The Best Souvenirs are Stories Worth Telling.
When I pack my suitcase, I make sure I have all of the essentials: toothbrush, deodorant, underwear, and some empty space for whatever catches my eye. I love bringing home trinkets and mementos from my travels. Gift giving is my love language (people still talk about love languages… right?) When on the road, I keep my eyes open for the most perfect gift for my family and friends because, if they can’t be on the trip with me, bringing a piece of the trip back to them is the next best thing.
I have specific things I look for when it comes to my family members. For my dad, I try to find a hat- typically baseball style. He wears them around the house on casual outings, or when he’s working in the yard. For my brother, it’s usually some form of model weaponry. I like to get both guys trinkets for their desks at work or socks. My mom is the tricky one. I started this weird tradition of finding keychains of traditional shoes from the areas I visit. For example: on my last trip, I found the cutest little handsewn leather shoe from Prague. Usually, since my mom is the hardest to buy for, I like to find her one big gift that I know she’ll love. I found the most beautiful Polish pottery pitcher, white with little blue flowers hand painted all over it. It was a little more pricey, but it was perfect. The pottery shop wrapped it up amazingly and I carried it on to the plane on the way home, to make sure nothing happened to it.
On school trips, I like to get little things for each of my students and will give it to them as a parting gift. Throughout the trip, I’ll buy postcards and will spend some time on the plane ride home writing personalized notes. It is a nice way for me to end the trip and reflect on the fun times we shared while on the road together.
For friends or the office, chocolate and other kinds of foreign treats are a fun and inexpensive way to share the adventure. When in London, I went to the Harry Potter Studio Tour (amazing!) and brought home a couple of boxes of Chocolate Frogs and left them in the teachers lounge with a little note.
For myself, I look for little things. Jewelry is a big one. When I went to Ireland for my birthday, I found a pretty Claddagh ring that had a sapphire stone (my birthstone) placed in the heart. In Scotland, I wanted something with a thistle and also found a ring that was too perfect. T-shirts are great. My dream is to one day make a t-shirt quilt from all of my travel tees. I also collect Christmas ornaments. Sometimes ornaments are hard to find, so I will buy things that can be turned into ornaments. I love pulling out my box of special ornaments each year and reliving some of my favorite memories. Sometimes, I go full teacher mode. I spent over an hour in a single bookstore on my first day in Berlin looking for materials to use in my classroom.
DVDs, books, posters, shirts, pottery all of these things take up space. So when I know I am going to be bringing home more than a couple of t-shirts and keychains, I make sure to pack an additional, foldable duffle bag in my suitcase. It takes up next to no room and allows for the peace of mind that lets me bring a little piece of each country back home with me.
At the end of the day, I will say that I do spend a good chunk of my savings on souvenirs, but I love them and it makes me happy to spend some time thinking of those I love while I am away from home. I like to research unique gifts from each of the places I travel to