Ever wonder what the travelers collect from their world travels and adventures? I asked some travel bloggers of their souvenir collection. Here are some of the answers.
Stuti Shrimali of Me And My Suitcase
Souvenir is a French word which means ‘remember’ and I love to bring back a remembrance from each trip.
I love to collect currency, key chains, and fridge magnets. Besides that, I love to bring that one thing which is of importance from the place I visit. e.g. clothing, footwear, famous food item, a little sand, bookmarks, perfume, or postcards.
I believe that such things not only speak a unique story but also give you an opportunity to bring a piece of culture along which you can look back at to remember everything about the last trip taken with your suitcase.
Apart from the 3 regular souvenirs which I always buy, I am planning to buy a set of playing cards as well from every new country I will visit. I intend to have 196 sets, already have 1 from my recent trip to Jordan.
Khushboo Mutihar of Munni Of All Trades
As a child, I remember that there was this particular brand of matchboxes that would always come with a joke or one-liner and I used to love reading them. I wait for my mom’s matchbox stick to get over so that I could go and pick out the next one with a new joke.
As I grew older and started exploring a little, I realized that each region would have colorful and often quirky matchboxes showcasing some aspect of the place. For example, I have this beautiful matchbox from a place called Billimora (Billi means cat in Hindi) with the cutest kittens. I have one with Taj Mahal on it, a spinning toy, a joker and so many different kinds.
These are all local brands and you have to keep your eyes open to find a pretty one. I enjoy looking going to the tiny stores while driving around a place to hunt for the next one to add to my collection. It is an adventure on its own.
Eric Mendoza of Chuboboi TV
I’m Eric Mendoza an Overseas Filipino Worker who works hard for my passion – traveling. I call myself “chuboboi” which simply means a small chubby boy! “CHUB(by)OBO(y)I”.
Aside from traveling, I love coffee! Its aroma and taste make my day very productive, and when it comes to travel it boosts my creativity in making videos and taking photos.
Collecting city coffee mugs was first introduced to me by the famous coffee shop Starbucks. At first, I only wanted to collect their mugs from every place I visit but then not all tourist spots and country has a Starbucks shop. So, since this passion of mine is really inseparable, I started to search for coffee mugs with the city or country name on it in each country I visit.
Dan Elson of IAmDanElson
I locate keyring from the interesting places I travel to. It provides me with a personal reminder of my adventures. It is small and useful especially when it’s a bottle opener. At first, I wasn’t sure what souvenirs would be a good choice due to size, and having to find some place in my backpack (space is highly limited!!) would be hard work but keyrings solve this issue! One day, these will be a reminder once stuck to a house key!!
Bands are awesome too. Small and often free from hostels or really cheap from market stalls! Again, these are small and don’t take up any room in my backpack but do the job of reminding me of the experiences I’ve had! Well worth keeping or buying in my opinion!
Richard Woodhead of Eurotreker
My aim is to visit each capital city in Europe, something I’ve always wanted to do as a young child. I’m about halfway through it now and I use public transport in every city I visit. I decided to keep all my tickets as they’re from a particular place and they’re all different in their own ways
Irina Wong of The Feedwalks
These postcards reminded me of the good times I spent traveling to different places. One way for me to remember my travels is to collect at least one postcard from each city or country. Sometimes, I even collect magnets! In this way, the memories stay longer through the postcards which feature beautiful scenic areas.
Justine Alonzo of The Iridescent Wings
I’ve been collecting postcards ever since my first trip to New York City when I was 10 years old. I probably have over 75 of them, some I’ve bought on my travels and some sent to me by friends. I’m a visual person and love photos, so a postcard is the perfect item to collect for me. They are inexpensive, can be found in every location, and display a little piece of that destination.
When I was little, I loved seeing the pressed penny take a different shape. I would always lose my coins until I finally bought an album for them. I have one album for my Disney coins and another for everything else. I have to buy another album because I filled up my “Other” album. I currently have 57 coins.
Robert Adolf of Rooting Robert
I never bought any of my souvenirs. At least the ones I consider souvenirs. Of course, I bought useful stuff like a mobile water heater in India for example. And although they are useful, they are missing the connected emotions and memories I have with my other pieces.
The orange-red scarf I got was a gift from Umesh, my Guru from Varanasi, India. It’s engraved with the Gayatri Mantra, one of the most powerful mantras in Hindu mythology, and it reminds me of the crazy times I had in Varanasi including cleaning my chakras and sharing bananas and papayas with the monkeys for breakfast in my garden hut.
The purple amulet is of Philippine origin, and normally only worn by high-rank people like politicians. I got it from a French expat called Pii Sanya in Chiang Rai who works with an NGO named OCN Thailand. The mentioned NGO is working for the development of children’s rights in Northern Thailand and I got to work with the people behind it while I was there. Amazing characters which resulted in more amazing memories. This purple amulet just reminds me of all those and furthermore simply of Thailand with it’s smiling personalities.
And last but not the least for today: the green jade mala. I got this unique souvenir from a lovely, retired Mafia Boss from Singapur who is afraid of toasters and was on vacation in Chiang Rai, Thailand. Sounds too surreal to be true right?! Well, we became really good friends and shared peanut butter (sometimes with toast) together every now and then. Sometimes we even joined together for mutual 5 am meditation at Ti Amo Guesthouse, our favorite hostel in Chiang Rai, which eventually became home.
Last but not the least,
H. & Carmen of Wellington World Travels
We love souvenirs! When I met my husband, I was shocked that there is a person with more collection than I do! I have several souvenirs that I was actually contemplating on which one to share.
My husband and I collect model airplanes, souvenir plates, fridge magnets, shot glasses, bells, paperweight, t-shirts, mugs, keychain, and figurines unique to a destination. We also collect currencies and hotel cards!
I decided to share my collection of fridge magnets. These are the magnets I have collected from my solo travels. My Mom framed them and hang it on her wall in the living room. I am actually touched. I also included my husband’s collection.
My fridge magnet collection from my solo travels
My husband’s model airplanes’ collection
We hope you enjoyed looking through our collection. Do you collect souvenirs from your travels? If yes, what are they? If not, why not? Leave us a message in the comments below.
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A great article. I loved it. Thankyou for sharing.
Awesome souvenirs! Thanks for sharing their collections
Great content. I love the Collections. I have a coin collection myself. Thankyou for sharing.
I have a Stamp collection from my trips! Great content!
Those are great collections! I remember when my grandparents were alive I used to marvel at their spoon collection. The had an engraved spoon from each new place they visited.
What an incredible assortment of souvenirs. It really brings you too feel as if you are in the locale.
I liked that you explained that you love to purchase fridge magnets to help you rememebr the vacation that you went on. I would imagine that a magnet on your fridge will be seen frequently and will be a good memory to be reminded of. I will consider collecting fridge magnets when I travel.
Awesome souvenirs! Those matchboxes are pretty cool, thanks for sharing their collections.
Thank you. Even I find the matchboxes cool and unique!
I collect fridge magnets in the shape of the flag and map of the country I’m travelling in. I also collect Hard Rock Cafe bottle openers because they’re so colourful and pretty. I would like to collect first day covers, postcards and handicraft, but I live in a tiny apartment and don’t have space to store so many stuff.
It’s ok. At least you are collecting something! I also collect fridge magnets, but never thought of the shape of the flag. That’s awesome! We also want to start collecting postcards
These are such neat ideas! We collect “smooshy” pennies and are going to start collecting post cards.
Me too. I am going to start collecting post cards. I have never seen a smoothy pennies.
wow, such a difference! love the collection of airplanes so much. usually when i go to somewhere i try to take a little part of a place with me. A leave, flower, stone, seashell, peace of glass, that would remind me of a trip later. 🙂
That’s really nice! Souvenir is really a good reminder of our travels, aside from photos.
It’s very interesting what people choose to bring back from their travels. I’ve always collected postcards. I have no idea how large my collection is now, but it’s big.
Wow. That’s cool! Recently, I started collecting postcards. Let’s see how much I can collect 😉
This is a really cool post! I struggle with collecting souvenirs because while it is cool to have a thing you collect from each country, I don’t like to have a lot of clutter so I normally don’t buy anything unless it’s something I will actually use to wear, decorate, cook with, etc. the framed fridge magnet idea is really cool though.
I know what you mean. Fridge magnet is small enough to not clutter your place. Glad you like the post 🙂
For us, we seek to find local artwork — a watercolor, carving, sketch, photograph, piece of jewelry — that is created by a local artisan, from local materials, and handcrafted in a manner that is traditional for the region, or at the very least, demonstrates an intimate connection to the land and the people.
Wow! Those are real treasures!
I collect the pictures I take and print them for my travel gallery wall. I also have tons of tickets and pressed flowers from different places. It’s never the same thing what I take from each country.
Wow! Pressed flowers – that’s something new! Awesome. I also collect something unique from each country
I have been creating original, collectible art in the tourism industry for over 30 years. I’m located in Waikiki Beach, Honolulu, on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. My unique designs are inspired by this amazing tropical location. Meeting beautiful people from all over the world is the best part of being in this profession. I thoroughly enjoyed reading about the special items travelers acquire on their excursions. Keep spreading the Aloha
Wow! That’s awesome! I’m happy that you enjoyed reading the article. I wish you all the best.
Awesome! Thanks for including me 🙂
You’re welcome!
Awesome post! It’s so cool looking at all the different things people collect.Thank you for allowing me to be a part of it.
You’re welcome Justine!
Hey ! Thanks for having me as a part of your post. Also, it was quite interesting to read about what other people collect as souvenirs, they all have an amazing collection.
While Match boxes by khushboo was lil unusual but interesting and Richard’s collection of tickets, well that’s something!
When Khushboo told me she is collecting matchboxes, I was really excited and thrilled because I have never heard of someone collecting matchboxes. I thought they only write the brand on it.
What we think is unimportant to us, other people see them with value like Richard’s tickets. I am sure most of us bought bus or train tickets, and just throw them like me. So, this is a great life’s lesson.