We too bring back a Christmas ornament from our trips. Then I generally bring home any ticket stubs or things like that for potentially scrapbooking and sometimes I get jewelry too, especially if it is something indicative of the area or locally made. For gifts we normally bring back food and sometimes we'll bring food items back for ourselves as well, especially if it is something we can't get here (like we shipped a huge box of our favorite macadamias back from Hawaii because it is a flavor you can't get here).
Post by Wanderista on Jun 25, 2013 13:00:15 GMT -5
There are no rules for what I buy. I buy things that I really like. I like quirky, unique things of high quality particularly if they are local specialties. Examples of things that I've bought:
- A hand-stitched turquoise cloth bag with really elaborate beadwork and the image of an Arabian horse from a beachside cloth merchant in Egypt. So beautiful, I love it. It is too beautiful to use. I want more. I also have a bracelet that an artist made for me in front of me and also a sand bottle image of a camel in the desert that he made in my favorite colors.
- I have beautiful Danish green amber earrings, actually a full jewelry set but I tend to usually just wear the earrings. I was so surprised to see green amber. Again, I love them.
- Alcohol, yes I'll buy it. Things like rakija, man, I love rakija. I need to find out where you buy it in America, but yes, I have been known to get big bottles of it. (It is a kind of Balkans brandy/aperitif sort of a cousin to vodka). I have collected and then drunk unusual bottles of wine in various places.
Those are examples but again, there are no rules. I also get nice/thoughtful gifts for others when I travel. Sometimes I have to struggle to not keep the gift hehe, then I might buy one of whatever it is for myself if I can. Depends on what it is.
Post by librarygirl on Jun 25, 2013 17:21:52 GMT -5
Ever since I studied abroad in Spain during college, I've been saving all sorts of "paper memorabilia" (subway tickets, museum tickets, cut outs of maps, postcards) to decorate the front and back of photo albums. I love having more personalized album covers versus the overpriced stuff.
For my dad I always try to pick up t-shirts (and by t-shirts I mean the classy, good quality kind not "my husband went to Rome and all I got was this stupid t-shirt). We toured the New Holland Brewery last month and I got him a shirt of one of its beers (it's called the Poet and has an image of a raven on it).
For me, my obsession has been tea cups. I've picked up some pretty unique ones (one from Cafe Tortoni in Buenos Aires, Babington's Tea Room in Rome, the Prado, Cafe Sacher in Vienna).
My h likes to pick magnets from places we visit (but once again keeping it on the classier side).
My random purchases include children's books in other languages, food articles, soaps, and other unique articles to that destination.
Post by msgeeksout on Jun 25, 2013 18:27:09 GMT -5
I have collected postcards since I was 12 years old. I have somewhere in the neighborhood of 800 now. I try to only buy a few, not all that is available, and only the ones I like. I also scrapbook so I bring back all sorts of paper pieces and stubs. Most often I buy just 1 fridge magnet as well as 1 Christmas Ornament.
I also buy jewelry. I love jewelry. And food.
As I was reading all the various different posts thinking about what I buy I started having "holy crap I buy a lot more stuff than others!" But honestly my fridge is partially covered, my jewelry doesn't take up much room and the postcards fit in a storage box under my dresser. Everything else is free or gets eaten (with wrappers added to my scrapbook). So I guess it's not that bad.
Whenever possible, textiles. They're easy to pack and no worries about breakage. I've gotten several beautiful table cloths from Turkey, ikat table runners from Malaysia, silk pillow cases from China, and linen from Indonesia and Japan.
We try to avoid having "stuff". H used to insist on buying a shot glass in each place, but that has tapered off in the past few years as he realized that he has no use for a box of like 50 shot glasses. (Duh.) H also usually buys a t-shirt.
In general, we do not get something (other than the shot glass and/or t-shirt) in each place. Instead, we buy a big ticket item every once in a while on a trip when the mood strikes us.
Post by sunshinedaydreams on Jun 27, 2013 17:39:02 GMT -5
We do Christmas ornaments, too, but ours are usually little trinkety souvenirs that we tie up with fishing line to make ornaments. Like, in Amsterdam we got a wire bicycle. In London we got a London Eye figurine. I find making them that way is more fun and representative of the places we've been than just buying the ornaments we usually find for sale in the shops.
Sadly, we don't really buy souvenirs. For some reason, this has recently started bothering me. I just take a TON of photos. We rent right now and I haven't done much in terms of decorating, but I'd like to frame a bunch of our pictures and have them all over our future house.
One Kings Lane had an awesome "boutique" recently and I did buy a really cool ceramic Buddha head that reminds me of Thailand and some bookends that remind me of New Orleans. I think they'll look great in our home someday and remind us of our travels.
I tend to stock up on things I love but can't get wherever it is I'm living. For example: from the UK it's a bunch of small tins of flavored vasiline from Boots and a variety of specialty teas. From Germany and other places with DM it's a variety of personal care products. From Malaysia it's white coffee and tropical fruit laced tea.
H is going to Brazil next week and I'm having him bring me a big block of rapadura and a bottle of cachaça so I can have caparhinas once this kid is born.
Have him just go to the grocery store to get the Cachaca, I always get the following at the store for 3 dollars. I am an expert it putting multiple bottles of this stuff in checked luggage without having any break.
We always get magnets (since they don't take up any room) and Christmas ornaments. We also buy other random stuff, usually local artwork. We used to collect shot glasses but stopped because they were taking up too much space and we really had no need for dozens of shot glasses.
LOL, that is exactly what I'm having him get. And as for the bottles in luggage, we just moved the remnants of our wine liquor collection from Asia via checked luggage with no breakage.
We used to do a lot of international wine touring, so I stocked up on a bunch of these during trips to the US:
I've found them at the Container Store and World Market for a few dollars each, and I'm sure they have them on Amazon. We don't bother sealing the bottoms, so we can reuse them over and over, and they're so easy to tuck into luggage that I usually have one in my suitcase "just in case." Fantastic investment.
Lately they've become our go-to for hauling cachaça to Norway. (Though I'm a Nêga Fulô girl myself.)
I've been collecting postcards since I was very little so I always get those. DH buys me ones now when he travels without me, it's really sweet. I keep ticket stubs and such from our travels as well. DH and I started collecting Christmas ornaments (or key chains that can be turned into Christmas ornaments) before we got married. Since our honeymoon we've also started buying random decor items from the places we go including: leaf shaped bowls, votive holder, carved wooden bowl, carved wooden sun, statue of Tian Tan Buddha, a painting, plates and chopsticks from Japan, etc. And we obviously have a ton of different things from China living here. One day when we have a house I want it to be decorated with things that hold some memory or importance to us rather than random stuff from stores.
We do a picture of the town from a local artist. Now we have a whole wall of pictures.
We lived in Amsterdam for almost 4 years and my company gave me this awesome piece of art - each square is a different picture from amsterdam the artist has photoshopped and printed on canvas. She will let you use your own photo if you want. I really want to eventually out one together of our travels.
I tend to buy jewelry. It's small and reminds me of where I have been. I also like artwork and tend to frame it and hang it. Our house is mostly pictures of our travels.
I just got back from panama yesterday and came back with a wooden toucan and a kuna indian fabric tapestry.
We save lots of stuff from trips: ticket stubs, maps, etc. But we always buy a magnet. Our fridge door is so fun to look at! Occasionally we get Christmas ornaments but it's usually just if we see something fun.
Usually nothing, honestly. I hate the thought of buying something just to have it - I hate clutter.
When we were in Japan we brought back candy (every flavor of kit kat known to man, and some other traditional type candies), BF got a really nice (and expensive) teapot and tea - which is something that was really important to him, normally he doesn't get stuff either.
We will get Christmas ornaments if we find one we like - but we've just started collecting those, so we only have a couple, but it's usually harder to find them unless it's near Christmas.
DH and I have taken to buying some sort of art on our trips. I now I have a wall in the house with various pieces of art. Some are framed postcards, some are prints. I love having these. (I buy some of etsy if I don't find anything on the trip) Besides that, if I find something I like along the way, I'll buy it. I just bought a small alabaster plate/bowl from Volterra to put my rings/watch in when I take them off.
As for souvenirs for others, I do not force myself to buy something just to buy something. I refuse to buy a trinket that was Made in China but is printed with xyz city name on it. If I find something that fits the person I am buying for, then I get it. If not, then they don't get anything!
Now my husband, he tends to pick up random magnets along the way. I don't if he just has bad taste, or looks for the ugliest ones he can find.
Now my husband, he tends to pick up random magnets along the way. I don't if he just has bad taste, or looks for the ugliest ones he can find.
I have some friends who collect the most hideous magnets they can find! Some of them are almost impressive, and they actually put them all on their fridge!
XH and I used to collect magnets, and we’d typically choose something less obvious but still representative of the location. In some places, where we could only find kitsch tourist magnets, we would buy a pendant or keychain we liked and glue a magnet onto it when we got home. I left the magnet collection behind when I moved out.
Now I send a postcard home from wherever I go. I started in Antarctica, because I wanted the stamps and postmark from Port Lockroy, but I couldn’t figure out what to write on a postcard to myself. So I passed it around to the people I hung out with on the ship and asked them all to write something yearbook-style. Then I dropped it in the mail without reading it, so that 6 weeks later when it finally arrived, I would have a surprise getting to read all the messages. I decided to keep the tradition, and if I’m visiting or traveling with friends, I ask them to write my postcard without showing me. Otherwise, I just make a few notes about what I saw and did.
We buy a Christmas ornament everywhere we go; it's fun to pull them all out once a year and remember our trips. Bonus that as a minimalist I like not having to find places for 'things' year round.
We buy a Christmas ornament as well, and in some places a Santa. I used to collect magnets but our fridge is stainless so magnets don't stick!
When I was growing up I collected a doll from everywhere I went, not a big one, a small one, and now I have boxes of dolls sitting in my closet. Maybe my daughter will like them someday!