Travel Souvenirs that Matter
It is impossible to be a light traveler when you have to bring a suitcase full of scuba-gear for scuba diving. On top of the diving gear, Dutchie and I carry my underwater photography kits. However this does not stop us (or maybe I should say it’s me) to buy souvenirs from countries that we visit. Usually I choose souvenirs that remind us of the characteristic of the place and I try to keep it as light as possible. Additionally we receive travel souvenirs from our dear friends and I treasure each of their presents as reminder that they thought of us during their travel 🙂
Fridge Magnets Series
My first travel souvenir collection were fridge magnets. Simply because they are cheap and light. Hah! But wait, at the beginning I was very selective in choosing fridge magnets, they should have a thermometer! If I could not find one then I would buy a funny looking magnet. I have a variation of thermometer magnets but my favorite ones are the ones of a specific thermometer magnet series. Dutchie contributed one fridge magnet from Canada that matched to the series. It was a simple travel gift but it made me super happy. The thermometers show different temperatures and I am not sure which one is correct. Mostlikely none of them.
I also like miniature stuff that resembles the character of the country. I took Rule of Thirds pictures of them with external flash and dining lights as background. Can you guess from which countries they came from?
Snowballs Specials
Another travel souvenir collection are snowballs. It has became a favorite travel present from our friends. Our dear friends who are hardcore travelers but without blog, often brought us the snowballs. I love the huge snowball that they brought us from Argentine and the small ones from the Dutch islands, Texel and Terschelling. They remind me of their travel stories 🙂 And I do hope someday to visit Argentine.
Two Indonesian masks are on our wall. These masks are from two islands in Indonesia that close to my heart : Bali and Java. The Balinese mask that I have here is Barong Ket or Lion Barong. Barong Ket is a famous character in Balinese mythology symbolizing a good spirit that protect forests. Meanwhile the Javanese batik mask is originally from Yogyakarta. The batik mask idea was started by Sajiman, an art-craftsman from Bobung village in Yogyakarta. The mask is also called as Bobung wooden mask, named after Sajiman’s village.
Finally, we do have two unusual souvenirs, the first one was from Dutchie’s best friend from his travel to South East Asia and I thought it is the funniest souvenir item we ever had. The second is sharks teeth from Cuba! They were given by our scuba diving guides who spotted the teeth during the dives. I would not be able to find these sharks teeth myself. The shark teeth remind me of great sharks diving in Jardines de la Reina. I hope someday we will return.
Do you have travel souvenirs that matter and collect them on special way? Maybe Starbuck glasses, hotel’s cards, bracelets or something else? Why not sharing the story on your blog? Inspire us! I will share your travel souvenirs post via Twitter @indie_dive and Facebook page @indahstravelphotography but please do let me know via ping/link back to this post or leave the link of your post on the comment 🙂
indahs: dive, travel & photography 
I always collect a pack of playing cards with each new place I visit. I don’t play card games too often, but when I do, it is fun to have a wide variety of card decks to choose from. I can remember buying the pack on each trip and my friends have fun looking at the photos on the cards of different places.
Great and fun souvenir idea. I don’t know if I’ll buy cards, but from now onwards, I’ll definitely have a look on cards of diff places.
Thanks! Yes, definitely check them out. Some cities have packs of cards which are very nice such as Washington DC with all of the different monuments on the cards.
That’s cool.
I agree with Lifelover, what a brilliant idea for souvenir! It is very special, and it would be excellent for long term collection 🙂 Keep it up and thank you so much for sharing it 🙂
Thank you! It started when I was very young and noticed a lot of places had cards and those turned out to be handy for downtime we had in hotels. Then I started a shoebox collection and have been collecting cards ever since. 🙂
I’ve got a ton of magnets from our travels too 🙂 And when in another country I try to bring back some coins as well.
Magnets are brilliant items, are they? Coins are great idea Teri! Thank you for the inspiration!
Happy to inspire another collector 🙂
I enjoyed seeing your treasures, Indah, especially those fridge magnets with the thermometers. When we travel I collect wildlife Christmas ornaments of the place we have visited. Thanks for inspiring me about this, I will do a post sometime as you suggest. 😀
Wow, it is awesome to see the wildlife Christmas ornaments – knowing how much you love wildlife and nature, I am sure they are very special! I am more than happy to share your post on fb and twitter 🙂
I love the elephant! 🙂 Maybe I’m just a cheapskate, but I love picking up rocks or sea shells as souvenirs. On some trips, my rock bag is probably 5 kilos on its own. I can really remember where they all come from, but they make an interesting pile at home. I blogged about it on one of the Weekly Photo Challenge before. http://wp.me/p494Ze-cO
Thank you so much Cherrie! Beautiful souvenirs and I like the way you place them at home next to the type writer 🙂 I shared it on twitter already – however I don’t know your twitter account so I can’t include your twitter account. Tomorrow I will share your post via Facebook :).
Thanks for sharing it. I have no Twitter, so don’t worry about tagging me along. 🙂
I love coins too! Lovely post.
Thank you so much Diana 🙂
The first and third one are from Thailand, and the second one is from… I don’t know, Scotland? Is it a man playing bagpipe? :hehe
Great pictures, Miss, as always!
😀 almost correct – India – Scotland – Thailand 😀 but please keep this for you only 😀 😀 Terimakasih yaaa..
Sama-sama :))
I have a collections of ..let me see: dishes, dolls, books, even coffee (that of course I consume with pleasure with friends after the trips). It’s just crazy! It looks like I have different favorite objects in the different periods of my life. But one is sure – when I look around in my house I live again every one of these trips.
P.S. I adore your Indonesian masks, Indah! 🙂
I imagine how colorful your house must be! Love the idea on dolls and dishes as collection 🙂 Thank you so much for sharing!! oh, the masks are my favorite and I adore them – kinda remind me home as well 🙂
Wow Indah! Great souvenir collection! We are also a very enthusiastic souvenir collector. And fridge magnets are still my 1st choice. My fridge is full of them but we also buy other things when we visit exotic places. Infact, the Buddha that you saw in my WPC “The Rule of Third” entry, is from Bali. I carried it all the way from Bali to india on my lap. I was already thinking to write a post about my souvenirs , you inspired me do it sooner.
Thank you so much! Gosh, that’s really an effort to carry the Buddha from Bali! Please do post it, I will share your post via twitter and facebook – looking forward to read it 🙂 Have a wonderful day!