I'm not in a position to do much traveling right now, but I get my kicks visiting small foreign markets here in the United States. Some things you can't get anywhere else, and it's always fun to see what things are considered Staples for different cultures. For example, I have found that the Russian markets have the best pickles and bread, and the Vietnamese markets have an awesome deli and really good produce, and there's a Caribbean market near my house that carries Ting, which is my favorite grapefruit soda.
I buy all my spices from regional markets. There's a Halal market west of my girlfriend's place which is where I buy my fenugreek and olive oil because his prices per gallon are very reasonable, and he actually stocks fenugreek unlike every single other store I've been to in the area. And if I need MSG I go to the asian market because I can buy it for $2.00/lb.
Indeed--there's a halal market I just discovered today that has the most reasonably priced semolina and spices I've seen. Ignorant me believed that semolina came only from large retailers or specialty Italian shops (i.e. sellers of expensive cheese and wine).
