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Some travelers have giant world maps sprawled across their walls at home, with pins denoting all their travel “conquests.” Though there’s certainly nothing wrong with this, it’s never been my approach to remembering a trip. To my mind, it feels a bit too much like turning the world into a checklist to be “completed.”
Others keep a few photos displayed on their desks or walls to keep their trips fresh in their minds. Compared to the pins-on-a-map strategy, photographs offer the ability to remember people as well as destinations, and for that reason, I tend to favor them. But relatively small 4×6 photographs don’t exactly “pop” when they’re hung on a wall, and who’s got the time to blow-up their photos? And of course there are frames to get too. That’s why, although I have a few pictures displayed in my room, most of my best shots are arranged inside albums gathering dust.
Trip souvenirs can be excellent ways to incorporate the feel of a certain country into your home. Around my house, I’ve got rugs and wall hangings from Morocco, beer mugs from the Czech Republic, and a neatly-framed map of Poland (with, alas, no pins.) But since I like to travel light, I don’t usually bring many souvenirs home. And many of the ones I do are purchased at the airport with leftover foreign currency.
These displays are also troublesome because I don’t want to be someone who ostentatiously displays his wonderful trips for all visitors to admire. When visitors ask why I have a map of Poland on my wall, I always groan and mutter, “I got it when I was in Poland.” Then I always feel like adding, “But I didn’t hang it on my wall so you’d ask that question… Honest!”
The trick to bringing your trip back home is to try to create an effective, meaningful reminder of your trip without turning it into a showy display of your own worldliness. The closest I’ve come to this is by always keep my trip journals nearby, and leafing through them about once a month. Anyone else have suggestions for ways to bring the trip back home?
June 6th, 2008 at 3:23 pm
If you want to put something up on your wall to remind you about your travels don’t feel the need to justify or explain it to someone who asks about it. If they have a problem with it then they have their own jealousy problems that they need to deal with.
June 6th, 2008 at 7:27 pm
I’m a big fan of fridge magnets. Cheap, compact, and I can watch my collection grow and grow on my fridge, without feeling like I’m taking the pins-in-maps approach.
Sometimes a CD, a book, or the right piece of clothing (something a little more meaningful than a cheesy souvenir t-shirt…?) can be a great reminder, too.
June 7th, 2008 at 3:43 pm
I buy postcards and save ticket stubs or other small memorabilia from cool places I visited (i.e. museum entrance tickets, a couple of local currency coins, etc) and make it all into a scrapbook after a big trip in combination with photos. This is a bit labour-intensive but I think the result is well-worth it
June 7th, 2008 at 8:02 pm
I usually bring back flag/seal patches which I sew onto zip up sweaters and fleece.
When the sweaters/fleece wear out, I just transfer the patches.
Sometimes, I try to bring back small symbolic shelve pieces like a small wooden kiwi bird from New Zealand or a small wooden elephant from Cambodia.
June 7th, 2008 at 9:36 pm
I sew flag patches onto my backpack.
June 7th, 2008 at 10:14 pm
I actually do quite a bit. I’m not much of a shopper anyway, and don’t shop much at home. When I go somewhere I usually purchase personal souvenirs in one (or more) of the following categories:
masks
cookbooks
grocery store item
a turtle figurine
christmas tree ornament
jewelry
local artist work
item that area’s known for
They rarely have the name of the place on them. It’s all things I truly love – my memories, that people will only question if they’re interested in them. I answer initial questions quite broadly “I got these on a trip”. And people can ask more if they want to. It’s funny because you wrote “… showy display of your own worldliness.”
I see it differently. My home is me and I travel. I like to travel and feel I have tasteful things in my house. If I had the choice, I would rather things from it’s point of origin than proof that I spend a lot of time at the local mall. I only purchase (or mostly purchase) decorative items while on a trip. It’s rare that I’ll buy some cool, international piece at a store like pier 1 imports. I want as much of my “stuff” as possible to take me back to that place. Also, I hate having things that’s easy for people to get.
Oh and purchasing food items (seasonings and such) and recipes are awesome because nothing in the world takes you back to a place the same way food does.
June 8th, 2008 at 6:50 am
Fridge magnets – my fridge is full. Because there are so many, no one really looks at them except us!
I often will buy a calendar. Especially if it is in the local language, and has lots of info like saints or holidays or history. If it is just pictures I can make it myself.
Something that I look for but don’t always find, is a miniature painting. These take up less room, and are somehow more personal than photographs.
And usually some kind of small knickknack like my small brass split-tailed lizard from Volterra, the silver model trulli from Alberobello, a little brass owl from Bath. They are all very small, but somehow characteristic (at least to me!) of the place or the journey.
I almost forgot the “big” collectible – I try to find one very cool piece of jewelery from where-ever I was.
June 8th, 2008 at 4:31 pm
I prefer mementos that have meaning only to myself. I have an empty Diet Coke bottle with a cocktail umbrella sticking out of the top. To the uninitiated it has no significance, but to those in the know, it was the soda I drank and garnish for the drink I purchased for a lady in a club in Prague. This way when people ask about it, I can use it to open a story of my trip.
June 8th, 2008 at 9:12 pm
Of course I have photos and very few momentos, but my passport is all I need to remember my trips.
In my passport, I have the visas and entry/exit stamps, complete with dates, of every country I have been to. I even have a little residual ink from a country I (according to U.S. law) shouldn’t have been visiting!
It’s up for renewal in 2 years. Receiving “virgin passport” will be a little sad.
June 10th, 2008 at 5:32 am
We always buy a Christmas ornament from places we visit. It doesn’t have to be a traditional ornament, anything that you can hang on a tree works.
When we are doing an extended trip, space is at a premium and we travel light. More often than not, in this instance the ornament will be a magnet or something similar that we turn into an ornament. They take up no room, are unbreakable and cheap.
As we unpack our ornaments and decorate the tree each year, we say the name of the place and get to relive the trip. It’s alot of fun.