We just got back from a nice trip to New England and enjoyed the towns, boat trips, museums, food and walking about. We stayed in nice B&Bs and really had a good time. But so many of the people (women mostly) that we met as we travelled about spoke only about shopping! Some even travel with extra luggage to hold all their new purchases! The husbands mostly just went along (and carried the packages it seems...and paid). Now I am a 50+ year old woman but I just don't get this and never have. Why do people take trips far from home and spend most of their time shopping for stuff they probably never use anyway? Here they are in some scenic or historic place and they spend all day inside in shops acquiring expensive knick knacks and clothes. What is the point? I just don't get it.

I agree with your sentiment Jackie, I also don't understand it.

We met women on Santorini who sent their husbands home while they stayed on to shop. They'd already been there some time so I can't imagine what else they could find.

I think it's part of the hunting-gathering thing, but also it can become a habit. Still, I like to bring home presents from where ever I go, so some shopping is always involved.

I'm sure the people who enjoy shopping for its own sake feel the same way about people who go to the beach to get a tan, or to a casino to gamble, or to a place with nothing more exciting than a sign that says "Something historic happened here."

I have several activities I enjoy, many I don't. Other people have different things they enjoy. It's a big world, with lots of people with different things they like to do. Why they do is of no concern to me; so I've never given it any thought. To quote Jefferson, it neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.

I honestly don't understand why you care what other people do on vacation. That said, my husband and I like to shop. When I go away, I like to bring gifts to people. I also like to bring back mementos of my trip - crafts, antiques, clothes, etc. - something unique to the area I was in. It is not as if the pottery I brought back from Spain can be found at my local Target. I look around my living room, and so many of the pieces there have a story behind them, whether they were gifts to us, or things we have brought back on our travels. Our trips live on in the prints on our wall and the crystal and pottery on our shelves. The scarf from Paris brings a smile on my face when work gets me down. That is why we like to shop when we go away.

Dr. Tony Campolo calls it "affluenza"--many live to acquire things! While I'm not a shopper, I realize that it somehow fills a need that some people have.

Jackie, it seems you are being judgemental. Why do you care if people shop on their trips? I live in a small town, under 6,000 people. We have no Walmart, Kmart, etc. We have no public transportation and the nearest "city" is 60 to 85 miles away. So, when I have the opportunity to go a location where they have more selection, you bet I take advantage.

Yes, Jackie, you sure are being judgmental, and what's it to you what these "women mostly" do when they travel? But on the assumption you actually want an explanation instead of a long collection of people saying, "yeah yeah those people are terrible and aren't we superior to them!" ---

1. Do you ever take pictures when you travel? Why? To have something to capture the scene, to take home and reminisce with, to show other people the flavor of the place, right? Some forms of shopping are precisely the same activity. 2. Do you ever go to a store to buy something you don't have at home? Ditto -- there are those like Anna who are finding things unavailable to them at home. 3. The hunt/gather thing is also part of it -- especially in an era when you never seem to be able to escape the sameness of a Gap in every town.

Myself, I sometimes don't understand why people spend their entire vacation looking through the viewfinder of a camera or camcorder -- I swear they never actually see the sights THEMSELVES. I don't understand sports fans who'd rather go to a basketball game than to a museum, and they probably don't understand me.

We all have different hobbies, lenses, and baggage-tolerances.

Jackie,

I certainly understand your question. It seems that some people spend much money and energy, go far away, and then spend their time buying (or worse, haggling for) a bunch of junk. Shopping is next to last on the very bottom of my list of things to do on a big, expensive vacation, right ahead of getting falling down drunk.

So what difference does all of this shopping make to us non-shoppers? Well, there is now this expectation that when one goes away on a trip, one will "get something" for everyone left behind. This bothers me to no end, for four reasons. First, I feel obligated to spend time and money to acquire the overpriced stuff and lug it home for everyone, as though they will be impressed with these unfortunate purchases. Second, friends are aware of the obligation to bring home items, so they sometimes have the gall to make special requests that I must find time to fulfill ("Oh, you're going to Paris; would you bring home some pungent perfume for me that might break in your luggage and is available at every mall in town?"). Third, when others go away, they bring me stuff for which I must feign appreciation, then display or wear, then store, then toss after enough time has passed that they won't ask where it went. Fourth, and worst of all, sometimes one has a travel companion who likes to shop. So if this person is going to accompany me to, say, a museum stuffed full of priceless art of great historical value, it is only fair that I have to do time at shops watching them beat a poor shopkeeper out of a few dollars off of a cheap piece of leather. I also have to offer my opinion on the junk and listen to endless prattle about what junk would be most suitable for which friend back home.

For me, a successful trip is one in which I had fun and came home with less than I brought with me because I used up all of my toiletries on the last day.

Hope I didn't offend anyone, and I really don't want to start another big old Fodors name-calling fight. As much as the pro-shopping crowd likes shopping, I just don't think they have any idea how painful this is for non-shoppers.

People especially women shop because they have deep rooted problems. They either have low self-esteem; shopping is an addiction or it gives them a high much like drugs or liquor when they shop. There have been numerous studies done on this. Our society is saturated with so much marketing that people think shopping will actually make them feel better, be more accepted and have wonderful lives. Do you know how many people carry debt on their credit cards. The amount is staggering! And the bankruptcy rate is on the rise. It's sad!

I just bought a home that needs furnishing. Rather than going down to the local furniture store and buying the same stuff everybody else has, I look for unique pieces on our travels. I have things from India, Indonesia, China, Thailand and various places in Europe - and a small piece of art from each and every place visited. Each piece has a different story behind it and makes our home a reminder of all our travels. I don't have deep rooted problems just because I like to shop. We also enjoy the beach, museums, historic places, wandering through foreign cities, people watching in cafes, etc. but wanting a scarf from a chic Parisian bouquet doesn't make me a weirdo. And, we pay cash for every trip we take and everything we buy on the trip so the debt doesn't haunt us for years to come. What about the people who take "gastronomic" tours to eat food they can't get at home? Or wine tours? What about people who like Branson or Gatlinburg? Everybody has different interests.

WhyShop, I think you've the the deep-rooted problems!

Cindy, a woman after my own heart! If I can calculate the toiletries right and ditch a few sample-size containers on the last day of a trip I'm a happy vacationer indeed!

Yes, Cindy said it perfectly. This is why I no longer travel with most tours. I've even gotten my special "club" to offer "non-shopping" tours when they have some very special interest groups going to Europe. I have some almost "sacred" hours that I believe I will probably be bringing back to memory until the day I die. For instance, spending about 6 hours in the rain at
Pompei- seeing exactly how some "folks"
died for their precious goods. Seeing how they left their bread on the table,
but had their jewels and valuables upon their person. They had plenty of time to escape but were so attached to their things that they died for them. If shopping is what you would like to do, especially abroad, then go to it; but please, please do not make your fellow travelers a slave to your shopping schedule. We had a woman lawyer not return to our group in Naples, Italy and she literally had the tour guide in
tears. HAD TO HAVE HER LEATHER. If you
live near any big city in the U.S. you can get great "goods"- no need to do this to others who just want to experience a culture and see some beauty and/or history. So true, the best trips often end with an empty suitcase and a full "mind."

Are there that many people taking trips primarily to shop? For the vast majority, I'd think it's an occasional diversion in the midst of touring.

Don't you get enjoyment from wandering through one-of-a-kind shops you might find in a place like Manchester Village, VT, or Boothbay Harbor, ME--shops that sell quality New England made goods you won't find back home in Oklahoma? I can easily skip the dime-a-dozen T-shirt shops, but we have some wonderful memories from shopping we did as we toured.

Every time I plunk one of my cookbooks in the cast iron cookbook stand we found in a tiny village in the Cotswalds I'm reminded of that beautiful English village with its windowboxes full of flowers and roses growing up the sides of the yellow stone cottages, and those recollections brighten the mundane evening cooking chore. My husband feels the same about his antique letter opener found in a hole-in-the-wall London shop--maybe it makes opening our bills more fun...

We tour places inside out and upside down--museums, walk walk walk (not from shop to shopgt;)taking in all the sights from early in the morning until sunset and enjoy it all, but also enjoy the shops we pop into along the way.

We've never done a tour, but I guarantee, if I were on one where I couldn't run into that neat antique shop on the corner for 5 minutes, it really wouldn't be worth my time or money. All told I doubt we devote 1 day in 10 to shopping when we travel, but that one day is always a heck of a lot of fun for us....nor has it harmed anyone else.

I agree that many people travel with shopping as their main objective. However, have any of you who responded noticed how many people go on vacation to EAT? When recalling trips, some people can only talk about the fabulous restaurants and delicious food and drinks.

OK, Bettina, you are right. But those folks who go on vacation to eat are a lot more fun than the ones who won't try anything new and who complain that everything isn't the same as home? I say let them eat, so long as they promise to exercise when they get home.

Man, oh man....what a bunch of bitter, judgmental, cynical, nay-saying, humbuggers many of you are!!

Why on God's green Earth are you bothered by what gives some people pleasure on their VACATIONS?! It's a vacation....you do whatever makes you happy...that's the point!
As a few insightful souls pointed out, some people look forward to eating out, some take pictures, heck, I know people that love to go away from home and simply enjoy being in a hotel just because it's not home and to heck with the town they're in.
Jackie, do you seriously wonder why some people love 'thrill' rides like rollercoasters (when they make some ill)? Why don't you write and criticize their folly for standing in line for hours for a couple minutes of time on a train that goes essentially nowhere and creates no positive effect on the economy or the social well being of our country? Aren't they sad, ridiculous specimens?
And what about ice fishermen, for instance? What morons they must be to travel to places where they sit in huts out on a frozen lake for hours accomplishing nothing of value! Why, someone should put an end to this nonsense!

With all the world's problems and life's steadily increasing stress level, let people do whatever the heck makes them happy on vacation....without any psychiatry visits to sort out the why's and wherefor's, WhyShop. Sheesh. You're the one who needs to take a pill.

Sheez!! What is so wrong with shopping while on vacation. I don't think that the shoppers are sitting at home twisting and turning about the fact that non-shoppers won't shop while on vacation. Who's uptight here?

Most die hard shoppers won't expect you to tramp behind them for hours on end during prime touring time. Usually, shoppers want to head off to shop for an afternoon or for a few moments at a museum store. So what!!

I actually hate to shop and only do so because I would feel a bit silly with old tattered clothes and an empty house. I tend to shop for specific items and I don't make non-shoppers suffer with me. I will often pick something up on a trip that I think is a better deal than at home or will pick up something that is unique and interesting. Of course, size matters. I won't take anything that will likely get me dirty stares or a reprimand from the flight crew when I try to board the plane with it.

And, what is wrong with buying gifts for family and friends. As with all gift giving, it is the thought that counts. Don't buy anything if you don't want to give it with the right spirit.

Sooo ... Lighten up and remember that people choose to remember their trips in many different ways.

I am with Cindy on this one. I was on a tour to China a few years back. There was a woman on the tour who was about 75 or so and traveling by herself.
Every single moment she was able to she was buying things. Incrediable amounts of things. Even large things. Hats, musical instruments, paintings, carvings, jewelry, needlework, clothing, decorative boxes and on and on. And like I said she was 75 if she was a day and *frail*. So of cource she could not handle caring all this stuff around as we often travelled by plane or train to various cities in our 27 day long trip. So she would enlist other travellers on the tour to carry things. And sometimes to wrap them up for her too as she bought breakable things of glass etc. As time went by more and more people were carry around with them belongings of this frail woman's. Sometimes big things and sometimes quite a distance or over many, many days of train or plane trips. She asked me to carry things for her of cource too, but I refused to. She even asked me on another occasion to carry a large jade carving for her but I wouldn't even though other people on the tour got angry at me for not "helping her". I replied that *she* bought these things so they were hers to take care of, not mine. Sometimes these shopping *addictions* (and they are addictions) do impact on others, even on strangers.