5 duty free goodies that Indians absolutely cannot resist!

As a shopaholic, one thing that I absolutely love about international trips, other than the amazing bit about getting to experience a new country + culture, is the shopping! One of my most memorable childhood trip was our family vacation to Disney World, Orlando in 2001 & shopping for lots of chocolate at Dubai airport & the best toys at Gatwick airport (London). And as the trips became more frequent so did the experiences and the list of my favourite things at duty-free stores started to pile up. But I’ve narrowed it down to 5. So here are the 5 best purchases all of us can’t resist at duty free.

  1. Chocolates

    2. What's a stroll through Duty Free without shopping for chocolates? A good practise to get a great deal at duty free is again to not buy the commonly available stuff but for the more luxe brands like Ghirrardeli. Chocolate brands often have great offers if you a larger amount & they give out merchandise.

  2. Luxury Fashion

    3. While you shouldn't pay much attention to regular clothes at duty free, it can be the best place to get your fill of luxury fashion whether it's the latest Prada sunglasses or MiuMiu bag, or even some sweet designer luggage!

  3. Luxury Beauty

    4. I'd advise you to avoid shopping for a lot of makeup at duty frees as you're bound to get better deals at your destination but if you're looking to pick up high end makeup (think Tom Ford, Gurlain, Esteé Lauder & the likes) & even the best luxe skincare, it just doesn't get better than this. In fact this alone is a great excuse for me to plan my next trip.

  4. Local Produce

    5. If the country you're visiting is known for some kind of famous local produce (think Maple Syrup in Canada, Tequila in Mexico etc.) there's a good chance you'll get those things cheaper at duty free. Don't take that as a rule though, & do a bit of quick internet research before making your purchase.

  5. Alcohol

    6. If you drink, duty free is one of the best places to buy alcohol, especially the more premium varieties. We never return without a trip overseas without a couple of bottles of Baileys Irish Crème (our guilty pleasure!)

    These are just a few tips to help you make the most of shopping during your foreign trips. To avoid risks, I always carry a minimal amount of cash & depend on cards for most purchases as it's just safer. Which is why I'm so excited to take the new Axis Bank Multi-Currency Forex Card with me on my next international trip! It's an awesome card that allows you to preload multiple currencies onto a single card, so it's great if you're visiting multiple destinations at a time as it saves you the trouble of carrying multiple cards!

    Not only is the Axis Bank Multi-Currency Forex Card accepted at 30 million retail and online stores, it is also the only card that lets you shop directly at duty free outlets across International Terminals in India. So here's something you can do with that extra cash on your card once you’re back from holiday. Happy Travels + Shopping - Make it count!

    by Magali Vaz @magali_c