There isn’t any more space on my walls, bookshelves or closets for all the memories of my exotic and wonderful travel adventures.
I can close my eyes and still see the image of the red rocks of Monument Valley inside my brain. Or, I can wear a beautiful turquoise necklace bought from a Native American there.
I can enjoy the oil painting of a field of flowers with a volcano behind, hanging in my dining room, shipped back from Peru on my trip to Machu Picchu. Or, I can think about the back-breaking work it took to build that, before backhoes and other heavy construction machinery.
I can listen to one of my favorite Broadway musicals, “The King and I” and think about Thailand, or I can pick up the tiny temple jar I bought in Chang Mai that now decorates a bookshelf.
These days you can buy jewelry, knick knacks, paintings, floor pillows from exotic lands in Pottery Barn, Pier One, even Wal-Mart, K-Mart and Target. But nothing, absolutely nothing, compares with bringing home a Chinese vase from your trip to China, a hand-knit alpaca sweater from Bolivia, a genuine German beer stein from Bavaria or Berlin, a painted bowl carved out of a single piece of wood with a jaguar for a handle from an artist colony in Johannesburg.
The memories you bring home are a combination of things you can touch or wear and the ones you just remember. They are what makes any trip, whether that is a trip close to home or one to an exotic destination far, far away, a trip of a lifetime.
What is your favorite travel memory or souvenir you brought home?
