Scottish GIFTS for YOU – Travel blog Contest!
Melinda, a wonderful reader in Norway, shared this photo of her family enjoying their gift package from RTG!
Update August 19th: Melinda’s package was mailed from London on our last day and she received it only 6 days later, then sent this great photo of she and her family with their goodies!
Update August 5th: Travel blog contest winner!! So, we wonder how much shipping will cost to …. NORWAY! Congratulations to Melinda, a fantastic reader in Norway! Melinda wins this overflowing gift bag of whisky marmalades, shortbread, celtic jewelry, Scottish teas, music, books, and more, plus a few special items we’ll find in Wales and England! THANKS to Melinda and all who made fantastic comments on our blog stories and on contest gift ideas! We used a random drawing program to select a winner from all comment entries and subscriber entries thru Aug 3rd on RomancingtheGlobeTravelBlog.com. We appreciate you so much!
*We’re home in Colorado now and we’ll add stories soon about our fantastic experiences in the UK for the last 6 weeks!
Stories from the trip so far are: Edinburgh, Cruden Bay, Isle of Skye, and Wales.
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Travel Blog Contest!
July and August: We’re loving this trip to Scotland! Also, looking forward to visiting Wales and England. To thank you for traveling along with us we’re having a contest! When considering what prize to offer you, we realized the most unique prize we can give our readers is a collection of gifts we buy during our travels. How do you like that idea?
CONTEST DETAILS Â : Â SEND Sheila shopping for YOU!
Win GIFTS from Scotland, Wales and England!
HOW: Choose from dozens of travel stories and hundreds of photos on this website. Comment as many times as you want! Subscribe to our future newsletter!Â
Every COMMENT and each SUBSCRIBER is an entry!
ANY STORY and / or ANY PHOTO!
WHEN: Now until July 31, AUGUST 3rd, 2015Â Â
WHO: Anyone may enter from any location in the world where such contests are legal.
WINNER: One winner will be chosen by random drawing from ALL entries. Winner will be notified by email and announced on www.RomancingTheGlobeTravelBlog.com by August 3rd, 2015. (Our mothers are disqualified, esp. since we’re already bringing them gifts 🙂 )
Note: Sharing stories or photos on your Facebook page is encouraged and appreciated! Simply choose the Facebook symbol on any story/photo to share. For this contest, comments on this website, not on Facebook, are the ones being counted as entries. Fake or spam comments will not be counted and an email address is needed. Obviously, a mailing address will be requested from the contest winner. 🙂
Sheila (and Tom, when he’s not playing golf) will shop for interesting gifts as we travel thru Scotland, and add a few bonus gifts from Wales and England! We’ll create a care package to mail directly to our winner!
? What kinds of souvenirs do you like to pick up when you travel? What would you love to receive as a gift? Give us some ideas and you just might get it!
29 Comments
I have been researching my ancestors from the Bruce clan. I would love to have some Bruce clan fabric for a dress , or a clan Kilt for my daughters fiance to wear for their wedding. That would make the wedding perfect!
Hi Kathy! Your note prompted me to look a bit into the Bruce clan. Looks their main lands in Annandale were in the Dumfries and Galloway area where we spent our honeymoon 5 years ago. You’ll be happy to know it’s a beautiful area, including Grey Mare’s Tail waterfall in Moffat! One idea you might like for your daughter’s wedding, since the full kilt ensemble can be crazy expensive, is a tartan sash for your daughter or for both of them or as accents. I was able to find some fabric online to make my sash, plus square pieces to go under the centerpieces and tartan ribbon to accent the flowers, plus. Enjoy helping your daughter plan!
love to win the contest,, so love Scotland.
Hi Margaret! It’s truly a wonderful country in so many ways, isn’t it? Where did you visit?
Hi. Would love anything from the Highlands maybe a cookbook. Doing my genealogy now and Scotland is coming up a lot, of course! Lol
Hi Sally! Cookbook is a great idea for those of you who cook! I love Scottish food, esp. shepherd’s and cottage pie. You’d have loved our wedding chef, Eric, the Celtic Caterer. Hope you enjoy learning about your genealogy. We drove thru Glencoe Thursday, the heartland of the MacDonald clan. Such a beautiful land and powerfully sad story.
Shortbread!!! That’s a gift request not another nickname for Sheila ?
Might just be a perfect new nickname after this visit. Where’s the smiley icon with big, fat cheeks? Trying lots of variety for you, lovely Tracy. Walker’s continues to rise to the top AND I’ve discovered the joy of shortbread with wee chocolate chips! You might like this article: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/11217838/Walkers-Is-this-Britains-best-shortbread.html
All of the ideas sound great – mugs, music, and fabrics. What about specialty food items or sweets?
Hey Sherry! Yes, unless I eat them first. The Scottish shortbread is delicious and tablet (buttery fudge) is addictive! Of course, there’s always haggis, too 🙂
A piece of jewelry from HeatherGems in Pitlochry would make a wonderful gift for me!
Hi Elaine! I just looked up HeatherGems. Beautiful! Thanks for the suggestion. We drove thru Pitlochry going to Cairngorms National Park. Yesterday, we drove thru the incredibly beautiful MacDonald lands of Glencoe while listening to the powerfully sad Massacre of Glencoe song. Second visit to Glencoe and we love it!
Sheila, Christmas ornaments from this trip would be nice, plus a postcard or two!!
I can not get over the number of countries you two have visited so far. I am so glad you are enjoying Northern Scotland and Wales should be fun too!!
Anything with Ross on it would be neat ancestors are from there
Ross! Hi Marda, our family names are Robertson and Armstrong. It’s interesting trying to learn about their history and decide what’s true vs. what’s legend 🙂
I’d say cookbooks and jewelry are my favourite souvenirs. They say the sense of smell and memory are closely linked so what better way to bring back fond memories of a place than to cook some of your favourite meals from your visit. And picking up something simple I can wear close to my heart like a necklace or a bracelet that stirs a memory every time I move my arm is another way to keep those places vivid in my mind.
I’ve found nothing better than the unique music of any locale – to help recall the visit and people that performed it or gladly recommended it to convey their sentiments – and share a piece of their soul….every time I play it when I get back home.
Yes, I totally agree with you George! Music is the other “souvenir” I would always get when traveling. I’m proud to say I have the most eclectic CD collection right now because of it, and I love it! When I listen to a particular CD (even if years may have passed since the last time I listened to it), my brain is immediately flooded with fond memories and I am transported back in time to the place where I was, the people I was with, and things I was doing. And now, because of your post, I’m going to go get and listen to one of my memorable “souvenir” CDs right now so I can do some mind traveling/reminiscing while getting ready for work this morning! Thanks! 🙂
Okay … so this morning, I was transported back to 1993 when I would listen to Belgian singer Axelle Red’s “Sans Plus Attendre” CD. I was living and working in Brussels at the time her CD was released and I recall hearing it EVERYWHERE I went, especially her hit singles, Sensualité” (Sensuality) and “Elle Danse Seule” (She Dances Alone). Back then, there were no iPads, smart phones, streaming music or videos, etc., and the most current “in thing” was listening to your music while on the go on your portable Sony Discman. I did this every single day while taking the Brussels Metro and walking through the Grand Place during my commute to/from work. Life was good then! I thought I was so cool! LOL! ?
http://youtu.be/iXKkxZ7U-lo
SO true, George! Thought about this yesterday as we drove thru gorgeous Glencoe with the music of celtic ballads and bagpipes playing! Great suggestion!
Hey Sheila,
I bring back coffee mugs from my trips both domestic and foreign. My friends know I collect them and have brought some amazing ones from all over the world.
Anna! Don’t you just love reaching for a mug and thinking of that place/trip while sipping your coffee? Cool that your friends even get them for you! Mugs are great, except Tom just shakes his head and says…”Well, there’s no more room in the cupboard, so which ones will you replace?”
I love to get some fabric from the places I visit that are unique to the area. Then I can use it to make something for our home! Since I love to sew it is a fun way to remember places we have been.
Great idea, Paige! What kinds of momentos do you create with the fabric? Pillows? Wall pieces? My mum-in-law is a master quilt maker and my mum makes beautiful greeting cards, so fabric or interesting papers would be great for them. NOT that they need any more supplies! Right? My own craft room is quite neglected these days.
For the last 20+ years, every time I travel to a new country, I always purchase Christmas ornaments specifically made in that country. This way, every year at Christmas time when I decorate my “international tree”, I can be reminded of all the interesting places I’ve travelled to and relive special memories.
Doug, we do, too! Unwrapping them each year and recalling the memories is so special. I love this tradition and Tom has come to love our travel tree more than our “regular” tree (although I do still love my Hallmark ornaments :-)) Sometimes it’s a bit tricky to find a good ornament that represents our experience, and once in awhile I miss out (never found one in Tahiti, so I have a necklace of shells I might make something with LOL). When I write an article about our travel tree I’d love for you to send a photo of some of your favorite ornaments you’ve collected!
Also, I’d really LOVE to find a tree topper ANGEL during our travels if you or any of our readers have ideas!
hi! My favorite things to bring back from vacations is jewelry. I try to buy something memorable from each place. I have pearls from Hawaii, a gold ring from Ireland, a ring from Mexico. My “new” wedding ring is from the Bahamas! This last trip, to Spain, I purchased a pretty (but very cheap) ring that is typical of the workmanship around Toledo. I think the heat addled my brain- I wasn’t looking very hard.
Lovely idea, Dianne! Sounds like the heat in Spain was intense and I know exactly how that can melt my brain, too. I didn’t think I was a big jewelry collector until I realized several of my favorite pieces are those I’ve picked up when traveling! A beaded necklace and hair barrette from Belize, two necklaces with earrings from the Greek islands and a very simple whale’s tale carved from coconut from the Dominican Republic. Most are very inexpensive, but with personality. Tom even surprised me by buying a very nice, beautiful turtle necklace in the Caribbean for my birthday. Hmmm…guess it’s not entirely true to say he’s not patient about my shopping!