Budget Travel Tips : Travel Souvenir Buying
If you're a budget traveler and you want to travel light, what do you do about purchasing travel souvenirs as you travel from exciting destination to destination ? As a budget traveler you're not likely to be transporting any large, heavy, costly Ming Dynasty vases home with you, but you can buy travel souvenirs for yourself or travel gifts for friends and family by keeping size and weight in mind. Think small, but elegant trinkets. You can always find lovely items that are both lightweight and compact, such as an elegant French scarf, a spanish fan, a delicate piece of jewelry from Portugal, or a small Czech jewelry box made of thin wood. All of these are easy to transport, yet make thoughtful souvenirs and gifts.
We like to collect refrigerator magnets from each country that we visit. Yes, the three-dimensional colored plaster fridge magnets that you'll find in souvenir shops most anywhere you travel. Although some people might consider these to be tacky and unsophisticated, we think that they're cute and fun to collect. They're cheap and they're small enough to carry in a pocket if bought during a busy day of sightseeing. Their designs are varied and attractive and representative of sights seen in the country visited. For example, we have architectural designs that show buildings typical of such places as Amsterdam and Riga. We have others representing famous monuments such as Notre Dame in Paris, France and the Alhambra in Grenada, Spain. We have little gargoyles from London and Paris, a yellow submarine from the Beatles Museum in Liverpool, a model of a sailing ship from Lisbon and a wooden giraffe head from Kenya. As these small magnets accumulate in our kitchen they create a whimsical mosaic and a fun daily reminder of trips taken and places visited.
For transporting travel souvenirs, here's a tip to try out. When you travel light, pack a spare nylon backpack or duffle bag. Nylon can be rolled up to take up almost no space and weighs next to nothing. When we travel we keep this spare pack empty and stuff it down into the bottom of a sturdier canvas pack. Then, during the trip, we may use it as a day pack. That way our clothing and toiletries can stay in a canvas pack in the hotel room but we have a convenient way to carry around items that we want with us while sightseeing, such as a small bottle of water or sunglasses, plus picnic foods to be bought and eaten during the day. We can also use it for any souvenirs bought that day.
We may then resort to this pack at the end of the trip and use it as an additional piece of luggage on the way home to transport extras, such as souvenirs and gifts bought during the trip. It provides a little room for expansion, while adding no weight itself, and is easier to handle en route home than open shopping bags would be. Since this pack has plastic zippers it can be securely closed, and is also admissible at airports and train stations as an extra piece of legitimate luggage on the journey home. By the time you're traveling home, the thought of an extra bag to carry won't seem like the big deal it would've been if you'd had to lug it throughout your trip. After all, you're on your way home now anyway.
If you're suddenly seized by the uncontrollable urge to buy large objects during a trip, you may choose to have them shipped to your home so that you needn't drag them along from country to country for the remainder of your travels. Lastly, if you lack the time, money, or luggage space to buy all of the travel souvenirs and gifts for friends and family that you'd like to, try some online shopping once you get home from your trip. After your trip ends you can relive it as you visit online travel souvenir shops to complete your souvenir and gift purchases and have them sent directly to your doorstep.
By only accumulating smaller and lighter weight souvenirs as you travel, or saving certain purchases until you get back home, you can stay light throughout your trip. You'll be surprised at how your entire outlook can be improved and how much more you'll be able to relax and enjoy your travels. Bon Voyage !
By: Barbara Freedman-De Vito
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Artist, writer and traveler, Barbara Freedman-De Vito offers travel souvenirs and nature photography on t-shirts, sweatshirts, mugs, magnets, framed ceramic tiles, throw pillows, journals and more. If you didn't have time to buy all of the travel souvenirs that you'd hoped to buy on your last trip, or if you're a fan of travel and nature photography, visit her Travel & Nature Photography shop.
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