We give you six great ideas for travel keepsakes that are cheap, meaningful and won’t take over all the storage in your homes.
Do you wish that you could get back that lovely curio you saw on the streets of Istanbul, but worry that your home would soon fill up with various bric-a-bracs from your trips? Fret not, for we have some excellent suggestions for you to build a lovely travel keepsake collection.
Travel keepsakes should ideally be local, bring back memories of the place you visited and not cause an arm and leg to buy or occupy your entire living space. We think these six travel keepsake ideas would be brilliant and just about inspire you to collect some keepsakes on your next trip
Ticket Stubs
Most sightseeing trips result in a number of little flat things in your wallet that quite often don’t end up being disposed. That subway ticket, one-day pass, airplane boarding pass – there are loads of items to collect. And the best thing is that they are practically “free” – since you have to spend on these anyway. Creating small little albums with stubs from your latest journey can be a fun way to relive the memories of that crazy trip you took.
Currency
Pretty much everyone comes back from a trip to foreign land with a pocketful of jingling coins. In most cases these are difficult to convert back to your own currency due to their low value. So why not collect these instead ? These can be a good way to reminisce of journey’s taken and once in awhile you do get brilliant collectibles as well like a billion dollar note.
Keychains
Keychains make for great collectibles. Doubly so if they reflect a bit of the local flavor. You can find collectible keychains in almost every souvenir store and these are often the cheapest souvenirs you can buy. Look for unusual ones, like these keychains shaped like little sandals, on your travels.
Stamps
Stamps are probably the coolest cheap souvenir you can get. Wherever you go, make it a point to head to the local post office and get a stamp “cancelled” by the postmaster. This usually has the date as well, plus you have a pretty little piece of art right there to boot. Also watch out for stamps at monuments and places of interest that you can add to your collection like these wonderfully shonen stamps from the temples of Japan. If you want to jazz up your collection look at this wonderful collectible book for your stamps from Travel on the dollar
Subway / Train maps
While these are only pretty much available in more urban areas, subway maps and train maps make for interesting collectibles. Each city has different styles to their subway maps from the intricate networks of a London or a Tokyo to the more simplistic networks in Dubai. It’s also a good way to remember the places you visited in the city
Pens
Most gift shops at museums and other attractions usually have souvenir pens. How about starting a collection of these? These are another great way to keep a slice of the places you visited as well as helping contribute to the upkeep of local attractions.
So these are favorite travel collectible ideas. Have some cool ones to share? Do comment below.
Cover Image credits: Minor blandishments by Jonathan Cohen/flickr
