Souvenirs: Memories or Junk?

Ok, I'll answer that one. Both. I am a souvenir junkie. (Do you like my play on words there...junk...junkie...) I leave a place usually with far more souvenirs than necessary, but in the past few years I've found a way to try and keep it a little more reasonable. At the very least, I have a sort of system.

There are lots of small, inexpensive, easy to find things that you can get from most anywhere you visit. I find that picking a "collection" to work on is a great way to souvenir hunt, while avoiding some of the cheesier, trinket type things. Of course, this entire blog is up for debate, as what I find useful/not tacky/inexpensive may differ greatly from your ideas. Regardless, here I go.

Pins: This collection started thanks to the Hard Rock Cafe. I always make a point to eat at the Hard Rock if there is one where I'm visiting. And with an entire club devoted to pin collectors, the Hard Rock is always coming out with new pins that represent the season, city, and/or year. While I'm not part of the club, I do always buy a city specific pin after dining. I've also used pins as a way to collect souvenirs in Las Vegas (every hotel, show, etc. sells pins), Disney World, and Universal Studio.




Hard Rock and Disney pins

Cups: This has become as much of a way to annoy my Dad as it has a collection of items from places I've been. He finds the large, plastic cups to be highly impractical. Too big to keep in the cabinet, and far too many in the house. But I say, too bad. I'm going to buy a drink just about everywhere I go because I have an unending thirst, so I might as well shell out a couple more dollars for a cool cup that, at many places, I can get refilled for a discounted price. Sea World, Cirque du Soleil, Disney World, Universal...yep, there's a cup for them all.

T-Shirts: This is an obvious one. But you can only wear one shirt in a day...most people...and at some point having 48 city t-shirts in your closet becomes a bit much. So when I get to that point, my solution is going to be to make a city quilt. Cut the front of the t-shirt into a foot by foot square, then sew all the squares together for a quilt. So in the meantime, I occasionally buy a souvenir t-shirt, knowing there's an ultimate goal.

Euro Stickers: These are the hugely popular white oval stickers with the black initials on them that represent a city or place. I can't always find a Euro sticker at the place I'm visiting, but you can order just about anything from Cafe Press. And if you don't want to cover your car's entire back window, I've found a couple of other fun places for them, such as my laptop and scrapbook covers.

Blogger absolutely REFUSES to put the picture the right way...

Of course nothing can beat or replace the memories you make while you travel. My best advise is to take lots of pictures and/or write a blog. If nothing else, while you're buried under four feet of snow in the month of January with a temperature of -4 you can look back on your pictures and writing from last summer's trip to the Caribbean!