A few of our favorite things to buy while traveling are Christmas ornaments, local photo books and postcards. Karen takes thousands of pictures that I sort through, crop and publish in albums on my Facebook page. I also like to make Shutterfly books of our travels. We can usually find a Christmas store somewhere on our travels or a local shop that has ornaments or an item that we can adapt for an ornament. Our preference is for locally-made ornaments. Two of my favorite ornaments are: one made from poi that I bought on my first trip to Hawaii; and a crawdaddy claw wreath from my first trip to New Orleans. We’ve also added unique ornaments from many of our international travels, with no plans to stop traveling or collecting any time soon!
Two years ago, our Christmas tree was decorated with all our travel ornaments, a chain garland made from maps from a Trans-Atlantic cruise, a globe for the tree topper and a compass under the globe. (Check out the picture in the Gallery to the right of this post.) Every year we do a different ‘decorator’ tree. We had a seashell tree when we lived in Florida. A ‘cowgirl’ tree complete with lariats, bandanas and little white hats when we lived in Texas. We’ve also had other trees decorated with hibiscus or bows and ribbons. A Disney tree popped up one year and a Red Hat tree another year. All of these trees have one thing in common – an ornament that was purchased while on vacation.
Even though Karen takes beautiful pictures to remind us of our travels, she always sends postcards from all over the world to herself as well. A short description of what we saw and the date is also a nice reminder of our travels. It doesn’t take up any room in a suitcase, is relatively inexpensive and is fun to get them in the mail after returning from a trip.
Postcard Helpful Tip #1 – Take a photo of the front and back of the postcard before mailing. There’s always a chance it may not make the journey back home to your mailbox.
Postcard Helpful Tip #2 – Take pre-printed mailing labels with you. So easy to simply peel and stick! No more looking up or remembering addresses! I print a sheet with our mailing address. Don’t forget to add ‘USA’ or your country to the label for international postal delivery.
True Postcard Story – Last year we visited Cuba. We mailed postcards from Hotel Nationale lobby, in a mail chute made in Rochester, New York (our hometown). We thought for sure they were sitting at the bottom of that mail chute, long forgotten. Several weeks later…postcards from Cuba bringing with them memories of our trip!
Beers of the World – The idea came to me to create an online photo album as Karen was enjoying a beer on many vacations. Many pictures are taken with a historic background, as well as a marked glass or coaster to aid in remembering where the beer was enjoyed. Recently, at a roof-top cafe overlooking the Trevi Fountain, another patron mentioned her photo op, said it was a great idea and he was going to do that from then on!
It doesn’t have to cost a great deal of money, or take up tons of room in your carry-on. Many travelers purchase local travel picture books or magnets or keychains or spoons or shot glasses or linens or jewelry, as well as the usual t-shirts and sweatshirts. Some even purchase larger items such as vases, or tribal masks or cuckoo clocks! (Many shops will ship these back to the States for you for a fee so you don’t have to find room in your suitcase!)
So don’t be afraid of bringing a little something home with you to remember your vacation! Enjoy it while you can! Or give it to someone you care about. I truly believe there is someone somewhere who will enjoy having a memory of you and your thoughtfulness.
“…these are a few of my favorite things…”
Twenty Steps at a Time 