clogs from Holland. She said they were really comfortable and she still has them.

Nowadays always a small bottle of alcohol etilico from Spain or France which I have found to be a very effective treatment for insect bites. My husband once saw a massive still in a shop somewhere abroad and wanted it. It took all my powers of persuasion to convince him that he could not fit it on the plane.

I'm really happy if my luggage returns with me! I do try to bring back a Christmas tree ornament with the local name on from wherever I visit, there's usually a Christmas shop around somewhere and it's nice to remember places when the tree comes out in December.

When we used to go off for the day to Spain, we always made a point of bringing back either cans or jars of ready peeled peppers. Very hard to find them in Portugal.

From the last one in Wales the grumps!!!!
Spain, some lace and a big bill as we had had an offroad accident. Very rude photos of some Roman ruins DD had taken when we were not looking.
Italy Carrera marble fruits, leather goods from Siena.
France, perfume, I couldn't get in England, tapestry cushions and opium. I had, had a very upset tummy and DH had bought the equivalent of Kaolin and Morphine from the pharmacy but it had opium in it. The best flight I have ever taken Cloud 9 all the way even in the turbulance.

From Spain, shoes or sandals and from every country I ever go to books. Sometimes an old or antique doll to add to my collection.

DH collects cookery books

I always try to buy a snow globe in each new place I visit. Incredibly naff I know but they do produce happy memories! What my children do with after my demise is another matter..😂

A stone or two from the beach - most coveted are heart-shaped ones to add to our collection.

I bring back fridge magnets for my reading group as it's something small, doesn't break the bank, and doesn't take up wall or shelf space.