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 collect coins and masks, also, small statues of Lord Ganesha ( a Hindu God) ….
I so much liked the masks…. 🙂
Thank you so much, Maniparna! Ganesha, the patron of arts and sciences! That is really great souvenir collection!
Wonderful post Indah, and wow, fridge magnets with thermometers. I have not travelled too much, (Canada, United States and New Zealand). My souvenirs have been just postcards. In the days of film cameras, I never knew if the pictures would turn out, so I also bought postcards, plus the photography was much better than my own…LOL. Some great ideas for when I travel next! 🙂
~Carl~
Thank you Carl! Postcards are excellent souvenir items – light and beautiful! That reminds me of a friend who kept sending postcard from places she visited to her home address 😀
I like that. And you have it postmarked from the post office where it was mailed! 🙂
Not much space in the suitcase when traveling! so it’s little things like you, postcards, books !!
Good week Indah
Merci Pat 🙂
So many amazing souvenirs you guys have collected.
I usually don’t collect that much while traveling except from fridge magnets or maybe a card or pictures that I can put up on my wall 🙂
Thank you! The lighter items are the better 🙂 I like the idea to put the travel pictures on the wall! It always bring colourful atmosphere to home 🙂
Ah, sharing cerita yang menarik mba, kalo kami mengumpulkan yang sangat umum, magnet. Sangat bahagia kalo dapat, jadi kamipun suka membagikanmagnet yang lucu-lucu juga, biasanya disesuaikan sama karakter orangnya, tipe kelucuannya. Sangat abstrak yah standardnya. Tapi kalo si adek, yuna, lagi senenang-senangnya kumpulin pembatas buku, jadi dia membeli pembatas buku yang lucu-lucu terutama saat dia di Jepang untuk sendiri dan untuk teman-temannya yang suka baca buku. 🙂
Magnet bertermometer? keren ternyata yah. 😀
Pasti pemberi souvenir bahagia kalo tau mba menerima dengan senang hati dan menyimpan dengan baik oleh-olehnya. 🙂
Terimakasih yaaa…iya, jadi inget selalu sama teman kalau lihat oleh-oleh mereka, pasti teman-temanmu juga begitu ketika melihat magnet yang diberikan 🙂
Pembatas buku juga unik loh, kadang suka ada yang dari kayu, sampai sayang makai-nya 😀
Semoga saja mba, soalnya sekarang membatasi membeli oleh-oleh buat yang gak suka malah ngeluh kalo di kasih dengan jawaban, “jauh-jauh ke (somewhere), cuma bawa ini?”, hahahahah, biasanya gak sadar kalo mereka cukup berharga uat kita sampai kita inget beliin oleh-oleh. *ah, maaf jadi ngeluh*
Iyah mba, aku pernah beli yang kayu, boro boro di pakai, keluarin dari plastiknya ajah gak tega. 🙂 Ujung2nya di kasihin ke orang lain sekalian daripada di simpen aja. 🙂
🙂 itu keterlaluan namanya..udah untung dikasih dan dipikirin untuk diberi oleh-oleh 🙂 memang susah..kadang terlalu jujur tuh menyakitkan juga 🙂 sabar dan ditahan saja dulu 🙂
Iyah, di tahan dulu, di tahan dulu kasih oleh-oleh keberangkatan berikutnya. 😀
I love this! When I first started blogging, someone suggested to me to write a post about the souvenirs I collected during our travels and here you are, doing the same thing. I would love to share them with you… sometime… hehe! I have lots so I don’t know where to begin. I have a hodge podge collection of souvenirs (I started with fridge magnets though) and they are all mostly inside a curio cabinet that we bought specifically to house our little precious mementos. Thank you for reminding me about this little project! You should make this a recurring event in your blog. 🙂
Ahaa..I hope you will write about it soon and make it as a recurring event 🙂 You have been traveling a lot and I would love to see your collection – I am sure each of the items tell story 🙂
I will eventually. My writing list is getting longer! 🙂
A great collection
Dear Indah
and souvenirs speak a lot to us..
i still have a solid brass dodo from Mauritius, an ashtray from Mexico City
a batik from Kenya, a paperweight from Moscow..the list goes on and on
so i well understand why you collect
Big Hugs
bapak john
Thank you Bapak John! You have special souvenirs 🙂 I have never seen batik from Kenya – that must be really special 🙂
Thank You, Dear Indah,
Yes a batik of ladies dancing..beautiful..I share with You the value of souvenirs. Big Hugs
Bapak john
I like the zippo. It’s cool but then I don’t smoke 😥
I do like the zippo too, and we have never used nor tried it! I think the zippo doesn’t work anymore..hahaha
lol