I am re-posting my question here in the general forum, in order to reach the broader community. Even though my question concerns a gift for someone in Croatia, I'm sure you experienced travelers may have lots of good ideas. Please share. Thanks!
I need your advice on a gift to give a virtual stranger, who basically has changed my life. A little background: she is the owner of a Dubrovnik apartment which I will be renting. In an email to her I happened to mention that I am excited to make my first trip to Croatia because my mother's family is Croatian. She began to ask a few questions - family name and town. The only thing I could tell her about my grandparents is their family name. I didn't even know the name of their town; I had been told that the village was somewhere near Split.
This angel-of-a-woman not only tracked down my family's village (Stasevica ), but also the parish priest, who was able to find my grandfather's name in the church's baptismal records! As if that weren't enough, this week she also found and spoke with a man who told her that his grandfather is the same as mine! (His grandfather remarried, so he has a different grandmother.) We are cousins! There are other relatives who still live in the area. My angel will meet me in Stasevica to act as translator for me.
Before I ask what gift to give my angel, I should mention that for my Croatian cousins, I plan to create a family photo album, labeled with everyone's names/relationships. We did that when we visited my Italian cousins and they LOVED it. I also realize that my Croatian relatives may want to wine and dine me. In case they do, I have built in some (a lot) of wiggle room in my schedule for that day.
So this question is what to give my angel? I will be in Europe for three weeks before I meet her, carrying ONLY a backpack - so there is part of my problem - size/weight. My gift should be easily packable and able to take the wear and tear of being squished during packing and unpacking. I learned she has a 15-year-old son and 9-year old daughter and I have their gifts covered - an Atlanta Braves ball-cap for him and some girl-friendly flavored lip-gloss or the like for her. Originally, I had thought to bring her something iconic from Atlanta – like Georgia pecans or something from CNN Headquarters, but that level of gift now seems totally inadequate.
Help! Do any of you experienced travelers have advice on this? Please share if you do. I would be so appreciative.