travel | travel keepsakes

 

“Once you have traveled, the voyage never ends, but is played out over and over again in the quietest chambers. The mind can never break off from the journey.” – Pat Conroy

OK, so I know I am due for a blog post since it’s been over 2 weeks, but new job = long hours of training, and I’m completely exhausted by the time I get home, which is usually at 7:30 and I am in bed by 10ish. As C would say, I've morphed into a Grandma.

  

Let’s talk about souvenirs. When it comes to traveling I’m a souvenir fiend. Whether shopping for family, friends or me. I know I take a zillion photos on vay-cay but it’s the mementos that I bring back that hold so much meaning.

 

Instead of being brash, I'm extremely picky and very few things make it back home with me, but what does, is a something I cherish. What do I usually collect? Rosary’s, even when my friends go away I ask them to pick out one for me on their travels. At the moment I have a few from India, Australia, Italy, England, Jerusalem, Mexico, Czech Republic etc. Another thing I love is local artwork, whether it is ethnic papier-mâché jewelry boxes from India, artist drawings, to ceramics. 

Do keepsakes have to be useful? Not really. Pretty? Yes! This would categorize something I just started collecting or asking for: sand and sea shells, in mini-glass bottles. C picked up some for me from Cannon Beach in Oregon and Meg’s from Myrtle Beach in S. Carolina. Another friend of mine is heading to Mexico this weekend to help one of our mutual friends plan her wedding, so fingers crossed she remembers to pick up a few sea shells for me.

 Most importantly most of these items have great back stories, for example when T (from http://londontint.blogspot.ca/) and I visited Egypt, and my mum had given me strict instructions to not leave our hotel till the official tour started the next day- yeah right!- we headed out to Khan El-Khalili market after a late breakfast. The moment we got out of our cab a random guy who was a college student, asked us if we wanted a tour of Old Cairo. I know we probably should have said no, but boy am I glad we say yes! We got a one on one tour, which was fantastic; moreover we probably wouldn’t have ventured to that side of Cairo if it wasn’t for him. Getting to the point, on this local 'tour' we met this young boy who carved  lovely handmade boxes made from horns, themed after Coptic and Islamic designs. We got to see first-hand these boxes being made, and the detailing... so intricate!  I picked up 2 which are now sitting on my shelves.

xoxo,
Savannah