What do expacts take home from the uk?

[Justanotheruser01]

I live in the uk and always have done (hopefully not always will!) But one thing that gets my geek interest at airports is wondering what's in people's suitcases!
What do you buy when you come home to the uk that you cant get at home abroad? And what country do you live in (if you like)?

West Africa here.
We make full use of our luggage allowance and bring loads.
Normally-
A cold case- cheese, gammon joints, ham, bacon
Kids toys/gifts to take to kid’s partys
Birthday cards and wrapping paper
Sweets and chocolate
Cake decorating/baking things
Long life squirty cream
Angel delight
Flavoured Couscous
Bisto
Stuffing
Kids clothes
Kids Shoes
New clothes and shoes for me (basically everything I would wear underwear and outerwear)
Printer cartridges
Risotto rice
Tortilla breads
Shampoo/razor blades/shower gel
Kids crafts/activities
Depending on time of year- party stuff for dcs birthday parties or Christmas/Easter stuff
Most recently lots of back to school bits

Basically a full shop plus some!

Ah yes- medication- cheap paracetamol and ibuprofen, calpol/neurogenic, antiseptic wipes/first aid kit stuff, deet, sun cream

peggy just out of interest is it difficult to get those things where you are or are they too expensive? It seems like you’re buying pretty much everything!

I have only ever been to Cape Town in Africa and appreciate that it could be very different.

Atalune- it’s a combination.
I’ve not been to Cape Town but we were looking at it for a holiday, it seemed beautiful. It does look very different from here in terms of disposable income and the availability of products.
Some things are unavailable (equivalent of supermarket clothes etc, some meats etc), or if available very expensive (£5+ a jar of chocolate spread, £6 a carton of uht cream).
As an aside the availability of products varies- the shop will have stock one week and then not for a month or so.
A big problem is that some things the quality is very poor and still expensive, there aren’t really import standards here so the manufacturing quality is poor. Things you would get in Poundland in the UK cost about 7x the price and then not work at all.
Also lots of counterfeiting.
I love living here and try and invest in the local economy but very grateful that we can bring things back on the plane!

Spain, PG tips and crunchie bars, crumpets

Thank you Peggy that’s really interesting
A little bit like when I visited Nicaragua- so many things the quality was shocking and the prices were all over the place.

My very well off expat sister ,believe it or not :
All her kids uniforms from George bar the stuff they have to buy directly from the school in her country overseas
Pyjamas from primark
Tons of clothes from uk high street stores new look and Dorothy Perkins
Clark's shoes for the kids
Quality street chocolates

Am going back to UK on Thursday to pick up ds at the end of his MA, and will have access to Waitrose, Tesco and Sainsbury. Let's hope dh can squeze lots in the boot by packing creatively...my list is getting longer, especially with sa at home, I'll need more peanut butter, marmite. Lurpak, Tea bags and washing capsules.

Another issue in developing markets is that the brands that are available aren't at the same safety standards and quality. So it may look at first glance like you can buy stuff but it isn't the same.

France here. I bring

Marigold rubber gloves
Cheddar cheese - loads of it!
Smoked paprika
Curry spice blends
Paracetamol and Ibuprifen - 16p a pack vs 1,80€!
Vitamins, Savlon, First aid stuff
M&S underwear
Bacon, sausages, black pudding (frozen)
Whisky!

I love these threads!

Australia here.

Now that we’ve been cut off from proper Amazon US , my friends in the UK have become the gateway to all things northern hemisphere. I’m not looking forward to you guys cutting yourselves off from Europe much, either!!

I do go to Italy regularly, but their postal system is too shit for family to stockpile deliveries for me, if you get my drift. Which is a shame, because I travel home with extra space after I bring them Australian goodies that they don’t have (fruit gelatin, smoked oysters, pink flake salt, nappy bags).

I have one cousin who has a very convenient (for me) job in Switzerland near the French & German borders. This year he’s been able to supply me with my favourite Ricola herbal tea granules. They cost him €2 each, they’d cost me €9 plus postage if I bought them direct.

From the UK I crave fabric (incl Liberty) and other haberdashery. Also watercolour (painting) supplies- mainly quality paper & brushes.

And...thanks to this thread. I now have bought too much stuff and DH is complaining that it won't fit in the car!

Totally depends on where I've lived. When we were in Switzerland I stocked up on kids' clothes and shoes as they were eye wateringly expensive, in SE Asia it was moisturiser and other pharmacy bits and bobs plus booze in duty free as, again, it was so pricey.

Oh yes and I saw a PP said craft bits; that too.

Oxo cubes is my number 1 ask if I know someone is coming over.

Fray bentos tinned pies (well this was for the ex)
Tinned mushy peas

My mum brings me Aldi face creams which we cannot get.

Going the other way back to the UK have had a lot of visitors take back things like:

Rice
Breakfast cereals
Baby cereals
Cling film
Shoes
Medications
Sweets
Chocolates (they aren't yet that crap here)
Crisps
Meat spices
Then of course the biltong / droe wors (and that is a giveaway for the country I am in)