I read with a great deal of interest all the sugestions about what to buy in Spain and Portugal...certainly some things sound both fragile and heavy...but they are things I would also be interested in buying... Is it better to have the store ship it back, or pay the extra baggage charge to bring it home with us on the plane? We'll be in a car, so that part will be easy. I'm curious as to what some of you have done with your ceramics.

I'm a serious ceramics collector and have the store bubble wrap the pieces I buy (extremely well), then take them back with me in my carry on bag and my husband's, both which are as large as they can be to be still within the airline's limits. Shipping costs are extremely expensive, so my husband and I carry our ceramics purchases back with us.

When we used to bring a lot home, we would pack a small folding duffel bag. On the last day we stuffed most of the hard items in the duffel bag and checked it. That left room in the carryon bags for the good stuff and it was packed with the dirty clothes. Always worked well.

Last year I brought back a couple pieces of ceramics from Spain. All the stores wrapped them real well with bubble wrap. I then wrap them in my clothes, then put in my carryon. I even brought back a mirror with marquetry frame!

Depends upon the store's wrapping. I carry any ceramic or glass on the plane and throw my dirty clothes in my checked bag.

Not all stores ship merchandise. It is a bother for them. Ask before you shop if the shipment affects what you purchase.

When store wrap items for me, they are often not efficient. They may be well wrapped but in honky large boxes that take over my luggage. I take what I buy back to hotel. Then, I either use a few boxes I brought from home with bubble wrap or use my Swiss army knife with strips of shipping tapes I bring from home and convert honky big boxes to just fit the items I purchased. If I buy something with cavities, it is an open season to buy candies or something very very fragile, such as decorated eggs from Salzburg.

Bringing in jamón Ibérico is still against the law, but it happens from time to time.

Yes, bringing home jamon iberico happens only very rarely.

Here is what I did with the beautiful blue and white striped ceramic bowl I bought in Cadaques a few years ago:

I asked the shop to wrap it in many layers of bubble wrap and newspaper. I was able to fit it into a carry-on bag and I carried it through the airport and onto the plane. Upon arrival at JFK, I gripped it in my hand while pushing a cart loaded with my other luggage. Crossing the street to get to the car, I dropped the bag and the bowl shattered in a hundred pieces! .

I was so upset! Thanks for letting me share!

If you buy anything hollow, stuff the inside with newspaper. And when I say stuff, I mean STUFF. Create pressure coming out from the inside, so if any pressure is applied from the outside, it will neutralize. Actually try to create a solid object. Then bubble wrap the outside and put it in a duffel carryon.

Scrunchy what a story!
That terrible! You will just have to go back and get a second one.....

Kleroux I too warn you about taking the Jamon. That little cute beagle at the LAX airport nabed me again and it was heartbreaking giving up all that expensive ham..and it is a big fine if they impose it $500.00 USD! :'(

Like the others I also use the carry for my purchases & rotate the clothes to the duffel. I have also learned that even though you want to wait till the end so you don't have to carry as much, you never find that special item at the end, always get it when you see it.

One time we were coming back from visiting cousins in Galicia. Our eldest cousin, now 87, makes fiollas, a type of crepe whenever we visit. She has a stone on a slant and and heats it from the bottom with with a wood fire. She pours the batter at the top of the stone and as it runs down, it cooks.

Once when we were bringing some back for the people in the US and as we were waiting for our luggage, a drug sniffing sits down next to the suitcase with fiollas attarcted by the smell. My wife, just petted the dog until the DEA cop started asking questions. Fortunately fiollas were not contraband.

Hey Adu does your wife (or do you ) know how to make them?