There are two types of people in the world: those who don’t get a souvenir when they travel and those who do. I have yet to meet the earlier type. However, everyone I know and their aunts love to get travel souvenirs while travelling. The only difference is the type of travel souvenir that we get and for who.
Fafa likes to get a well-researched souvenir, usually a limited edition attire, which he often wears on and after the trip. My best friend, Jik, usually gets something for her home or “nesting”, as she claims. Then there is my cousin, who usually fills her spare luggage with something for everyone back home.
I, on the other hand, consider myself an eclectic travel souvenir collector. I bring back anything from the fridge magnet to English-language books written by local authors. Looking around the apartment — Takasaki Daruma, Dala horse, and Balinese dreamcatcher, it’s apparent that I bring back things to satiate my curiosity about the local culture and traditions.
A Jar of Travel Souvenir
But if one day I am being slapped by minimalism and must choose only one travel souvenir to keep, it would be the shell jar sitting on my bookshelf. I have been dropping shells from the beaches I visited into this jar for some time.
It was not an original idea. Years ago, when travelling didn’t exist in my Universe, I read a designer book that featured a picture of a huge vase filled with matchboxes collected by house-owners from all over the world during their travels.
I still remember where I got each shell in the shell jar from. There is the one I collected on a beach in Goa after eating the most delicious seafood meal a day after my cousin’s wedding. On my first trip to Kerala, my father-in-law bought the shell for me in Fort Kochi. There is the one my best friend helped to hunt in Amsterdam after not sleeping for 48 hours. Then there are many small ones that Fafa accused me of smuggling from other parts of the world. Funnily enough, I don’t have any shells from Singapore or Japan. I shortly considered asking my friends to ship me shells from these countries, but I felt like it was cheating, so I didn’t.
I love the idea that the energy and vibrations from different shells collected from different countries share the same space with me at home.
I wish to fill the jar with more shells and collect more travel stories that come with it. I will keep it with me as long as I am alive and maybe pass it to someone to keep the legacy.
Fitzroy Island, Australia
Sorrento, Australia
Navua Beach, Fiji
Taumeasina Island Resort, Apia, Samoa
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