A Guide on Souvenirs – Token of Travel

Most of the travelers want to create their own memory after a trip, but memory is intangible. How about taking home a token of the place you visited to remind you? Travelers usually find it cliché or touristy to buy souvenirs, but it doesn’t matter to me. I describe myself as a person with “goldfish memory,” I need these souvenirs in order to “me souvenir” (remember.) There are various types of them: some cost you a huge amount of money, some cost you a penny and some don’t cost you at all. This guide (not necessarily a guide) is an informal guide which helps you peek through my hobby of collecting souvenirs along my journey.

Admittedly, I am not fancy to bring shoes home. I bought them because I needed them. It is difficult to bring all kind of shoes along for all occasions. My shoes got broken in Paris and it hurt my feet badly so I had to buy a new pair. The greatest memory of the shoes is the memory it carries with you, all the mud, the dust along the journey.

My memory is restrained when it comes to details and history, so I buy books on the attraction that I went to. It gives you a reliable source of information and an insightful look back of the place you had been. Books also gave me a chance to enrich myself on information that I missed during the hasty expedition. Books are certainly the things you buy which make you richer.

This will cost you a lot, because there are so many of them to buy: from key chain to snowball, from mug to bookmark.

All of them sum up and become a huge amount of money. But who can resist a stuff Pokemon after visiting Pokemon Center?

This will cost you literally pennies, unless you decide to spend them all. I like the sound of the coins and the metallic made material which bring you a vintage feel. I am disappointed if the country use generic currency like Euro or their monetary system does not include coins. I cannot help saving these dimes and put them in my miniature-sized trunk. Royal much!

Send these to family and friends at home is a way to bring memories home as well. The moment I landed home, I phoned my friends “have you received my postcard yet?” And on the next day of catching, I asked them to bring the postcards along so I can read them. Reading your thoughts and emotions from another space and time in a totally different space and time is quite an experience.

This should belong to the Merchandise mentioned above but I love these magnets so much that I bring them all more often than the merchandise. The great feature of these magnets is that they are portable, but still able to reflect where it comes from. After 2 or 3 travel experiences, I still want to buy loads of souvenirs. But after the tenth, I’d rather save all the money for my next. These magnets are the best option as a token of my travel.

Available in tourism support office, or in local restaurant and hostel. Get the map, get the city guide, they are FREE. They are not only souvenirs but also quite helpful during your trip. Reading these while lying on your bed could bring me some nostalgic feelings as well.

My all time favorite souvenirs: TICKETS. Technically, they are just … papers. But they indicate every details you need to recall a journey. You can read the date and time, location and even cost. Payment to get these is indispensable. But many people just take these for granted, throw them away immediately after hopping off the plane/train or getting out of the museum. But I keep them all, I will stitch them onto my scrapbook, every piece of them supports my wearing out memory. I usually call them “Evidence of the Past” because they don’t lie. This feature makes them the best souvenirs ever.