One of the things many people look forward to every time they travel is buying souvenirs. You’ll never know what you can find that you can bring home to remind you of the city or country you went to. Many try to stay away from the typical keychains, shirts, and fridge magnets unless they’re buying them for a loved one.
Usually, travelers look for something unique to the place. Something that can be easily identified with the place. Like high-quality rugs from Iran, spices from Morocco, Venetian masks from Italy, or sensu (folding fan) from Japan.
Doing this seems to be always challenging as not all things a city or a country is known for can be easily transported. One can only have so many carpets, right?
So here’s a list of some unique and interesting souvenirs that you can bring home with you after your trip.
15 Unique Travel Souvenirs to Bring Home with You
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Starbucks Mugs
One, everybody loves coffee. Two, they love brands like Starbucks. When traveling, there are people who always look for the nearest Starbucks to their hotels. It’s like a home away from home. One neat thing about Starbucks is they have ceramic mugs that have the name of the country or city it is located in. Bringing home a Starbucks mug is like bringing your home away from home back home.
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Local Coins and Notes
When you go to another country, you don’t spend your USDs there, right? You have it exchanged with its equivalent in the local currency. Coins and paper bills from the different places that you go to make for a great souvenir collection.
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Christmas Ornaments
One popular Christmas tradition is getting a unique ornament every year for every homeowner’s tree. A Christmas tree filled with ornaments from different parts of the world will add more meaning and depth to holidays as you reminisce of great memories from my travels.
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Public Transportation Tickets and Cards
Traveling to different places is made more memorable if you immerse yourself in the local culture and do as the locals do, including their system of commute. You can keep your bus tickets and cards as a remembrance.
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Hotel Stationery
If you always book a hotel room when you go on trips, hotel stationeries are good souvenirs to bring home with you. It’s not stealing. You pay for those things whenever you book a room.
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Maps
Love exploring and discovering different places whenever you’re out? Buy a map of the country or city you’re visiting so you can easily navigate the area and not get completely lost. When you get home, you can add it to your collection of other maps.
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Shot Glasses
Shot glasses, like Starbucks mugs, have editions with the names of the city or country engraved on it. They’re small, easy to transport, and wonderful to look at when displayed.
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Lonely Planet Guides
Just like maps, Lonely Planet Guides also make for great tokens of the places you’ve been. Pick up a booklet when you get to your destination and discover interesting facts about the place you’re in. Bring the book home to start your collection. They also look great displayed together.
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Boarding Passes
While some folks throw away boarding passes and plane tickets when they travel, other tourists keep them as a reminder that, at least once in their life, they went to that place and had a great time. It’s also a very cheap souvenir because you no longer have to spend money on a souvenir.
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Stamps
If you’re a stamp collector, then this is a no-brainer. Although the postal system is not as utilized now as it was back in the day, post offices still sell local stamps that you can get singles and sheetlets. You may even be lucky enough to acquire an uncut press sheet.
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Patches
Patches that state the name of the place you’re visiting can be used decoratively and be put on display in a frame or be sewed on a piece of clothing like a jacket.
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Local Beer or Wine
Different places have their own locally made beer and wine. If you’re some sort of connoisseur, perhaps bringing home a bottle of locally manufactured beer or wine will suit your taste.
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Rocks
Simple and inexpensive souvenirs. That’s what these are. You just need to come up with some organizational system that will differentiate which piece came from where.
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Sand
Similarly, sand is also a great and inexpensive souvenir. Each place has a different topographic characteristic and soil property so bringing home sand from the places you go to isn’t weird at all. Put some in a small vial and label it so that you know where the sand came from.
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Flags
Lastly, what better item to remember a place by than their local flag? They’re distinct and come in different sizes which makes them fun to collect.
If you still can’t make up your mind with all the things we listed above, you can always go the safe route and bring home a shirt or a key chain. It’s the memories that matter anyway.
Bon voyage!
