no worry for souvenirs

I went to the travel agent the other day, to pick up some brochures that students could look at in their 'dream trip' lesson. I thought I'd got a good selection of English speaking countries: America, Australia, Europe (well some of it's English speaking!)... but then when I got to school & looked at them, I realised that they weren't travel brochures, but omiyage brochures- which means souvenir catologues!

The idea is that you book a trip abroad & at your leisure before you go away, you browse through the catalogue, choose souvenirs for friends/ family/ colleagues; order them through the travel agent; and so when you arrive back from your travels, the souvenirs are sent to you! Ingenious, but what a waste of money - spending loads on imported items when you could bring them back for half the price in your suitcase. But I guess it's an added convenience, so you don't have souvenir shopping hanging over your shoulder whilst on holiday...

Still, if I feel I terribly miss Terry's Chocolate Orange or other such European delicacies over here, I can be rest assured that I can order a pack of 12 from the comfort of the travel agent in my shopping centre for about 30 pounds!