Monday 8 December 2008

Stranger in a strange land makes for weird decisions?

What is it with some tourists that even when away from home cannot stop thinking they are home?
I have seen it so many times that it became a universal rule to me: Spanish people always buy Spanish products, wherever they may be in the world!
They can't help it! They see a Zara and immediately think there is a countryman there to help them buy that jacket they don't need! They see a Camper shop and they have to come out of there with a new pair of shoes they have no desire for! They have such a "fish out of water" syndrome in them that they cannot stay away more than 2 metres from the other 20 Spanish people travelling with them!

I just wonder what they say to their friends when they get back. "Hola Juan, let me show you the wonderful pair of jeans I bought at the Desigual shop on Regent Street. They are so great! And I only paid 3 times as much as if I had bought it in Spain!" Because that is the bottom line: There is NO WAY they buy that stuff here cheaper than in Spain! So why do they buy it?

Before you start to acuse me of being anti-Spanish with this post, my purpose is to actually tell you I have been watching the same trend develop with another group of tourists: Japanese!
Every day I pass by A Bathing Ape shop, there is a Japanese individual inside buying some stuff. Every single day! A Bathing Ape is Japanese, for crying out loud! It's imported over here! There is NO WAY it is cheaper than in Japan!

So why do they do it?

2 comments:

Restelo said...

It's a severe condition called "Lack of Brain Function"!

Argonauta said...

Home sick? Ou então é só pura estupidez...se calhar ia para a segunda...