Try to sneakily ask their friends, or look up top restaurants and experiences in the local area where they live to see if they offer gift vouchers. If you have loved ones that have moved overseas or are about to and you really want to surprise them with a gift then this gift guide should help you decide what is the right thing to get for them. It may not sound very exciting but theres no reason to re-invent the wheel. Expats tend to travel quite a bit, it comes with the territory of living abroad, so treating them to a nice lightweight luggage set is a great way to show you careand get them to visit you! Great for any long journey whether its plane, train, bus or just a really long commute. They can hang up the pictures you give them, and postcards and pictures of their travels to decorate their new home. I know selfie sticks arent cool, but I actually find this really useful when Im travelling by myself. If sending fragile items, then they must be adequately packaged with bubble wrap or suitable padding. However, for the avid traveller or expat in your life a gift card is a fantastic present. While there is a free Spotify option the ads can be irritating and you cant stream music while youre on a plane, so give the gift of Spotify Premium! Not every expat friend or relative overseas is travelling all the time. Theyre surprisingly powerful so your friend can bring her favorite music or podcasts with them on all of their travels. If you want to make it more personal, then include a suggestion for what they can use it on specifically. Create a calendar they can put on their wall for the next year. It opens up a whole new world when travelling and you get to see cool things no-one else can, like wrecks, sharks, wild dolphins, turtles, rays and so much more. Theyre fun to flick through and get ideas or go over travel memories, and they make my home feel more like a travellers home, since Im now a bit more settled than I used to be! A Virtual Private Network or VPN allows travellers to do important things like online banking without the risk of someone stealing their private data. Consider things like coordinate prints, candles with a particular smell or that are personalised, coasters, or any little personalised items. Sign up for tips, info, and travel antics delivered once a month to your inbox. One tip is to never send perfumes via mail. Friends that live overseas will love sentimental gifts that show they have not been forgotten by loved ones, even the smallest thing can make their day. Your email address will not be published. 123 priceless hours when on a bus or stranded in the middle of nowhere! Things like books can be very heavy so its often worth ordering them online to be sent directly rather than buying locally and then posting yourself. I think these airport code cushions are really cool and would add a nice touch to a home for travel lovers. Look into decent sized suitcases that would help them to move country more easily, but also consider that theyll need something smaller for more local trips. These days everyone and their dog has a smart phone which usually means thousands of pictures that sit on a memory card long forgotten. Capturing a life abroad is important, especially when we want to be able to share moments with our friends and family at home. This so helpful when I want a picture WITH my husband without bothering a stranger to take it. Im in the US; my eldest daughter and her family live in Germany. A universal travel adapter means you only need to take one with you no matter what countries you are visiting. If your friend is moving overseas or newly moved abroad, look at some cool duvet sets that they could enjoy, even just for a little while. So your friend is moving abroad and leaving you behind, and you want to give them a little something to remember you by. Check out this cute desk calendar or this photo-heavy calendar with 3 different looks. Offer to pay the subscription for your travelling or expat loved one to have somewhere to store all those photo memories theyre making overseas!, A VPN allows access to websites overseas if theyre in a country that blocks them, and in some cases access to their own subscriptions when theyre travelling (like video streaming sites etc). For expats in sunny places this is especially useful because it means they can charge things without having to use electricity which can be expensive in some places. Most countries will charge some sort of import taxes on new items whether they are a gift or not and the amount is usually worked out on the value of the items sent. Theyre not the cheapest or smallest item and they definitely arent something that would really be a priority to move back home with you. Travelling has always been her passion and she has now made it her full-time job and worked in the industry for the last five years. Small but effective, sometimes a card is more than enough to let someone know you are thinking about them. It started with just me and a backpack but now I have my husband and two little boys in tow theres a lot more luggage! science shows that the joy from an awesome experience lasts much longer than buying or receiving an item. Netflix is a great gift for expats, especially if theyre in a country where the television isnt exactly the best, they dont understand it, or they miss shows that are available on the platform. In this case, youll want to buy lightweight gifts to send overseas or the postage can get very expensive! If an online store has different locations, use the one where your friend is living rather than your own. Even though Im technically an expat and have been living in one spot for several years now, I still find myself travelling a lot of the time. We have all seen boxes and bags getting thrown around in airports right? and travel documents. I made this mistake when I visited Germany and decided to mail gifts and souvenirs back and customs held the package for one month, confiscated the expensive German perfume and then sent the rest of the package weeks later. Useful gifts doesnt have to mean socks, there are exciting gifts that are useful too, especially for travellers. One of my favourite things to send and to have received while I live overseas are gift cards for local restaurants and cafes, or for spa days! Check postage rates at your local post office. Guaranteed 7-day delivery doesnt necessarily mean 7 day delivery when posting things to another country. I always felt like Id be fine without it but then on long flights home or train and bus trips I was always jealous of people who have them. I love these old-style or retro travel posters and they make a really cool gift for expats. I want a full-on travel wallet like this where I can store things with my passport, like cards I only need for travel (international drivers license, global entry, etc.) I mean, at the top of my wishlist is always travel, but thats not really something I can ask for! You could also look at vouchers for local clothing stores. Its likely something tiny and insignificant (to you, huge to them) that they miss. I love my Kindle but I get pretty stingy when it comes to buying books. A gift card isnt exactly the most thrilling of gifts, but it can be a super useful gift for someone moving abroad and for expats. Check restrictions on sending certain items abroad, and on taxes. While finding a going away gift for a friend moving to another country can be tough and I definitely cover that in this list, I wanted to come up with some extra ideas on what you can get your friends and family who are living overseas already, or who are about to become long-term expats! If in doubt dont send it. Just make sure you know how long it will take to be delivered if its for a particular occasion. VPNs are also a must for anyone working on a public internet connection (ie: banking or doing serious work in a Starbucks in Buenos Aires). If you dont know what to get them do some low key stalking and look on their amazon wish list at things they have saved. It might seem weird to gift Christmas decorations for the holiday season, but if your friend is a newly living abroad or moving abroad close to the holidays then theyre unlikely to have any, and giving them a few small ornaments can help to cheer them up when theyre trying to get through the holidays away from friends and family. I always bring. Ive been told that before about perfumes. Its great getting professional shots because you KNOW how it goes when you hand a fellow tourist your camera. This tiny tripod can fit a phone or a camera as big as a DSLR. What better gift for someone moving abroad than language learning software. Buying a gift for someone moving abroad or who is already an expat can be challenging. Lots of companies do cargo shipments every month and many will collect items from you to send. First off, Id like to congratulate you on being such a supportive friend or relative. I know! I used Rosetta Stone to learn French before travelling to France and it was really useful! A care package with things from home include their favourite treats such as facemasks, hair products, bubble bath, and moisturiser, then add in some lovely edible gifts. You can also access thousands of books and audiobooks for free every month. A kindle means that wherever you are going, no matter on how long for, you can take as many books as you want with you. Google drive is a popular choice but there are lots of options available as an extra back up in case their hard drive fails, then they wont lose everything. If you want to watch your favourite shows from home though you may not be able to watch them without a VPN. When I lived in Spain my mom always sent me packages with Cheez-Its and Goldfish Crackers, they were the most welcome packages to ever be received in the history of mail. But if your friend is a rare holdout, get them a Kindle. For example, Buy a Giftor Tinggly allows you to buy gifts for family or friends in the UK and there are other options in Australia, New Zealand, and the USA like Experience Days or alsoTinggly. They either zoom in too close to your face, missing the beautiful location entirely or they manage to make you look like you have four chins. Royal mail and other mailing companies will have a general idea but its always worth checking with your expat friend or relative how long things take to process on arrival. We currently use this Huawei Windows laptop for all our blogging and travelling needs and it works great. When I moved abroad I brought a huge 70-litre backpack with me, but this isnt practical for weekends away or short trips closer to home. To help solve this problem of what to gift to friends overseas Ive often turned to the internet and all the many going away present and gift lists out there. Get your traveling or expat friend a VPN and you gift them Hulu, Amazon Prime Video and a sense of security. When asked most people will rate experiences higher than physical things and science shows that the joy from an awesome experience lasts much longer than buying or receiving an item. if(typeof ez_ad_units != 'undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[250,250],'bookitletsgo_com-large-mobile-banner-1','ezslot_1',112,'0','0'])};if(typeof __ez_fad_position != 'undefined'){__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-bookitletsgo_com-large-mobile-banner-1-0')};A scratch map is a great gift idea for expats so that they can showcase all the lovely places they have visited or lived. When you become an expat, friends and family always ask when you are coming home and when you are coming to visit but its less often they will come and visit you, even if you do live on a perfect tropical Caribbean island paradise. Along the same lines as printed photos, but a little more sophisticated. I used Rosetta Stone while I was trying to learn Portuguese and found it really helpful. Be like my mother and gift your loved one this tiny travel umbrella. For one, its usually cheaper to buy a gift for someone in another country and have it directly posted to them than to do it yourself. Happy shopping for your friends and relatives moving or living overseas! This is a great list! Should you shop online for friends overseas or post something more personal? You get the idea. You can gift your loved one on a subscription for however long theyre away from one month up to a year, click here to read more about it. Many apps are free but there are options for in-app purchases or more extended courses. Moving to a new place can often bring out creativity and what better way to document new experiences than with photography. The downside of this is that if you are posting the gift internationally it is going to get very expensive for large parcels.