Title – Shopping Centre
Date – September 1995
Location - Fiji
It’s amazing what you can buy when you are away travelling. Globalisation is just that, the brands you think you are leaving behind seem to pop up everywhere you go and even the slight changes that used to appear between the same brands in different countries are slowly disappearing.
But not everywhere is it as easy as it is at home, to get exactly what you might be looking for. Ask around and you will normally find someone who knows what you are talking about, but if they direct you to the Shopping Centre, be prepared it might not be quite what you think. Here in Fiji the shopping centre is a little underwhelming when compared with the average mall in the US. Go to the Philippines and you’ll find sprawling shopping centres in the urban areas, but here too there are subtle and not so subtle changes. One mall in Manila I went to had a church right, slap bang, in the middle of it with enough pews for several hundred people; right next door was the local gun shop, where everything you could possibly imagine was on sale and licenses seemed to be optional.
Knowing what equipment to take and what to leave behind can make a huge difference to the enjoyment of your trip and to your budget. Take too much and you’ll have to dump it or send it home and take too little you’ll have to make up the difference when you are away. Beyond The Blue run Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety & Awareness workshops to help you prepare properly for your trip. During the workshop we examine what you should take with you and what is best left behind. We also look at what is available to buy at your destination which might be substantially cheaper then at home and what items you might struggle to find at your destination.
Please visit our website at www.safegapyear.com
Image – ©Peter Mayhew
Date – September 1995
Location - Fiji
It’s amazing what you can buy when you are away travelling. Globalisation is just that, the brands you think you are leaving behind seem to pop up everywhere you go and even the slight changes that used to appear between the same brands in different countries are slowly disappearing.
But not everywhere is it as easy as it is at home, to get exactly what you might be looking for. Ask around and you will normally find someone who knows what you are talking about, but if they direct you to the Shopping Centre, be prepared it might not be quite what you think. Here in Fiji the shopping centre is a little underwhelming when compared with the average mall in the US. Go to the Philippines and you’ll find sprawling shopping centres in the urban areas, but here too there are subtle and not so subtle changes. One mall in Manila I went to had a church right, slap bang, in the middle of it with enough pews for several hundred people; right next door was the local gun shop, where everything you could possibly imagine was on sale and licenses seemed to be optional.
Knowing what equipment to take and what to leave behind can make a huge difference to the enjoyment of your trip and to your budget. Take too much and you’ll have to dump it or send it home and take too little you’ll have to make up the difference when you are away. Beyond The Blue run Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety & Awareness workshops to help you prepare properly for your trip. During the workshop we examine what you should take with you and what is best left behind. We also look at what is available to buy at your destination which might be substantially cheaper then at home and what items you might struggle to find at your destination.
Please visit our website at www.safegapyear.com
Image – ©Peter Mayhew
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