Confessions of a Souvenir Hoarder

Souvenir – the word itself is beautiful! Probably because it has that gentle sound of brushing the dust off a memory. It’s a wonderful label that can apply to anything whose real value lies in it’s association with the past. But on arrival home, it makes it’s way into a box or a showcase.

If you’re a bit of a hoarder like I am, you’ll understand. 

There’s so much city-centric stuff you have to get when you’re in a new place – a tee, a shot glass, a keychain, street jewellery, postcards! Aaaahh... if only I had a house with unlimited storage! It feels horrible to throw it all away because it's a reminder of so many fun moments. 

To me, collections are fascinating. I wonder why people collect what they do. There's probably that light-bulb moment in people's head that goes, “I love this stuff. I want to have as much of this stuff as I can possibly get... and maybe someday, I’ll have ALL of this stuff!”

Yeah, that seems pretty accurate. 

I think I’ve tried collecting almost every touristy thing there is. But I find that tee’s get too tight (or loose, if I'm lucky) or fade, there are so many beautiful postcards to choose from (resulting in me parting with a lot of cash in buying them all). I’ve even collected a rock from every place... I wonder where they are...

One thing I love collecting are travel brochures. You get them everywhere, they’re beautiful, and they’re almost always free. I find them to be a sign of the times. It satisfies the feeling of *being there* again. Reading them every now and again is a nice pass time, too - looking at the little map, the nearby landmarks, the photoshopped pictures. Google and GPS just don’t have the same feel. It’s like reading a book in the flesh versus Kindle. No comparison, right?

Here are a "few" of my precious brochures.

 Another thing I like to collect is currency. I keep small bills and coins from every place. And if it’s an old coin, even better! It’s like a little bit of history in your hands. Currency really is a part of the trip, and you don’t have to take any extra effort to go looking for them. Plus, they fit in a wallet – so no wastage of storage space. More place for my leaflets... yaaay!

Here's a beer mat I collected from a great pub called Highlander in Singapore! Would have probably made for the start of a great collection.

A friend of mine collects spare keys from the hotels she stays at... and another collects Starbucks mugs. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure, I guess.

So...do you collect travel brochures too, or do you just Google everything? Tell me what you hoard, so I don't feel I have a serious problem. :)

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Till next time!
xoxo