Strive4impact.com's Travel Tips

Gift Ideas for people living or studying in Europe

When thinking about the question, "What gift would be good from me to send to that someone I know who lives and/or works in Europe," the most important factor to think about is whether or not the receiver of the gift is going to want to bring the gift home.  Usually, people who study and/or work abroad for a short amount of time (3 months-1 year) are not going to want to have bulky items (i.e. clothes) or heavy items (i.e. books), so a good idea is to think about items which are perishable (flowers), consumable (food), or very useful.  Bearing this in mind, I have offered a few suggestions of things which you might send and places where you can get them relatively inexpensively.

Flowers

Though it may sound cheesy and a bit (okay, a lot) overused, flowers are always a great way to brighten anyone's day.  If you try to order internationally through one of the big U.S. companies, you'll probably pay an arm and a leg (if not more than that).  Here are a couple of suggestions instead.

If you are sending flowers to Germany, go to www.florito.de and click on the English link (unless you speak German).  Their selection is a bit limited, but the prices are very good compared to what you're going to pay if you use an American florist.

If you are sending flowers elsewhere internationally, go to flowersfast.com.  They'll let you compare prices.  They're the least expensive general florist I have found for sending internationally.

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Voltage Converters

Hopefully this was purchased long before traveling, but if not, you can always send one as a gift.  If you haven't traveled yet and plan to in the future, chances are that when you leave the country, you will need a voltage adaptor and converter kit.  The absolute best one I've found (as well as many other great travel aids) can be found at Magellan's Travel Supplies. 

Food

Some of my favorite foods to receive in the mail while in Germany were Kool-Aid packets, ramen noodle packs, and licorice. My tastes might be cheap, but they were things that were light, very consumable, and were things that remeinded me of being at home (College student food).  To ship your deliveries, the U.S. Postal Service will let you fit what you can fit into a 9 * 13 envelope, as long as it's under 5 pounds, and will send it Global Express Mail (Guaranteed delivery in 4-7 days) for $5.00.