By Wendy
Bring home a few souvenirs of your trips without spending a lot of money or time shopping. Here are my top tips:
1. Check out the local supermarket. Why does the commonplace feel exotic in another city, region, country? It just does. Wander the aisles and buy regional specialties. Buy a can of paprika in Spain, a bottle of hot sauce in Mexico, a jar of mustard in France, chocolates in Switzerland…you get the idea.
2. Bring a ziplock bag and save your ticket stubs from tourist sites, trains and subways. Collect business cards from restaurants, bars and hotels. When you get home, buy an inexpensive bulletin board and pin everything up. Keep adding to it to make a colorful collage of your personal travel ephemera.
3. Local bric-a-brac stores are sources for unique souvenirs. I bought vintage 60s dresses from the best thrift store ever in Montpellier, France. In Valencia, Spain, a store cluttered with books, comics, photos and other art caught my husband’s eye. He found 2 prints for 5 euro each that look great in our house.
4. Choose one thing almost every destination will offer and have fun building your collection. Pint glasses, coffee mugs, snow globes, playing cards and my personal fave, shot glasses. What began on a whim in Panama City, Florida around 20 years ago is now quite the assortment – often kindly supplemented by traveling family and friends!
5. The usual suspects like museum gift shops and the obvious kitschy souvenir stores are worth a quick stop. Postcards (that you can also use on your collage) can be bought here, as well as your collectible item, books and destination t-shirts or toys for kids.
6. Your hotel. I’m sure some of you are rolling your eyes at this. It’s true some hotel brands of toiletries are not worth writing a post about, but some are surprisingly nice and if you take extras home, the scent will remind you of your stay. Several years ago, I stayed at the Hotel de Louvre in Paris – and loved the Annick Goutal bath gel so much, I bought the perfume when I got home.
7. Scarves. Sometimes I think I’d be happy if no travel writer ever mentioned a scarf again. It’s really one of the most over-played tips. But again, for anyone recently arrived from another planet: scarves are great accessories and can be quite affordable souvenirs.
8. Everyday items. Don’t beat yourself up over the item you forgot to pack. Now you can buy a useful souvenir. When I lost a compact of powder, the replacement from London’s Boots pharmacy reminded me of my trip for months. On a family vacation, I didn’t pack beach towels on purpose so I could buy colorful Florida-themed ones once we arrived.
Do you have any good tips for doing a bit of shopping on vacation?