Between the limited space every traveller inevitably has in their luggage and not wanting to be bogged down by carrying any extra luggage while hopping through your destinations or indeed when you’re making your way back home again, any request to bring back a gift or a souvenir should be made illegal in the world of travel. It’s a near impossible task because we have so much to have to deal with as travellers and in fact find it hard to even buy gifts for ourselves.
There are however some people in your life whom you’d go out of your way to express your appreciation for, and so “bringing them back a gift” from your travels is indeed something you’d want to entertain, whether that gift is at their request or not. If only it were much easier than it is though. I mean it would be really nice if I could pick up a refill on my supply of organic beard products at one of those duty free malls international airports have, in the same way that you can buy cigarettes, perfumes and other products which to me are quite frankly useless.
So I’ll admit, I do cheat a bit as far as travel gifts go, but hey technically ordering something like Bourbon Beard Oil for a father’s day gift and having it delivered to your dad is kind of like a travel gift because it, well, travels and is from someplace else, even if that place could very well be just another town in your home country. If anything, these types of gifts are much more meaningful than what you can otherwise pick up at airport shops, duty-free malls and in some of those tourist hotspot places where they sell souvenirs and the likes.
Just because you’ve been away that doesn’t mean the recipients of your gifts will be happy with what are essentially gimmicky type gifts, like a t-shirt which reads “Someone who really loves me went to such and country and all they brought back for me was this lousy t-shirt.” I’ll have you know, those “lousy t-shirts” of that kind cost quite a bit of money and you’ll find that they’re probably either manufactured in your own home country or perhaps they’re produced in China.
For what it’s worth, some people love these types of cheesy gifts and if you do have some space in your luggage for them, then yeah, go for it!
My point is gift giving while you’re away on your travels should be approached as just that — sourcing a meaningful gift and not being confined by the custom of having to source that gift from wherever it is you travelled. My dad’s supply of Lovely Beards oils could come from anywhere and I’m pretty sure he’d be happy with that as a gift regardless of where it comes from, but for something like father’s day I had to make it a little more special and throw in a different variety to the range of beard oils he’s become accustomed to.
