The best souvenirs tell stories

Look for souvenirs that actually help you remember a trip

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
tip is that the best souvenirs tell stories. So skip
the T shirts or magnets that say the name of

(00:24):
your destination and instead choose an object that evokes a
story you will be able to retell in the future.
Today's tip comes courtesy from Marcy Simms, president of the
PSI Simms Foundation, an author of Leading with Respect Adventures
of an Off price fashion Pioneer. When My Best of

(00:45):
Both Worlds podcasts co host Sarah hart Unger interviewed Marcy
for that podcast a few months ago, she mentioned that
while on a trip to Santa Fe, she had bought
a handmade friendship bowl with people holding hands on top
of the bowl. It is a bowl, she noted, with
a story to tell. I love the idea of aiming

(01:08):
for souvenirs that tell stories at its route. A souvenir
is something that helps us remember a trip. That's what
souvenir means in French, to remember. So when you are traveling,
try to bring home mementos that prompt you to remember
stories from your trip. If you are in Paris. For instance,

(01:29):
lucky you and you see an artist sketching in a
park near your hotel every afternoon, perhaps you could buy
a sketch from him. Anytime you look at the sketch
in the future, you will be reminded of your time
in Paris and walking through the park and seeing him
at work. Or if your kids are fascinated by the

(01:50):
people playing chess in the park, you could buy them
a chessboard. Every time they play, you will recall stories
of your trip. Or perhaps he looked forward to a
girl's beach trip for months only to get rained on
every day. You could buy a cheerful rainbow umbrella to
make possible daily walks to your daily ice cream parlor

(02:10):
after you get home. Every time you use the umbrella,
you can remember the torrential rain you saw from your window,
the scrabble tournament that you and your friends enjoyed in
the airbnb, and your daily ice cream outings in the past.
On this show, I have talked about the fact that
souvenirs don't need to look like souvenirs. Some of the

(02:32):
best options can be things we use in our daily
lives that conjure up our travels. Every time we see them.
I bought a lovely brown coat with fur trim fake,
don't worry when I was in Spain about twenty years ago.
I saw it in a store window and fell in
love with it, and I bought it. I loved wearing

(02:54):
that brown coat for years, and every time I wore it,
I remembered Christmas in Spain, even though the word Spain
was nowhere to be seen. Similarly, anything that tells a
story can be a souvenir. An evocative seashell can bring
back beach memories as well or better than any random

(03:14):
item with the beach's name on it, especially if you
picked up that seashell in a little shop near the
beach after watching your kids point out the shells on
the beach all morning. The shell helps recall that morning,
and suddenly you remember. It is truly a souvenir. In

(03:36):
the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's
to making the most of our time. Thanks for listening
to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback,
you can reach me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com.

(04:05):
Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts
from iHeartMedia, please visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
wherever you listen to your favorite shows.