Turkey: Souvenirs

In response to my travel posts about Turkey (Turkey Baby! and Turkey Logistics), I had a query from Verbal Sid about souvenir shopping and packing them for the return flight to South Africa. Thanks for the query Sid! I am gonna be lazy and copy and paste our email conversation. 


Sid's email:

Hey hey =)

So my sister stumbled across some pictures of pretty lamps in Turkey and she wants me to buy one for her. But not really sure HOW to bring them back. How expensive is shipping? Or would they be okay in my suitcase?

Oh and what else did you purchase in Turkey? Paintings? Earrings? Leather bags? I'm gonna be so broke.
Thanks! 

Sid

My response:

So I was actually broke going to Turkey... *dum dum duuuuummmmm* I spent money on experience stuff - so entrance fees to the historic sites, etc. I ended up not buying souvenirs. Big ones anyway. I probably bought like 10 items: Turkish delight (obvs), Turkey magnets, Turkey mugs, Turkey bag, Turkey t-shirts, Turkey hoodies.

The souvenir shops wrap the goodies really well though. Bubble wrap, paper, you name it. So we just packed stuff in our hand luggage and hoped for the best.

My travel buddies all bought leather jackets and wore them so that they didn't have to pay for overweight luggage.

You know what's funny - I've been struggling to write the next Turkey post for the blog and now you have just inspired me to do so :D I'm probably going to copy paste the above. Hehehehehehhe.

Hope this helps.

W

One lesson I learnt: when you see something you like, buy it. In Cappadocia, there were all these cute and quirky handmade jewelley and crafts. Silly me decided to *wait* until Istanbul to buy souvenirs. I regret that decision till today and will continue to do so until I manage to visit Cappadocia again to find the things I didn't buy.

I never did find anything in Istanbul as nice as what was in Cappadocia.

Lesson learnt, travel God.

Instapost: Glitter souvenirs in Cappadocia, Turkey.