Bringing home a souvenir is a big part of many people’s trips, but not everyone knows what they should bring back. Here are a few suggestions and reasons you should (or shouldn’t!) bring them home.

Magnets

For many people bringing home magnets is essential to any trip. They’re usually small, light weight and easy to carry. Magnets make great gifts and they are probably the most durable item on this list, because they don’t wear out, however some are breakable, I’ve even had a few deteriorate over time, but all in all you can usually get good quality magnets anywhere in the world.

Post Cards

Post Cards are one of my go-to items when I travel somewhere. They’re slim, come in different shapes and sizes and they’re often a stunning representation of the places you’ve visited. For many people they leave the post cards in a box, but I prefer to show them off, by putting one from each country or area I’ve visited in a trip in a frame and hanging it on a wall for everyone to enjoy. Postcards can be difficult when you travel long term, since they can get wet, bent, torn or otherwise destroyed in a bag.

Shot Glasses

Shot glasses have quickly become THE souvenir for many people, they’re definitely the thing I’ve been asked to bring back as a gift the most out of anything. They look great and they’re useful when you have people over for drinks, but they’re really hard to find in some places and I made a point of taking them in my carry on because I was so worried about them breaking in my bag. I got some great ones in Melbourne and in Cairns that were in a pack of 6 in a nice secure plastic package, but that package takes up quite a bit of space in a bag that was small to begin with

Art

This is one of the items that is rising in popularity, being super accessible and affordable in many cases thanks to street artists, Art is by far my favourite thing to collect while travelling because I get to do it so seldomly. Travelling long term and with a backpack means I don’t get the opportunity to bring anything home, the only things I’ve been able to take home with me so far are 3 beautiful watercolour scenes from my trip to Italy in 2013.

Jewellery

Jewellery can be a beautiful reminder of a trip, collecting local jems or stones or metals, as well as jewellery that has the locations name or a symbol of that place on it can be a daily reminder of your trip or the person who gave the piece to you. Bringing jewellery can be quite expensive, and in some cases dangerous if you buy a large amount with expensive stones in it, but it’s otherwise fairly easy to transport as many stores give gift boxes to put the jewellery in so that it can be gifted as is to the recipient or as a nice way to display a piece you plan to keep for yourself.

Clothing

There are different types of clothing you can bring back. Most people will buy the tourist pullover hoodies and hats, bag, tee shirts, or even a BBQ Apron. There are a few places that you can buy beautiful hand-crafted leather shoes, bags or jackets as well as made to measure pants and shirts in different locations. The issue with the mass-produced items is that many are of poor quality and if you’re looking for something unique, you’ll be hard pressed, and for the hand-crafted items, the opposite is true, the items will be a high quality and as close to unique as you can get, but it’s often out of many people’s price points. The clothing often also takes up baggage space which might leave you with over weight baggage.

Other things to consider

Some things are one offs, pieces of local history or lore that you likely won’t find anywhere else in the world, and if you find something similar it’ll likely have a different meaning and history.

One great example I have of this is the draw-string Pinocchio I got in Florence. The story we all grew up with was written in Florence in 1881. When I visited in 2013 a family member was pregnant, So I bought a few and brought them home, and gave her one to put in the baby’s room.

Other things like blown glass (in Venice), Macaron (in France), Honey local wine, gin, maple syrup, Vegemite are all things some people bring back as souvenirs among countless other items, while others follow the old “take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints” approach I was taught when camping.