Christmas Gifts From Travellers To Travellers, from Journals, Maps and Suitcase Covers, to Aprons, Chocolates, Key Rings, Umbrellas and More

My ebook on improve your English with alliteration is available for download from Amazon. 

English dictionaries of all sizes can be bought on line. 

If you are obsessed with Stonehenge or the Loch Ness Monster, or know somebody who is, then, failing a trip to visit the original and/or the museum, a key ring, poster or book is a cheaper alternative to stick inside a Christmas stocking for amusement. Or inside a Christmas cracker, the DIY sort.

I bought towelling bath mit from Primark with a Union Jack.

Gifts From England

Chocolate

Passing through Heathrow airport? We bought Terry's white chocolate  and orange bar. It tastes good. It's different.

Tesco Express in London often has cakes topped with Thornton chocolates.

Also look for Kendal Mint cake.

English Heritage

Union flag (union jack) golf umbrella, twenty five pounds (plus postage?) with navy outside and the Union Jack inside.

The cheapest union Jack tee-shirts are on ebay. Some of them have messy edges to the flag. You can buy tee-shirts with the flag large or small and the normal way up or sideways.

Stonehenge

Spinner key ring; oven glove. Socks. Bottle opener key ring. 

Book: I never knew that about England. Tells you where Wendy and Long John Silver are buried, and where King Alfred burned the cakes.

British food includes:

Bakewell tart, malt loaf. Cadbury's chocolates. Quality Street chocolates. Scones. Mrs Beeton recipe book. Fray Bentos tinned steak and kidney pudding. Marks & Spencers thick cut marmalade. Ginger in syrup in glass jars from supermarkets.

Harrods goods with their symbol. Toby jugs. Wedgwood crockery. (All cheaper in the January sales - which often start online as early as Boxing Day, Dec 26, or even Christmas Day, Dec 25.)

Diabetic and gluten free goods from pharmacies. 

Kosher and halal goods from supermarkets and speciality grocers.

Large numbers of Chinese and Indian (mainly Pakistani and North Indian) restaurants, some vegetarian restaurants. Indian sarees and items from areas such as Southall in London. Bit Chinese mall on the Edgware Road in London.

Numerous art galleries and museums and stately homes have shops. Sherlock Holmes items from their shop near baker street station.

UK flag mask

https://fineartamerica.com/featured/united-kingdom-union-jack-england-britain-flag-vintage-distressed-finish-design-turnpike.html?product=face-mask-flat

Winter Novelties

Paperweights which show falling snow when turned upside down.

Travel Novelties

You can buy a suitcase, a suitcase set, or suitcase cover with pictures of the UK, the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France, or the words New York.

I bought a cover to cover a scruffy suitcase. The cover prevented me from reaching into the outside pocket which was a nuisance. However, you might find it adds security by preventing things from falling out or to stop petty pilferage.

Gifts From Scotland

Loch Ness Monster

Scottish shortbread biscuits

Tartan hat or kilt, tee-shirt or teddy bear toys or key rings wearing tartan kilts and hats .

Whisky

Gifts From Wales

Welsh cakes

Welsh love spoons

Tee towels with words of Welsh or Welsh recipes

 

Gifts from Ireland

Aran sweaters

Items in green and with four leaf clover motifs

Personalize

Personalized with your surname in the middle, Monopoly, ordered from Selfridges.

Looking for a bargain?

Lidl, the low price German supermarket in London, England, before Xmas sells stollen bites from Germany.

Hanukah theme gifts will be reduced price after the end of hanukah, widely sold in London UK supermarkets, Jewish delis and shops, and the USA bargain stores.

After Christmas you can stock up on Christmas theme items for next year.

Soon to come, more ideas for you. 

Classic companies in the UK include department stores Hamleys, Selfridges, Harrods, Marks & Spencer, Tesco. 

Classic chocolates are Cadbury's, Thorntons, After Eight, Hotel Chocolat, Terry's.

Classic flags are the Union Jack, flags of Scotland, Wales, and Eire, the USA, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, England, Football teams.

Classic US authors include Dickens, the Brontes, Jane Austen.

Classic US authors include Edgar Allen Poe.

Classic Christian gifts are from churches and cathedrals.

Classic Jewish gifts are from synagogues and Jewish gift shops and Jewish museums.

Travel Diaries

Cheap Travel Diary For Children

If you cannot travel, you can cut out or print pictures for a wishlist. Or start collecting stamps. I remember as a child seeing pagodas and Ankor Wat. When I finally reached Ankor Wat, at retirement age, it exceeded my expectations, and it was not the only building in that style but one of many. Also, by then it was not remote and eerie, but surrounded by sellers of postcards and drinks and even restaurants in huts and one storey wooden buildings. 

Finally, there's the KrisFlyer shop.

Useful Websites

Child's union Jack cap

https://www.lazada.sg/products/union-jack-uk-england-flag-united-kingdom-united-kingdom-england-london-kids-baseball-hats-childrens-cap-hip-hop-caps-childrens-cap-hat-hats-for-children-childs-summer-cap-sun-hats-cap-for-boy-

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-10274603/Christmas-gift-ideas-traveller-life-luggage-tags-heated-jackets.html

https://www.english-heritageshop.org.uk/

https://www.english-heritageshop.org.uk/collections/exclusive-collections/stonehenge-medallion-collection

https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/stonehenge/things-to-do/shop/

https://www.selfridges.com/GB/en/cat/board-games-monopoly-by-you-silver-tokens-personalised-board-game_R03866787/

https://www.notonthehighstreet.com/

https://www.britishcornershop.co.uk/

https://www.theirishstore.com/irish-gifts

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Traditional_foods_of_the_United_Kingdom

Tee shirts with Union Jacks on ebay

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/282830021956?_trkparms=amclksrc%3DITM%26aid%3D1110006%26algo%3DHOMESPLICE.SIM

https://www.facebook.com/KrisShop/

https://fineartamerica.com/featured/united-kingdom-union-jack-england-britain-flag-vintage-distressed-finish-design-turnpike.html?product=face-mask-flat

About the Author

About the author of this blog

About the Author of this blog, Author Angela Lansbury

BIOGRAPHY

Angela Lansbury B A Hons ACG ALB PM5 EH5 DL5 VC5 
The Author of several books, including: Etiquette For Every Occasion. Wedding Speeches & Toasts. How to be the Best Man. Quick Quotations. Who Said What When.

Blogs travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com

translateforfun.blogspot.com

Braddell Heights Advanced Toastmasters Speakers Club Vice President Public Relations (VPPR), Previous President

Join BHA 1st Wednesday 7pm and 3rd Saturday 2 pm Singapore time 

Vice President Public Relations (VP PR) of Tampines Changkat Advanced;

Secretary of weekly online Singapore International Dynamic Toastmasters Speakers’ Club;

Member and past president of Harrovians toastmasters club, UK; Past member of HOD Toastmasters, London. Past member in Singapore of: Toastmasters Club of Singapore (TCS); Tiarel; and Senja Cashew.

More details from Toastmasters International find a club.

Regular attendee at annual Swanwick Writers’ School, England.

Regular attendee at annual Writers’ Holiday, Wales.

Contributor to poetry readings, and after tea courses on: Speaking On Radio To Promote Books; and Plots And Character.

Winner of many club and area speaking contests in the UK and Singapore.

Language advisor to Empire Toastmasters club in Indonesia.

Language and speech workshops in Singapore.

Speaker on radio and TV in England, Scotland, the USA, and Australia.

Compiler of a school course on public speaking for teachers to prepare pupils for school open days with attending ceremonies before government ministers, Singapore.

Former member of Harrow Writers’ Circle, London, and two writing groups in Singapore.

Angela is on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Twitter. She would be delighted to link up with new friends.

I  also have a blog on comic poems.

 Please share links to your favourite posts. 

Writers, Singers and Actors at Swanwick Writers Summer school

Potatoes. The way to my heart is through potatoes. A restaurant, hotel or conference centre can do no wrong, in my eyes, if they serve potatoes.




Chocolate cake. Alas, they say, a moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips.

However, I have my moment with the man in the kilt.

He does look better with a girl his height. 

On the last night people dress up in their finery - or national costumes, in this case on the right, Scottish tartan complete with sporran. 

Geoff Parkes told us how to sell niche books. 

Then he taught us grammar, to be sure we had books which deserved to be sold. His books on grammar were sold in the Book Room.

All pictures by photographer Angela Lansbury, taken at Swanwick writers Summer School. For details of next year's event and more photos and information, see previous posts.

Author

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and phtographer, author and speaker.

What to wear for a Burns Night

Photo of Robbie Burns in public domain from Wikipedia.

Problem
What do we wear for a Burns Supper or Scottish night?

Answers
Looking out your kilts and tartan clothes. If you don't have much, you might already have in your wardrobe:

Scottish Gentleman's Clothes
Cheapest is a tartan tie.

Scottish Lady's Clothes
Tartan dress or skirt.
If you are seated all evening, a skirt will not be noticed except when you arrive. Instead wear a black skirt, a white blouse and a tartan sash or tartan hairband and necklace.

DIY Tartan And Scottish Clothes
Your old tartan clothes are too small? Cut a piece of cloth and make a sash over a white blouse. Or a necktie. Or a bow tie. Or attach to a hair clip.
A stiff hairband - print a tartan and stick the paper over the hairband.
Make a tartan brooch.
Find a badge and stick tartan on it for an instant tartan badge.
Make tartan ear-rings.
A large birthday boy or birthday girl badge, the sort found attached to birthday cards, can be temporarily adapted by sticking on a tartan or a picture of Robbie Burns.

Tartans and Table Motifs
Do you need a pattern? Look online.
Alternatively, buy a packet of Scottish shortbread and cut out the design.
1 Stick it on something you are wearing.
2 Cut out the back of the packaging and stick that on something you are carrying, such as a bag.
3 Make a cover for a printed copy of Burns Poems.
4 Use the cut-out, or a photocopy of it, as the heading or edging of the menu.
5 You could even print a tartan or a map of Scotland as a frame for a tablemat or as the centrepiece for a table.
6 Print three A5 sheets of tartan as a repeating pattern for a table centrepiece or table runner.
7 Set up an ipad on the table with a tartan pattern displayed.
8 Have Burns poems ready on your phone, and Scottish music.

Useful websites
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highland_dress

Angela Lansbury
Travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Another Burns Night! Be Prepared! Tartans, Poems And Photos

Problems
I went to a Burns Night and did not wear tartan. I forgot.

Solutions
Now I have been invited to another Burns Night organized by a different group.

Costume
This time I have time to find a costume, such as tartan. One person says, 'I don't need to. I'm not a Scot.'

Which Tartan?
Which tartan? Tartan shops will sell you the tartan of your clan, going by your name or ancestors' names. But my complexion suits a different tartan. Some people object to your wearing tartans of a clan you don't belong to.  You may think it's amusing, or homage, like wearing the country's flag even if you are not from that coutnry. But others think it's misleading, like wearing the old school tie of a school you never attended, or a policeman's uniform when you are not a policeman.

So which tartans can you wear?

You can have your own tartan made up, for a price, after applying for approval and receiving it. There's Jewish tartan.  What will be next? Moslem tartans. Catholic tartans. Indian tartans? Japanese tartans? Chinese tartans. American tartans?

Burns Poems
Instead of or in addition to wearing a kilt, or tartan, I can also print out Burns' poems. And a picture of Burns. Alternatively, save paper by photographing the poems, the photo of Burns, and keeping them to hand on a laptop or mobile phone.

Burns Night Photos
If the people at the second event overlap with those at the first event (at least I am at both) I can show photos of the previous event as a nostalgic reminiscence. This time I will be ready to take a group photo at the start of the evening, a picture of the haggis, and a Scottish whisky.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Union Jack, Scottish Tartan and England Souvenirs - where and what to buy

Union Jacks
When I travelled to Japan to stay with families I knew I'd need a lot of gifts but I could not take anything too heavy. I stocked up with UK tea towels. Nowadays you can also get pillowcases and bedding sets.

Watch out for the cheaper ones which have the wrong colours or words not correctly spelled.

If you want something special, department stores such as John Lewis are likely to have the more expensive cushion covers, or framed prints.

If you don't mind a heavier souvenir, supermarkets have union Jack mugs. The cheaper places such as the Pound Shop are in most high streets.

You can buy postcards, masks of the royal family for a fancy dress party, tee shirts and giant flags.
See my other posts on Shopping and Diary.

Scottish Souvenirs
Tartans come in various colours, with red and green, blue, black, brown. You can get a tartan for a Scottish name, even a Tewish tartan.

England flags appear on hats and banners whenever the football teams are playing major matches. Look in local supermarkets such as Tesco express. Just after the match, when a team has won or lost, the prices will come down to clear stock for the next team or seasonal item.

Look for the Edinburgh Wool shops but their prices will often be higher as they are top quality goods with a brand. If money is no object, you can buy smart raincoats and umbrellas.