...I had purchased:
1) A large red cherry bowl in Rome (thought too big--ended up with lots of room in suitcase)
2) A book showing artists conception of what ancient Rome may have looked like (too cheap to buy... now I want it)
3) In general more gifts for family and friends
Anyone else with regrets? ;)
Pete & Robyn
Paris and Rome, July 2009
Many years ago on my first trip to Paris I walked past a small shop in the Rive Gauche that just sold umbrellas. They were very inexpensive and made from the most gorgeous fabrics. I tried to find that shop on a subsequent trip years later but no luck.
From the above post
2) A book showing artists conception of what ancient Rome may have looked like (too cheap to buy... now I want it)
The book you remember is probably the one with the overlays, which is Rome: Past & Present by R.A. Stacciolo; you could check to see if it's available online.
A similar book, without the overlays but showing what the bldgs looked like, may be more available online, this is The Ancient City, by P. Connolly and H. Dodge, and covers both Rome and Athens.
I went to a Jewelry designers workshop and showroom in Inverness. The jewelry was beautiful, but about 20% more than I normally paid so I didn't buy. I kicked myself all year over that necklace. The next year I was back in Inverness and the first place I went was to Hazel Passmore's studio. The necklace I had admired was gone, but it had been replaced with one I liked even better. Pam
something leather in Florence. Thankfully i'm going back in a couple months and will rectify that oversight. There was a little shop next to Dante's house and they were making the purses in the back. Still kicking myself for not getting something there!
I stumbled into this beautiful shop in Siena that was full of items made with wood of olive trees. I have a special place in my heart for olives and this stuff was beautiful but expensive. I wish I'd bought something small just as a beautiful memento. I hope to make it back there this fall too and at least get a little something or find a similar shop somewhere else in Tuscany.
Villeroy and Boch dishes that we saw in Colmar, France that depicted life in an Alsatian village. We thought we could find it back home since dishes from that manufacturer are common in many department stores but no one carries that specific pattern. It seems like it is only available there.
What a great post! After several trips, I have finally learned to give in and buy. I like to buy items that I use most everyday to remind me of my travels. I do wish we would have purchased a few more pipes for my husband. He goes through them very fast and the prices and quality in Europe cannot be matched here in the States. Their pipes have filters--ours do not. I also missed the decorated egg store in Salzburg (on the main strasse by McDonald's) the last time we went. They are beautiful on the Christmas tree. I would always like to bring home more than two bottles of wine, but I am not sure how much we're allowed through customs.
I'm sure that my husband wouldn't agree but I wish I'd purchased a larger rug in Turkey. The salesmen are very aggressive and it's easier to ignore them than to stop to look. We did purchase one small rug that I love but I'd also like to have a larger one! Before our next trip to Turkey I'll research what to look for, determine what's a reasonable price to pay and be prepared to make an informed purchase.
I regret something I could have had for FREE.
I've flown well over 20,000 miles in the last year and a half.
Never got around to signing up for frequent flier miles till I got back from Europe last month.
Just kept putting it off...
I fell in love with a large platter in Vernazza (Cinque Terre), Italy. It had an interesting shape, and was blue with lovely yellow lemons on it -- perfect for my kitchen. But it was quite expensive (150 Euro) and too unwieldy for my luggage. (I was sure it would crack in two!)
Fortunately for me, my husband snapped a close-up photo of it, which is now my "screen saver" on my computer. I am blessed to enjoy it every day!
:)
Great topic Peter & Robyn, It happened twice to us. Six years ago we were at the Shambles in York, England. They sold Faberge Egg impersonations at a very low price. It was getting late we were tired and just did not pick them up. Two years later we were shopping in Paris at one of those traffic intersections that was converted into a open air shopping area for the day. We found blue French Berets that had a small black bill with a wheat design (somewhat similar to the hats that the French police and custom officials wear). Didn't pick them up that afternoon, realized our mistake, returned to the neighborhood several time during our stay in Paris, but could not find that exact location. Oh well, Europe is all about second chances. Now we'll have to go back to hunt those items down!!
This is the reason I keep going back to Europe... to find the things I SHOULD have bought on previous trips.
I saw a lovely German lace tablecloth in a shop window in Frankfurt Oder (on the border of Poland), contemplated getting it, then decided that Germany has SO many tablecloth shops and surely I'd find it or something like it somewhere else. I didn't. :(
At a sculptor's studio in Carrara, Italy, I saw the most wonderful hand-carved torso. I was ready to splurge on the $500 for the piece, but not the $400 to ship it to the US.
Ohhh this is great. I need to be reminded of what to buy before I move.
1- Venetian modern hanging lamps. They look like upside down tulips and I wold love to have a couple hanging over a breakfast bar when I buy a house.
2- I wish I had bought a small water color from everywhere I've traveled. I think it would make a neat collection. But by the time I thought of this it's too late.
Nate,
here in town I see a guy in a festive kilt every time I go to the opera. Looks just splendid! That's also the place I wear my dirndl, especially if it's a German or Austrian composer ;-)
In St-Malo France, i saw a beautiful leather purse that i really liked, but i listened to my husband advice and decided to wait in case i would see another one i liked better later on our trip. Needless to say i never saw a purse like that ever again, i should have bought it!
Well, all you sophisticated shoppers: I would love to have brought back a whole suitcase full of Ritter Sport Chocolate with Marzipan bars and I wouldn't have shared, either! Luckily, I have since discovered that Rite Aid drug stores and Publix supermarkets in our area carry them. On the island of Ruegen (Germany's largest island, in the Baltic) they had several shops with beautiful amber jewelry and I wish I had bought a pendant or a ring.
We returned from a trip to Paris and Switzerland this past Friday. We brought home 22 lbs. of different varities of cheeses. The son of an Emmentaler cheesemaker,we like cheese probably more than the average person. My parents and siblings give us their orders,and we happily play the cheese couriers!!
I was at a shop on the last day of tatoo in Edinburgh Scotland a few years ago. The vendors were having huge sales trying to get rid of merchandise. I walked into a shop and the had a kilt in my family/clan tartan (Douglas) and my size. The girl said she'd sell it to me for $40. I told myself, where would I ever wear it, do I want to carry it the rest of the trip, and is it worth it. Scotland was playing in some big soccer games and everywhere we went I saw people in Kilts and i couldn't find one for under $120. I could have wore it every day of that trip and that would have paid it off. I have many souvenirs from trips but that is the one that got away.
Our 1st day in Paris at Place du Tertre -- with jet lag. I loved the small watercolors -- small street scenes that each contained a miniature copy of a Toulouse Latrec poster. I just couldn't seem to make up my mind and thought that I would get one "later". We didn't make it back to Monmartre on that trip, and the next year that artist was nowhere to be found. I'll look again in the spring....but I think I'm going to be out of luck!
Yes. A Cameo pendant for my daughter from a village that specializes in them - on the Amalfi Coast. My travel mate talked me out of it. Said it would be "too old lady" for my 20 something daughter. When I returned, my daughter said she would have loved it. Go with your original gut feeling and ignore opinions of others.
In a small town in the Le Marche region there was a shop with a wonderful leather jacket in the window. Really liked the color & style. But in many small towns shops close for a few hours around noon, and we didn't want to wait around for them to reopen. Besides, they sell leather jackets everywhere, right?
Never found one similar to it. Even made a trip back to that town the following year specifically to get the jacket, but the store was out of business.
Nate, my nephew wore my Dad's kilt to prom! My Dad where's it some years to our Christmas Party. Then there was the construction crew that wore kilts when they built houses! Pam
In 2003, I visited Italy. When I got home I regretted not buying 2 things: a watercolor of Vernazza to hang in my guest bathroom (the colors would go perfectly in there) and a fleece jacket the vendors sell in San Marco square that has a small, cute gondola on the left chest area. My story has a happy ending. In 2008, I returned to Italy and bought both of those items. The fleece coat was a surprise because I generally don't wear clothing with words and pictures on them. The gondola was so sweet though and I love the coat. The Vernazza picture looks great in the guest bath. :)
I have no regrets...my wife buys everything she sets her eyes on.
After a number of trips to a variety of places, I alway have regrets on not buying certain things.
I think it always boils down to regretting I didn't spend the extra money to buy quality items. For example, in Russia I bought a number of inexpensive nesting dolls, I wish I would have focused more on a single nicer quality doll. In Venice for Carnivale, I wish I wouldn't have paid so much attention to the price of my carnavale mask & bought a more intricate version. Looking back, I don't even remember the cost of objects, just that there were better quality versions available. Same for bottles of wine, etc.
My favorite souvenir though, are my photographs, which I never neglect & always end up taking too many (much to the chagrin of whomever I'm traveling with.
Okkk- this is a swiss thing . I wish after seeing and hearing the cows taken to higher pastures I would have purchased a large cow bell-don't know what I'd do with it -or where I would put it- but oh the sounds they make! plus, reading these other regrets, I can ditto more than a few: the venetian masks,a gold cameo instead of a silver, the pottery in Colmar...
Joanne,
My large cowbell hangs on my front door and it ring/clangs every time we open the door. Of course there are times when we avoid going or coming that way for obvious reasons. We are off to Switzerland again on Saturday and hope to purchase another cowbell.
The one thing I regret not buying while traveling is a gorgeous blue and burgundy carpet in Istanbul but I had just lost my job and was in no mood to spend great sums of money so I guess my decision was the right one for the time. It still causes me sleepless nights, but I intend to go back one day and get my carpet.
Our Swiss cowbell sits next to some small bells from a bell manufacturer in Germany on our piano. We let the kids use those to ring for dinner at special occasions.
When in St. Tropez, I wish I would have purchased a shirt that I deemed "too expensive" at the time. I also wished I would have purchased a shirt at the balloon festival in Ferrara last September, and a sweater from Milan.
As for cowbells, when I was a kid (and played outside with the neighbor kids), my mother would ring the cowbell when it was time to come home for dinner. You could hear that thing a long way away! Of course, that was in the days before cell phones, etc.
Three things come to mind --
-- in Salzburg, I passed up a key lanyard with the word Mozart imprinted on it, thinking I would buy on the way back through the area. It was gone. I wanted it as a gift for a an 80 plus friend who spent his career as an opera singer. Also in Salzburg, I wish I had purchased a baseball style hat with a small patch on it that said, "No kangaroos in Austria."
-- in Venice, I came across a silver shaving brush and holder in a small backstreet shop. Since it was expensive, I wanted to think it over. Next day, I couldn't find the shop. Although I use an electric shaver, it reminded me of what my dad used. (However, I bought way too many small glass figurines - roosters, chicks, ducks, etc. in Murano.)
One year at the Portobello Road market I watched a lady try to get a vendor of small leather goods to buy her Luis Vuitton bag for £75. He told her he knew it was genuine but would only give her £50. I wish I'd told her I'd give her the 75 quid.
"No kangaroos in Austria." How funny! I would have like to have that too! This reminds me of something. When my son was a tot, we took a train to Austin. He asked, Are we in Austria yet? People who over heard got such a kick out of that! When I was in Salzburg, I could have spent so much money on many Mozart items because I am a professional musician. I have regrets for not buying some crystal with Mozart's portrait on it, but it was too expensive for me. But I did buy a smaller one though!
I couldn't remember anything that I regretted not buying. I more about doing things than buying stuff but I thought this post might trigger some memories. It doesn't, I don't regret not buying anything.
We have a limited set of souvenirs. I like them a lot but don't really know what to do with most of them. Especially since they are so eclectic - everything from a wallaby skin and didgeredoo from Australia to antique teapots from Europe.
I absolutely agree with the comment to buy quality. Cheap souvenirs will always be cheap but a quality item will be something you are proud of. It's better to buy one or two quality items than a suitcase full of cheap stuff.
Same here re. the question of buying quality souvenirs. Too often I cheap out and regret it later on. My husband is much better in being more selective when buying quality souvenirs. Those you can display anywhere in your home without it looking like "kitsch". One type of souvenir we never regret buying is original art!
One who does not travel will not know that value of men - Moroccan proverb
When I first started traveling I made a promise to myself that if something jumped out at me and said that it had to go home with me, it did. That way I would have no such regrets. Sure there are things that are way out of my budget that I wished I could have had. But don't we all!?
a box of old French postcards for $60 that I saw in a Grasse, France shop window. See my story under "old postcards". (I answered in the wrong place, I guess.)
trudy from San Antonio
Maybe it's a poor memory, but nothing comes to mind that I regret NOT buying.
On the other hand, I have lots of things I could happily have left unbought:
Ulu knife and board (expensive), souvenir of Alaska. It looked so useful and handy in the store's video. Never used.
DVDs of Venice - the quality is worse than homemade oft-recopied videos.
Dozens of knicknacks that are hidden in a cupboard because if they are on display, the cat attacks them and they need lots of dusting.
What do I NOT REGRET owning:
1. Refrigerator magnets - a constant reminder of all the wonderful places I've been (and even better when guests admire them)
I really wish I had bought a garden gnome in Switzerland for my garden....I loved seeing them everywhere!
Mom and Dad regretted I didn't spend the $2.50 on a steel bracelet in Paris over 35 years ago. After all, we had the original $5 a Day and that bracelet was a day's food budget. When they arranged their trip to Europe a few years later with plans to skip Paris I railed on for days until they included it, then "casually" mentioned that maybe they could pick one up for me. Mom saw right through this ploy, of course, and while they loved Paris too, often remarked for years about how expensive that little piece of steel was.
A beautiful handmade bracelet at a jeweler in Castellina in Chianti. It was 300 euros and I thought it was way too expensive. It has been over a year and I still imagine all of the outfits it would match.
New rule: when on vacation, just suck it up and buy the darn bracelet! :) You will never see it again, except when it haunts you....
I rarely hold back on buying when on a trip. I do regret not buying a cowbell on a recent trip to Switzerland in Gimmelwald. Regret not buying jewelry made from heather in Scotland. But most of all I regret not buying some Spode dinner plates in Stoke-on-Trent for a very low price. My largest purchase was an 18 pound umbrella stand in Blue Willow for 25 bps in Wales. Getting it home was tricky but it was worth the effort. This was several years ago so weight restrictions would most likely prevent such a purchase now. And another regret was not buying a gorgeous sweater in the Glamis Castle gift shop--too expensive but I still dream about it.
I crave one of those wood inlay pictures made in Sorrento. Up until now I have resisted buying one because I didn't want to carry the extra weight. Next time there I will buy one.
More Mephisto shoes--they are so much cheaper over there.
I wish I had bought a pied-a-terre in Paris. Can anyone lend me 850,000 Euros?
I wish I had bought more parmesean in Florence. The family ate it up so fast I hardly got any!
Don't regret buying:
portrait of my kids made in Piazza Navona
Stained Glass church window pane from street market in Lucerne...hangs in my den now
oversized pepper grinder with gold leaf and intricate designs from Venice
Cuckoo Clock from Weggis Switzerland
pewter pieces date stamped 1600s from street market in Zurich
I regret not buying more and bigger amber jewelry in Poland. Much cheaper there than here.
I regret not buying an expensive but beautiful bit of original art in Spain in favour of a cheapo that I don't even want to frame. I blame the sangria!
I never regret buying my obligatory souvenir mug. I use them everyday and always think about each trip. When friends who travel visit they get their choice of country for their tea or coffee (if they are not travelers they think I'm bragging).
