Dec 17 2008
An Ideal Souvenir
I just did a quick search for “souvenir” on Google and got more than 37 million websites to choose from. That’s a lot of souvenirs to choose from. And souvenirs are an important part of travel—they’re the mementos that bring back the memories when your miles away and back to “the real world.”
Souvenirs differ around the world—chocolate in Belgium, meditation balls in Thailand, alpaca blankets in Peru—and their differences are sometimes what make them so special. Some people choose specific souvenirs—shot glasses, spoons, snow globes—in order to have a collection.
The trick is to find a souvenir that you’ll actually use, shows the uniqueness of where you;ve visited, and triggers the memories. That’s why a Christmas ornament (or something to hang on the Christmas tree) is an ideal souvenir. Each ornament can be unique—a hand-painted egg from Russia, a bear in lederhosen from Germany, some fuzzy dice from Las Vegas—and every year you will enjoy decorating the tree as every ornament brings back a memory. (And it can be inexpensive or very expensive.)
