DutyFree Disappointments

When planning any international trip, one of the first things that come to anyone’s mind is the DutyFree Section at the airports of arrival and departure. We were no different. To add to our joy was the fact that our Malaysian Itinerary included visiting Langkawi, highly marketed as a dutyfree island.

P and I had different mental lists to shop from DutyFree. Mine was mainly influenced by friends, colleagues and of course Social Media. Almost all travel vlogs included a chunk of video covering dutyfree stores of Langkawi. Every store seemed to be one.

Being highly optimistic about our shopping plans, we took time to analyze our luggage limits for both Local and international flights. After much negotiation with P about the things we would buy, I convinced him that best option would be to take both incoming and outgoing flight to Malaysia from Delhi itself.

But we were in for a surprise, rather disappointment I would say.

At the outgoing terminal itself came the first of many. The prices of all products be it cosmetics or premium brands weren’t much different from what we would get otherwise. Discounts weren’t as great as our expectations. Even alcohol that everyone vouches for was hardly comparable to the existing prices in NCR.

May be Langkawi would be better, we thought, the videos had told us.

Few days into our trip, we landed in Langkawi. Resting after our arrival, we headed to Cenang Beach known for it lively evening attractions and shopping. Post a stroll on the beach, we walked through the markets, observing the shopping trends and viable dinner options. It was then multiple dutyfree hoardings caught our attention. Almost every shopping mall had one, written in huge neon letters.

We picked one and entered. To our surprise, most of the items under the dutyfree header were again at a similar retail price as it was back in our city. It left us partly confused, party disappointed. Gathering a few items we made our way to the billing counter. I spotted some chocolates from popular international brands. To my delight, that was something available at a huge price drop for what we usually have here. I grabbed a few for my basket.

A similar trend continued for most of the items throughout our exploration of various malls in the city. Many cosmetic items were priced similar to what we would find during any online marketplace sale days. It was only the love of my chocolates had proven true until now and I bought a bag full of them or until my luggage limit allowed!

Moral : Adulting is fun, when you are able to buy insane amounts of chocolates for yourself, without guilt.

Street shopping wasn’t cheap either. Bargaining in different language didn’t work much. Most shops had similar beachwears and souvenirs. We collected a few for ourselves and family.

With some disappointment, lots of chocolates and a few mandatory fridge magnets we returned to our base.

Follow me this April as I take you on a journey through our unforgettable Malaysian adventures, chapter by chapter.