The promise of the online travel/credit card community is “travel the world for (almost) free”. The advice and strategies on offer are simple. First you sign up for a loyalty programme and then link it to your credit card company’s travel portal. When the time is right, transfer your points to that programme and reap big rewards. It’s a bold promise indeed, and it often works. If you can get enough points, you can redeem them for first class flights/five star hotels, saving you thousands of dollars in the process.
However, there’s a few hidden costs with this arithmetic: first, you need to actually get the points. You do this by opening various credit cards and using said cards to, you know, pay for things including flights. At their heart, loyalty programmes are like a punch-card from your local coffee shop: earn enough credits for one free trip. But earning enough credits can mean spending more to get there, not less. If you’re not careful, you’ll wind up sinking more money to earn the free flight than it would cost to save up for the cash price.
But even if you’ve solved both the hotel and the airplane fee issue, that travel will still cost money in the following ways: transit, dining, and experiences. You still need to eat and it's unlikely your food is included in those point systems. And once you get to your hotel, it’s not like you’ll be experiencing everything your travel destination has to offer. The whole point of travelling to Windsor Castle is to visit Windsor Castle, which isn’t free.
However, a smart traveller will have budgeted for these items as well. But there’s one item always manages to snag tourists and sink their money every single time: the gift shop.
Where Your Money Really Goes To Waste
Take it from the guy who grew up a stone’s throw away from Orlando’s theme parks: gift shops provide some of the worst ROI on your spend you can possibly imagine. There are several reasons for this.
First, the “gifts” on offer are usually novelty items. We’re talking things like key chains, commemorative pins, hats, t-shirts and postcards. Even if they’re cheap, a lot of them are just tacky. Sometimes the items on offer are hideously expensive.
Second, and more importantly, their purpose is zilch. Ostensibly, one buys something from a gift shop to either give to friends (and who wouldn’t want a pewter bust of Queen Elizabeth’s head) or, more commonly, to remember their experiences. In the short-term, this might work. If you buy a tea-set branded with the Royal Family’s seal from the Windsor Castle gift shop, you’ll remember where you got that tea set every time you use it.
But that’s the kicker…you have to use it. In the tea set example, how often do you serve tea to your American friends who don’t understand your love of British culture (asking for a friend)? Answer: not as often as you imagine.
Most items on offer at gift shops are even worse. Hats and t-shirts become useless the moment you grow out of the size you purchased or the article of clothing gets worn out from overuse.
So clearly you should save your money whilst travelling and never buy anything at a gift shop, even if the museum or historical site relies on those funds to stay open.
That’s Cruel; Is There A Better Way?
Yes, there’s a better way to spend money at a gift shop. Of all the items you can purchase, there are two that count for anything. The first is a framed photo of you at that location taken by a professional. Put your iPhone away and let the pros do it. For instance, at the Platform 9 3/4 photo spot at London King’s Cross, you pay for your photo to be taken with a Harry Potter scarf before going to the gift shop next store to get it printed in a special frame.
This is a good purchase as photos decorate a home for a lifetime.
But if photos aren’t an option, there’s usually an item on offer that’s even better: books.
If you were surprised by that answer, then welcome to my blog, and I hope you enjoy your first blog post. It’s no secret that I’m a book fanatic, which is required if you aspire to write anything with any kind of quality. But even if you’re not a writer, a book purchased from a gift shop will give you the most value.
How so?
You Take The Tour Guide Home With You
As a proud member of an esteemed art gallery and frequent visitor of museums and other historical sites, one of the problems that comes with visiting such cool locations is giving the visitor context. Not every visitor arrives at Windsor Castle knowing what it is, its history or why the Royal Family loves it so much. This is perfectly understandable. To rectify this issue, you are provided with an audio guide attached to a modified iPhone. It makes your experience nicer, but then, once you go home, you forget what the guide said.
The only way to prevent that issue whilst on site is to pay for a tour guide who you can only hope is memorable and exciting. But that’s not a given either. So what are you left with?
Answer: a book about the site or a related topic on offer in the gift shop plus a postcard to serve as that book’s bespoke bookmark.
If you really want to remember your experience after you get home, take the information home with you. In other words, don’t buy a book about Winston Churchill from your local bookstore, buy it from the National Trust’s gift shop at Chartwell, Churchill’s home for much of his life. Don’t buy a book about Walt Disney from your local book store, buy it from the Magic Kingdom’s Disney Store. Don’t buy a book about Thomas Jefferson at your local book store, buy a copy at Monticello. Insert your own interests and you’ll see how it works.
Naturally this approach will skew you towards history books, travel guides, and certain books about the natural sciences rather than any kind of fiction. Then again, most famous tourist attractions are famous because of their storied history. Why else would you go to the Berlin Wall’s museum if you weren’t at least curious about what happened there in the past?
The key thing when buying a book in the gift shop is to purchase something inextricably linked with that place rather than something only vaguely related. During my visit to Chartwell, I noticed they had not only biographies of Churchill but also books about his influence over politics today. Those books are a step too far removed from the point of visiting Chartwell for me to care. Nevertheless, you can be reasonably confident that the books on offer at a gift shop only concern the experience you had just paid for.
What distinguishes a gift shop book from the other items on offer is its long-term value. You can read a book several times and learn more than you could when you were on your trip in the process. Furthermore, the book will enrich your experience when you return home. Questions you couldn’t ask your tour guide will be answered. And best of all: books are cheap. Because the books are ordered from the publisher, the price is often the same as it would be if you bought it in a retail chain. This usually to the tune of 20 dollars, 35 if it’s a hardback.
The ROI is much, much better than a t-shirt that might not even fit you.
But What If I Hate Reading?
To that unholy person, I say this: your like or dislike of reading is entirely attached to your interests in a subject. Take it from a reading enthusiast: some books are slow because they’re boring. It’s okay to find stuff you don’t like boring and hard to read; I do too. You’ll procrastinate because your mind subconsciously knows it’s not worth your time and you should put that book down immediately.
However, if you hate reading, but paid for a plane ticket, a hotel room (with or without points), and a ticket to an attraction before reaching that gift shop, I’m wagering you’re already interested in books purely about that thing.
Talking about people’s drive and motivation to do anything when their interests are activated borders on magic. People who hate reading but will binge-watch a twelve Netflix documentary about The Battle of Britain can be persuaded to pick up a book about The Battle of Britain. Books that are aligned with your interest, even if you’re a reluctant reader, will be riveting anyway.
Conclusion
Next time you’re in a gift shop, buy a book to commemorate your amazing experience. You’ll learn more about your experience when you get home and it will inspire you to go back with a new perspective. Is there a better use for your money and/or credit card points?