Shopping On Vacation
Learn About The Culture - Have Fun Too!

I love prowling museums and historical sites, but grocery stores, department stores, and bazaars give you a glimpse of everyday life.

I like going to small boutique stores almost anywhere. You find more local flavor... less "mass marketed" items. If I can find a jacket that Bhutanese women wear over their "kira".... I'll have a jacket at home that no one else will have... unless they, too, have been to Bhutan.

I like going into grocery stores. There are supermarkets now all over the world in addition to small local markets. It's fun to look at local grocery items and see what else is for sale. There are places like Carrefour and LeClerc in France and Lidl all over Europe... not to mention IKEA! We went to a Safeway in Amman, Jordan. It was fun to try to buy lowfat milk in Arabic and see the kinds of goods they had for sale.

Small markets are fun to see too... You see exotic fruits and vegetables. And if you're lucky enough to be in a town for the weekly market, you'll probably be doing some cheese or sweets shopping on vacation!

It's fun shopping for arts and crafts made by local artisans. It was great fun shopping for amber in Gdansk, Poland.

Sometimes we shop for something for ourselves to bring home. We have gone looking for carpets in India, Nepal, Pakistan and Turkey... and we came home with a few.

We have bought "made for tourist" items like Tibetan horns, and African wood carvings, and sometimes jewelry.

We try to find things that are small and pack easily... except for the carpets anyway.

We also shop for interesting items that will make fun gifts for friends and relatives at home. The amber earrings that we bought in Gdansk will make great gifts for my nieces come Christmas.

It's interesting, in researching this article, I found thousands of sites trying to entice readers to go THERE and shop.... and THERE was any place in the world! There are whole tours set up for shopping on vacations... either near home or far away!

We prefer to think that we go to those department stores and boutiques and bazaars for the cultural experience. If I come away with an interesting new "ethnic" outfit that I could never get at home... that's a souvenir. If we come home with a new carpet... that's a wise purchase. If we come home with a "tacky tourist curio" to hang on the Christmas tree... that's just plain fun.

Psychologists say that the act of shopping someplace new can dose the brain with dopamine, a natural chemical that provides deep satisfaction and that often starts to flow when we confront something novel and exciting.... Maybe that's why I like shopping on vacations better than shopping at home!

Happy travels... even if you don't travel the world... just remember that life is a journey... embrace and enjoy it!   Judy and Mark

New! Comments