Pretty Cheap, Travel Edition

I don’t know about anyone else, but I love to travel.  Whether by car, plane, or even occasionally (sometimes against my will) by boat, I find it exciting to go to new places, make new memories and see new things, whether internationally or domestically.  And sometimes, amid walking tours, language barriers, learning the culture and norms of a new place, there’s a certain amount of fun in completing the international and universal task of souvenir shopping.  And while JD and I have a crazy amount of shot glasses from all over, which we do love and keep handy in the kitchen, (you know, for when we have our wild parties on a Saturday night) we started a new souvenir tradition when we got engaged: we buy some form or sort of “art” on a trip to remember it by.

It started with paintings we bought on the street in Prague, for roughly about $5 each (we were terrible at the conversion for a while, but I’m pretty sure 100 Czech Koruna = 5 U.S. Dollars.   Ask me at a later date to tell you the tale of the $700 tea pot. Haha!)  We took them home and eventually had them framed.  They were inexpensive and reminded us of some of the best moments of our trip.  We loved them and the memories they seemed to hold, so on our next big trip, we purchased some maps while in England and a canvas of the Eiffel Tower in Paris from a street painter.  Then, there was the watercolor we got in Mystic, Connecticut while on our first family vacation with CJ.  Most recently, we bought a print of the Bavarian courtyard from Epcot, in Disney World.  We’ve spread out our “art” purchases from the bigger trips we’ve taken and typically, that’s the only souvenir we buy ourselves (or at all.)

So now, we’ve got them all on the wall as you go up the staircase in our home.  We see them every day, pause and look at them or laugh at the different stories that are part of their journeys back with us, through baggage claim or customs.  (How the Prague paintings survived sitting in the top of carry-on bags, being dragged through two airports and two flights, and were tucked in a drawer for a year before we framed them.  Or how the Paris canvas was shoved amongst our luggage for the duration of our trip.  Or how CJ loved running around the Bavarian courtyard and ate his first bites of sauerkraut and bratwurst in Epcot’s Germany.)

Here is a look at what we have come with in our time as an engaged/married couple.

Our Prague prints of Old Town and an alley way that we actually took to get to our hotel:

A map of England and Germany, from Bath, England: 

Mystic, Connecticut’s port and town: 

The top square photo is one of Central Park.  It’s not so much “travel” as it is a photo that reminds us of several fun and sweet memories of some time we’ve spent in New York City.   It’s from the etsy shop Eye Poetry, should you ever want to see more. 

Lastly, on the opposite side of these pictures, is the newest piece of art we got from Disney World.  Yup, we felt we had to move a picture to the opposite wall in the interest of space.  We’re true collectors.  ;)  

So while none of these pieces broke the bank, proudly, we really love scoping things out to add to the wall.  On our past few trips, we’ve even got that in the forefront of our minds: what are we going to add to the wall??  Our rule is, though, that we both have to really like it.  You don’t want to have to talk the other into it – no buyer’s remorse on these!

We also keep some postcards and tickets, as you have seen here, and we love those!  But we really like the feeling these give to our home too.

Anyone else do something like this after a trip or vacation?  Any suggestions for our next trip?  And what would you do with about 30 shot glasses besides keep them in a basket, in a cabinet, in your kitchen?  Any suggestions there?