There’s a Gift to Bringing Back Just the Right Memento : Shopping: Local crafts make offbeat and easy-to-carry presents. The best are at artisans’ galleries, but markets and museums are good sources too.

With only a few minutes to spare in Milan’s international airport, I stepped into the departure lounge’s huge packaged foods shop--a treasure trove of unusual gifts, with cartons of pasta in all forms, jars of spicy olives, hunks of Parmesan cheese, exotic olive oils and vinegars, elegant boxes of chocolates and bottles of fine Tuscan wines. In my rush, I scooped up a big bag of dried porcini mushrooms for my wife--and wished I had more time to spend.

One of the pleasures--or pesky obligations--of travel is buying gifts. For me, it’s fun, and I’m always on the lookout for offbeat, easy-to-carry presents for friends and family. That’s one reason why most of my Christmas shopping usually gets done early; I’ve been at it all year. Last year, for example, my mother got an Italian silk scarf that I bought in Venice the previous April.

To travelers like me, the world is one big shopping mall filled with unusual things--mostly inexpensive--that one might never find at home. Almost any destination, whether in the United States or abroad, produces some unique object, food or craft that will be welcomed as a gift. In Fiji, I have purchased packets of Fijian-made “coconut cream” hand soap; from the coast of Northern California, I brought home jars of locally made jam and chutney. In the Mexican mountain village of Taxco, I once hunted for silver pins and pendants. In Santa Fe, I chose small pottery figures called storytellers, created in nearby pueblos. In the Arizona desert, I found bookends of polished petrified wood. In Buenos Aires, I bought leather goods for my in-laws. Packages of macadamia nuts and Kona coffee were obvious gifts from a trip to Hawaii. In Utah one summer, I contemplated buying strips of homemade beef jerky from roadside stalls, but I couldn’t think of anyone who would appreciate the gift.

In our house, we decorate the Christmas tree with ceramic ornaments purchased in Honduras, painted tin stars from Mexico, hand-blown glass globes from Colorado, glass trinkets from Venice, wood carvings from New England, a ceramic Santa in a hula skirt from Waikiki, and other odds and ends from our travels.

It’s obviously too late now to follow in my footsteps for this holiday season, but consider starting your Christmas shopping for 1996 on your next trip--even if it’s in January. Ski resorts, such as Aspen in Colorado and Park City in Utah, boast shops as glamorous as any in America. And the Caribbean islands are rich in quality woodcarvings, hand-woven baskets, paintings and other artworks--all of which make appealing gifts.

Nowadays, travelers can do much shopping at airports, as I did in Milan, or even at train stations, as witness the array of gift shops at Washington’s Union Station. If you are pushed for time, you can even make last-minute purchases from in-flight duty-free shops on transoceanic airline routes or order from airline gift catalogues. But even the busiest travelers should be able to squeeze in a few minutes of shopping whenever they are out of town. By seeking out the offbeat gift in distant places, I never have to worry about whether I’ve giving something the recipient already possesses or is getting from somebody else. Actually, what does worry me on occasion is that my family and friends, once they have unwrapped my gifts, won’t have the foggiest notion of what they are. Many of the gifts I select are handicrafts, both traditional and modern, and I look for them in galleries and museums--where the best quality tends to be found--or from the artists themselves. Crafts age well, rarely going out of style, and I don’t have to worry about getting a size that fits. In Tucson, I bought a small hand-woven basket in an artisans’ gallery on the Tohono O’odham Indian Reservation. It was destined for a Southwestern-style home. In Manzanillo, Mexico, I couldn’t resist snapping up a colorful decorative plate from a man I watched painting it. In Ponce, Puerto Rico, I sought out a well-known woodcarving family and purchased one of their replicas of the Three Wise Men as I sat with them around their kitchen table. The miniature piece was supposed to be a gift, but my wife and I kept it.

In 1972, I spent an entire year circling the globe, and I returned home with not a single souvenir or gift. In the years since, I’ve regretted the missed shopping opportunities because I passed through countries, such as Iran and Afghanistan, that I may never visit again. Of course, back then I was traveling on a tight budget and had no space for souvenirs in my backpack. But mostly I was being a snob. Real travelers, I told myself, didn’t shop; shopping was what tourists did, and I didn’t want to be mistaken for a tourist. Since then, I’ve come to realize that shopping is a travel experience just like sightseeing and eating, and often just as rewarding.

Whether you are buying for yourself or for others, the act of shopping encourages you to make contact with the local community--if only for a few minutes. Shopping can, in fact, give purpose to an afternoon or day that you might otherwise idle away. I recall one splendid early fall day my wife and I spent Christmas shopping in the French Quarter of New Orleans. We had seen most of the city’s other major attractions, and rather than simply window-shop we decided to tackle our holiday list. The streets of the French Quarter are lined with small shops, many of them unique to the Quarter, and we went door to door exploring them all. We bought a Mardi Gras mask, an antique brooch, a handmade kaleidoscope, a framed poster of the Quarter and an assortment of Louisiana Cajun and Creole spices. I figure we now know the French Quarter and its historic streets a lot better than most visitors.

Another plus of year-round holiday shopping on the road:All of the Christmas gift bills were paid off months ago.

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Christopher Reynolds is on vacation.