Aside from photos, what makes for great souvenirs? Some pick up postcards, others buy keychains and ref magnets, still others purchase souvenir trinkets.
I'm way past these souvenirs now, but would like to share something I did before. I would buy small charms to adorn a chain bracelet and have since collected 3 bracelets (I have stopped). They are small, and once strung together, each bracelet tells a story. I have one for ASIA, another for EUROPE, and a 3rd WHEREVER ;-) Of course, it works for ladies only. How about you?
Reply to this I have magnets; quite usual 😊
... and I always try to find a national costume for my then >1 year old nephew ... now he is <2 years old and owns 3 costumes =D It's just a shame that sometimes I just couldn't find one in some countries.
Reply to this I buy photo albums from each place & fill it with my favourite pictures from that trip. My Maldives album has a big wooden turtle on the front so always has to be stored at the top of the pile of albums we have.
I used to buy other little souvenirs but we got so many it got silly so now we just get photo albums, I did keep the newspaper from the day I ran with the bulls in Pamplona though :-)
Reply to this Like Chris and Nikki, we used to collect little trinkets from each and every country but after a while the little trinkets were either misplaced or thrown out.
We have since changed tack and now try to collect something decorative from each country. So far we have a beautiful Murano glass plate from Venice, a large green, hand made kettle from Hungary, a matryoshka doll from the Czech Republic and a nutcracker doll from Austria. I love looking around our house and be reminded of our travels.
Reply to this Lately I have brought back t-shirts for my boyfriend. Some of the t-shirts are of places I went to, or places I hung out in. Others are just funny or interesting. I get some good ones from Ireland with drunk leprechauns and Guinness slogans etc on them.
Here are 2 of them, which he modelled for my blogs.
Reply to this I have a rule that if I wouldn't walk into a shop at home and consider buying it then I don't buy it. I hate 'souvenirs' that are mass produced junk just aimed at tourists. Anything from thimbles and keyrings, to snowglobes and picture frames, all emblazoned with the name of whatever place they came from though they probably originated in a factory in China!
On the other hand if there's something I like to have in my home and it acts as a reminder of where I've been it makes it the perfect souvenir. I am currently wearing earrings I bought in India, a scarf my sister brought back from Peru for me, my rug and cushions are from Tunisia, a Malaysian sari has made a perfect throw for a chair, my jewellery box is from India, and there is more or less something from every country I have visited.
Reply to this We used to buy small things when we travelled but like others found they just eventually got lost/misplaced or just generally became a bit of tat we weren't really interested in owning any more.
A few years ago though we took a different approach and bought big, shipping it home if we needed to or throwing away any luggage we didn't need and flying it home with us as our baggage allowance.
Our home is now filled with large decorative 'art' which although not a cheap way to do it, is so much better as when we walk in to our sanctuary we are surrounded by memories... To name a few we have a large bronze statue of
Guan Yu from China which I adore but weighs a ton (thankfully my parents took this back), a massive piece of Thai modern art (took us 17kg over our baggage allowance, thankfully they didn't charge us for it) , a huge wooden dancing Balinese lady and Batiks from Indonesia that I turned into a light box, a carved wooden Maori Mask, Large authentic Aboriginal art from Australia, a set of beautiful large
Kokeshi from Japan, and loads of 'smaller' stuff on shelves from countless other countries. Again, athough not cheap (those Kokeshi cost us a fortune, but then everthing in Japan costs a fortune), it's definitely worth it IMO!
Mike
😊
Reply to this I know of someone who buys paintings of places he's been to, in the places he's been to. Light, and can be rolled, then framed later to adorn the walls of his "sanctuary" when he gets home. I am still thinking of it, after buying a few but small paintings from China.
Reply to this Something portable is important! Normally an item is not mass produced, but which encapsulates a destination for me. My apartment is filled with little souvenirs and they are varied as wooden masks from Tanzania, embroidery from North Korea, painted plaques from Spain or metal ornaments from India.
If I am particularly fond of a country, I'll try to find either a CD of its traditional music and/or a cookbook featuring the local cuisine.
I also have a collection of ornamental camels and frogs that is steadily increasing with each passing year.
Reply to this I'm reminded of a time I used to collect tapes (no CD yet that time) of Christmas carols sung in the local language. Can u imagine listening to Jingle Bells in Cantonese? Ho ho ho!
Reply to this I purchased the CD of a gospel choir from Tanzania who allowed me to join their ranks for an afternoon. Cannot understand a word of what is being sung, but then again, as long as one understands the message, the rest falls into place.
Reply to this I try and find one small ornament (a Christmas one if available) from each country.
If I'm lucky enough to experience something special like Shane's gospel choir, I would buy something to remind me of that.
Reply to this @Jo, I think that's a good idea. Bringing home a Christmas ornament (to hang in the Christmas tree) from all over the world. Yeah. sounds good. I think I'd do that.
Reply to this I always attempt to buy art from local artists on my travels. Normally being on a tight budget, i can't afford expensive items, so i try and buy artwork that i can have some sort of connection with.
For example, in Kenya i visited a centre for abandoned girls and bought artwork from one girl living there (she later won a scholarship to study in Germany). In Ecuador, on the edge of a Lake Quilotoa, nestled in the Andes i bought a painting from a local sheep herder who was painting on sheep skin. I'm just about to finish a teaching contract in China and some of my students have written impressive Chinese scrolls that i'm sure would cost a small fortune to buy in a souvenir shop.
When i finally settle down and stop travelling, i can look at these pieces of art on my walls and not only think of the places i've been to, but also the local interactions i had with the person who made it.
Reply to this I'm not much of a shopper; especially when I'm travelling, for some reason. When I was working in China, the best souvenirs I accumulated were gifts from friends.
Examples: A hand-made pillowcase with intricate cross-stitched calligraphy from a good friend; a wall hanging made of leather (it travelled home on with me on my back, rolled up), signed on the back with good wishes, from a coworker; a seal carved with my Chinese name, from a fellow lover of ancient Chinese arts.
The hardest thing to get home was my horse head violin, a gift I gave myself, taking a few lessons before moving home. To me it symbolizes the passion and musicality of the people in Inner Mongolia, China. Music was always a bridge for me in my time there.
Reply to this Due to the limited space in my backpack and the fact that I like to travel light, I usually go for one item--earrings. I tend to travel around and see what other people have bought or what is common (in a lot of cases things are very specific and unique, but in other cases, you will see about 45 of the same thing) before I make a purchase.
Also, I tend to wait till the very end of my trip to purchase something larger, that way I won't need to lug it with me for several months!
Reply to this We've done a bit of all of the above in our travels. Travelling with a back pack has usually meant we cant bring much back with us, so we often bring home something small and light. Until we spent 9 months in Africa in a truck - suddenly space for bigger souvenirs. Hence Africa is the only place we really have much from - Malawi chairs, a side table, big mud cloth from Mali, statues and carving...
We usually always try and bring home some money from each country, coins are heavier but smaller denominations, but we try and keep a few notes too. We have moved onto Christmas decorations too, and are beginning to build a nice collection. I often pick up a new t-shirt to take home (ones to wear while travelling are usually cheaper and less interesting). Otherwise its something unusual and meaningful, never "tourist tat". Now with Samara travelling with us, maybe our souvenir shopping will change, who knows. It would be nice to bring her something back from each place too, and when she is older for her to be able to choose something.
Our upcoming trip is round our own country, so will be interesting to see what, if anything, we get. One week and counting till we hit the road south.
Reply to this Because I collect fossils, minerals and dead things if its something I can get back into Aus that will be interesting and not too cumbersome if it takes my eye I will buy it. I also like carvings from PNG/South Pacific areas. I find a lot of souveniers too ..um, souveniery...always keep some foreign cash from each country.
The stupidest souvenier I ever bought was a very large iguana who was in a seedy bar in thailand at 4am...I bought him then realised I had a dive the next day so couldnt leave him alone in a 5 star hotel room so had to take him on a diveboat as my dive buddy...ahm, lets just say no dive gear was suitable for him and he ran riot in the boat kitchen. Due to being alive and weighing about 15kg I had to drive down to Songkla and leave him with friends here so I bought him "home" in the form of a tattoo.
Reply to this The best souvenir I got was the puppet Elmo. I brought him in La Paz for 1 GBP! or 10 Bolivianos. He came with me to Macchu Picchu, Florida, and over Asia. I love him actually.
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