In Machu Picchu, San Francisco, the Jersey Shore, and even in Jerusalem or Vatican City, there’s that same stand of cheap, plastic souvenirs. Who would ever buy that sad snowglobe made in China, that harmonica with the name of the city printed on crookedly, or that $20 T-shirt that feels scratchy? I have a suspicion that we all do buy those things, even if it’s just one per trip—when multiplied by millions of travelers, that’s enough to fund an industry! Most mass-produced souvenirs are manufactured in factories that pay little attention to human and environmental rights, are made with petroleum or pesticides, and are shipped for thousands of fossil-fueled miles.
I typically don’t buy much, and yet I do have an ugly striped sweater from Ecuador and a pepper shaker that says “Atlantic City,” which I never use because it split in two as soon as I bought it. When we’re on vacation, we’ll buy it, whatever it is, even when the product is overpriced, even when we know we don’t need it. Without our souvenir, how will we remember the good times?
At home, my souvenirs often seem out of place. The itchy striped sweater does not remind me of the good times, but of how itchy it is, and how I should donate it to a thrift store in the near future (though I feel bad for whoever wears it next, if someone ever does). When I hoe a field, hike up a mountain, or play volleyball—that’s when I remember the good times in Ecuador. It’s what we do, not what we buy, that makes our memories. We all know that. Even so, the next time I travel to a faraway place, I know I’ll be tempted to bring something home. I’ll always have that human desire to remember every moment of every adventure—to magically pause the passage of time right as I’m summiting some volcano in South America or eating pizza in Italy. I’ll inevitably buy something, but I promise that my next something won’t be another cheap pepper shaker.
I have learned that there are plenty of ways to physically hold onto my travels without disrespecting the Earth I travel on. Here are some ideas for remembering your trips without the wasteful travel souvenirs:
1. The easiest way is to bring a digital camera. “Take only photos, leave only footprints,” as the saying goes. To make your photos more memorable, experiment with candid shots and with holding your camera at different angles. Upload your photos to a Facebook album, or make a photobook with an online service like Shutterfly, Kodakgallery, Lulu, and many others. Or, while still on vacation, print out some of your photos and send them as postcards!
2. Send yourself a postcard. On the card, write your favorite things about wherever you are and what you’ve done there.
3. Start a travel blog or just bring a good old-fashioned journal. Don’t chronicle exactly where you went and why. I happen to have 23 journals in my closet, and that’s why I know that in ten years you won’t care about those boring details. Write down the stories that you’ll want to tell your friends back home. Also include the stories that you think are too embarrassing or too personal to repeat to others… those are the things you’ll look back on the most fondly ☺ If you hate writing, bring a voice recorder instead.
4. If you’re prone to collecting:
- Make collections of small things like pins, refrigerator magnets, or coins. OR
- Start a collection of flat things (ticket stubs, stickers, and maps) and paste them into your journal. OR
- Collect practical things, like mugs, spoons, or tablecloths. Before you buy that practical thing, imagine it in your house. Are you sure it fits in with your home décor? If you have a history of buying things that looked exciting at the market but now look tacky at home, bring along photos of the rooms in your house to reference the next time you travel. Stay away from big statues or decorative plates, which have a tendency to gather dust and become clutter that you can’t throw away because you inevitably become emotionally attached to it all, à la: “But that’s the Mickey Mouse statue I got from Florida when I visited Grandma…”
- Whatever you do, don’t start a collection of animal parts. Avoid jewelry, ornaments, chopsticks, and other trinkets made from coral, bone, shell, reptile skin, teeth, or fur. If you’re unsure what the product is made of, ask the seller. (And if the seller doesn’t know, don’t buy it.) Buying animal products is environmentally devastating, and in some cases it’s illegal. If you’re transporting goods made from endangered species, you risk getting stopped and fined at customs. Check here for a handy list of products that should stay off your shopping list!
- Don’t pick your own animal or plant souvenirs either. Sand dollars and conchs belong on the beach, not on bathroom windowsills.
5. My favorite souvenirs are edible, like wine or jam. Buy local foods at farmers markets, wineries, and artisan stores such as cheese shops.
- Avoid delicatessens like caviar that put local wildlife at risk. Did you know that caviar is made of sturgeon eggs, and that all 27 species of the fish are threatened or endangered?!
- Keep in mind that some foods, like fresh fruit and soft cheeses, are regulated depending on the country from which you are traveling. Some food bans act as environmental safeguards. For example, in an effort to stop the spread of the Khapra beetle (one of the 100 worst invasive species in the world!), rice from certain countries is prohibited from entering the United States. If you don’t declare foods at U.S. customs, you could end up paying up to $10,000 in fines and penalties. If you’re bringing food back into the U.S.
Other Ways to Provide Economic Support
It’s true that buying souvenirs from local businesses can help boost the local economy and improve the environment. A few years ago, I visited the Peruvian Amazon and saw first-hand how every basket or belt woven and sold by a native Bora artisan empowered her family to rely less on logging as an income source. It’s not that the Bora wanted to cut down their own trees, it’s that they were unwillingly thrown into the global economy and given few job opportunities.
But buying stuff isn’t the only way to do good with your money in a foreign land. Instead of buying tactile souvenirs for your family and friends, donate to a local charity in their name. If you visit Costa Rica, you could buy a “Cerveza” shirt for your brother and a mug for Mother… or, with the help of The Nature Conservancy, you could adopt an acre of local rainforest! In Costa Rica, about 20,000 acres of land are deforested annually. Each year, about 2 million visitors pass through the country. So what if just 1% of those visitors (20,000) adopted an acre for just $50 each?
Some say that in the near future we won’t be licking postcard stamps and stuffing Eiffel Tower statues into our suitcases… We’ll be sending our family and friends electronic postcards that give them the option of printing out an Eiffel Tower statue using their 3-D printers. But I don’t think that’s the future of souvenirs. Many of us have already concluded that a Facebook album is a handier way to remember a trip than a cheap statue (even a cheap statue from a fancy 3-D printer). We’re tired of filling our homes and landfills with junk. We think twice before jumping on a gas-guzzling plane, but when we do book a flight to a foreign land, we hope to give something back to that land, not to strip it of its resources. I predict that, in time, those cheap souvenirs stands will be replaced with quality, local, environmentally friendly goods because, with our dollars, we tourists will demand that change.
