Do you collect "things" when you travel?
 

By things, I mean, when you travel do you shop for items to add to a collection that you have at home? You know, some people like those little spoons from all over, or thimbles, or Christmas oranaments, or foreign money, or beer mugs.

Just wondering if you travel to particular places in order to shop and to add to your collections.

My wife has a collection of bells and adds to it wherever she goes. My son collects shot glasses in the same manner.

We don't collect specific things, but we do try to limit souvenirs to a size that can hang on the Christmas tree.

So often, you get to a place where they sell ______ (fill in the blank with carved wooden animals, paper mache apples, temple amulets, ceramic lighthouses, embroidered coin purses...you know what I mean)and pretty soon they start looking good to you.

Instead of getting the bookshelf size, we get a tiny one. When we get home we date the bottom with a sharpy pen, glue on a string, and toss them in our ornament box.

Each Christmas we have a lot of fun re-discovering these memories. Beats dusting them all year long!

I always buy about 2-3 magnets per place that we visit. Used to display them on our fridge but I think I'll have to make a little board for them in our new house (they'll look a little chessy on my fridge). We also started collecting some maps. We have one from the Yucatan and one from Grand Cayman that look like old antique maps. I frame them and put them in our travel themed office.

I collect shot glasses and have forever. After my hubby and I got married we started collecting Christmas ornaments which are sometimes hard to find b/c we won't buy the ball ornaments because we have a hardwood floor. I love my tree every year; and this year, am excited to add London to the tree!

We also collect anything with either a black lab or a black kitty because they remind us of our babies jefferson and mckinley.

I forbid knicknacks in my home, so in each country I visit I try to get a coffee mug (which I will actually use)made by a local pottery, and a ring that has a stone or style common to that area. But I think the photos I take are always by far the best "souvenir"! Easy to pack, too.

Lcuy--we do the very same thing! One of my favorites is a tiny Pinocchio doll from Italy that hangs on the tree.

I do tend toward certain items when we travel...for some reason linens from each country. At least these are usable and not collecting dust! lol! Also oil paintings and occassionally prints.

Kids love their foreign money collection. They want not just the paper money, but every single coin as well. Thats fine though...it goes in their bag and they have to carry it:)

When I backpacked around Europe, I collected patches from each country.

I without much planning/thinking was collecting coffee mugs, but decided that magnets might be a better thing to continue with. Now we have a fridge that doesn't take magnets...

My fiance collects Hard Rock glasses. Ugh. Now I'm stuck searching out these horrible tourist traps wherever we go.

I also look for something small to put on the Christmas tree. It's not mandatory so I won't spend a lot of time looking. I usually want to get somehting that is typical of the place I've visited so it'll bring back memories when I pull it out. Of course, I usually want it to be made locally. I went into a store once with lots of beautiful crystal ornaments (the place was known for crystal). All of the ornaments were made in China! Didn't get any there.
I often bring back food (as long as it meets customs guidelines) that I can't find in the US. I've brought back famous local olive oil and special mushroom pasta from Italy. Chocolate from almost every country I've visited (all in the interest of research, need to find which country makes the best!)I've also brought back wine that aren't imported to the US. I brought back some outstanding wine from NZ that I still can't find in my area (the winery said they would be importing to the US soon).

We buy a Christmas ornament on each trip that we take. Those ornaments are my favorites to place on our trim each year because they cause the family to reminsce about where we have been.

I collect small pieces of crystal. Some of the pieces in my collection include: pineapple from Hawaii, Tower of London from...well, London, the Capitol Building from Washington, D.C., cactus from Arizona, shell from Belize, lighthouse from OBX, Statue of Libery from New York, inukshook from Canada, etc., etc.

I enjoy the hunt! They're not always easy to find! :[ (~~) :[

I collect English china when I visit both England and Bermuda (I always add new pieces to my formal setting) as well as china collectables that catch my eye. I always pack an empty carry-on bag because I know that I will need it to carry these fragile items safely home.

If I am visitng a place for the first time in the states, I might pick up a tee shirt for working out in or a print of an historic or architectural building in that particular city that I will frame and add to either my office, family room, etc.

Pencils. Useful and self-limiting.

I usually buy a piece of jewelry when I travel. I don't like lugging stuff around so a piece of jewerly is perfect. And when I wear them I always remember the trip, buying it etc.
I honestly don't feel I spend anymore than if I had bought a "bunch of stuff".

Silver charms for my charm bracelets!

Attention all Grandparents!!! This is one of my most cherised gifts ever.

When I was 12, my grandmother gave me my first charm bracelet, and everywhere I've gone since then I've collected charms. If I ever have daughters or granddaughters, this is going to be what they get for their 10th birthday. It is always a cheap souvenir, small--so easy to pack/carry, and I love wearing the bracelets and recollecting all the great travels I've had. Some of my favorite include a tiny Hershey kiss from Hershey, PA, the Eiffel tower, and most recently a little surfer from Kauai. I have four bracelets by now filled with charms from around the world and it is always a fun adventure for me to find the perfect silver charm that epitomizes my trips.

AZWildcat. What a great idea!! I am sitting here feeling rather "stupid" because I have a charm braclet that my dear grandson gave me as I had lost the one I originally was given by my daughter years ago. I never thought of buying charms for my braclet. Thanks for the good idea.

I enjoy collecting magnets and getting them as souvenirs. I also like to pick up a local newspaper to read to see what is happening in the area.

Minatures are my thing. I have several antique printer's drawers (bought at flea markets on vacations) and have collected all kinds of small items to fill them over the years. Some of the items include: lapel pins from different countries that participated in the 1984 World's Fair in New Orleans; tiny clay potts from Santa Fe; a Princess Diana thimble from England; flattened souvenior pennies; a little pewter bust of Mark Twain from Hannibal Missouri; a minature 45-rpm record from Rock and Roll Hall of fame; shells from various beach vacations; those little picture viewers they sell you when they take your picture at theme parks -- you get the idea. They are inexpensive, small and the collections make great coversation pieces.

Antique match strikers.
Antique posters or prints.
If I see any old ceramics or porcelain.
I must confess to being an avid collector of lots of "things" :)

Shells
Driftwood
Local Art
Jewelry
T-shirts
Tree Oranaments
Coffee mugs
Wine glasses

We have a travel wall that is growing larger by the year with local art and plates... also our glass front cabinets display one of a kind wine glasses from all over the world... when entertaining, it's "pick a glass"... all wonderful. @};-