Les Souvenirs

Souvenirs. Oh, I used to fall for them. For years I collected a silver souvenir spoon from every place I travelled (no photo as I no longer own them). And, gosh, so many trinkets that just added to clutter when I got home.

Then I decided to only buy magnets with place names to remind me of my travels every time I went to the refrigerator. Then I ran out of room on the refrigerator.

Over 50 years, I’ve traveled to about 50 countries, some many times, some for long time periods of up to a year or more. Much has been for work, but still. What a hell of a privilege.

When the travel gets to that point, I think the travel collections change, as I think they must (unless one has a giant house with room to spare for trinkets!)

The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) defines “souvenir” as “a thing that you buy and/or keep to remind yourself of a place, an occasion or a holiday.” I am loving this month’s challenge to think about what I have brought away from my travels that people might not typically think of as souvenirs. Things not found in the souvenir shops along the Seine in Paris or streets bordering Niagara Falls. My most treasured “souvenirs” have outlasted the junk I bought in souvenir shops around the world and are classified into five overlapping categories.

1. A SMALL Amount of Really Nice Stuff!

Here’s the “bought” part of my souvenirs. Instead of buying cheap souvenirs in the past ten years of travel, I have focused on buying one very nice article made in the country I visited. In New Zealand, my husband and I bought an expensive pottery bowl made by a famous artisan from Taranaki. Last year in Paris, I splurged on a gorgeous blue silk designer dress that was 70% off (and 150 euros at that), which I wear often when I go to an opera, ballet, or ballroom dance party in the city.

It doesn’t have to be expensive. I bought a beautiful painting of a street scene in Athens. I have amazing paper beads made by women who became my friends in northern Uganda. A merino wool sweater from New Zealand. Most are things I can use (the painting is on my office wall). When I do, I get to recall the wonderful time I had when I purchased them.

2. Photographs

Now we move onto what the OED describes as “kept things” that are reminders of places and occasions. My favorite souvenirs are the literally thousands of photos I have taken over a lifetime of travel. At times, I find myself looking for a particular scene — a sunset, perhaps, or a concert or a special event in a park. Clearly, at some point when I find myself with extra time (perhaps when I retire?) I need to create subject folders for my photos to be better able to find what I am looking for. The labels would be difficult, because they would overlap. For instance, I have stunning sunset taken over water. So would they go into sunsets or water photos? Would animal photos go into a folder about animals or folders with country labels? This is clearly going to take some time.

3. Adventures

I have always been a bit of a daredevil. In the States, my daughter and I participated in horse trials, which involved dressage, cross country jumping, and stadium jumping. I’ve scuba dived alongside raggie sharks in South Africa. I’ve white water rafted the Nile and New Zealand waters. Done safaris on horseback. Jumped out of a perfectly good plane in a tandem parachute over Lakeland, Florida. Love rollercoasters — the bigger, the better. And paraglided in New Zealand.

My adventures are irreplaceable souvenirs. Trekking silverback gorillas in Uganda with my husband and being knocked over by a silverback male who was startled is an amazing souvenir — I only wish someone had been recording that! Swimming with dolphins in Kaikoura, and stepping into steeping hot sand in the Coromandel, New Zealand, are souvenir adventures for me. Walking through Antelope Canyon in Arizona was an unforgettable souvenir adventure. Having my raft turn upside down in the Nile and wondering if I would make it after I just barely grabbed a breath before being dragged back under the water was another. Similarly, riding over the highest waterfall allowed for rafting in New Zealand with my son — fabulous souvenir!

4. Friendships

Back to the OED definition — “a thing that you buy and/or keep to remind yourself of a place, an occasion or a holiday.” People are hardly what I would describe as “things,” but they are among the strongest reminders of places and occasions. During one of my first major solo excursions way back in 1980, I was a graduate student at Trinity College Dublin, and my best friend there was a Japanese student. We met up again when I was a visiting professor in Tokyo in 2017, and it was like we had never been apart. In the interim, she has become a famous children’s author in Japan.

I have women friends in northern Uganda whom I consider heroes. They endured the brutality of the LRA war in Uganda and worked to help child soldiers return from the bush.

My dear friend from New Zealand who also works with refugees is coming to visit me in Paris this week. We met over our mutual work but bonded as friends over so much more.

And now, I have so many friends in Paris that make my time here feel more like home than the US ever could. We visit museums together, tour together, practice French together, attend events together, feast together. When I recently had a dental emergency, they were all recommending their dentist to me and offering to bring me ice cream, soup, smoothies, and anything I might need. What could be better to remind you of a place than friends like this?

5. Memories

The French word for memories is “souvenirs.” I love this connection between experiences and items. “Things” that most remind me of a place, occasion, or holiday are not physical things at all. These “souvenirs” live in my mind and heart. And they bridge the years from my early childhood to my current past.

They are far more precious than the Irish Waterford I keep in a china cabinet in my dining room. Or anything I have purchased on my many travels around the world.

My photos conjure them for me. They remind me of the beauty I have had the privilege to see, breathe in, savor; the remarkable and sometimes crazy adventures I have enjoyed; and the friendships I have had the joy to create. So many animals on African photo safaris. Birds and flowers in New Zealand and Australia. Castles in Ireland and France. Sunflower fields in Uganda. Sunsets in the Caribbean and Okinawa. Fourth of July fireworks in New York City. Competing in ballroom dance in Venice, Italy.

Then there are the memories not preserved on film (or megapixels). Sitting outside in the evening under a boma tree listening to Ugandan women tell me how they survived the LRA war. Reuniting with a man and his wife that I met when I was 17, 45 years later in England. Walking with volunteers for Save the City Paris to bring food to homeless refugees.

These are also souvenirs in the French sense of the word that beat out those magnets on my frig.

All of these souvenirs, from the physical things I have purchased to the photographs recording trotting around the globe, and the adventures, friendships, and memories are what create the richness of life I have been so grateful to experience, and that I continue to enjoy. This October challenge has allowed me the joy of returning to those many decades of travel that have made my life so full.

Here’s a shout-out to Wendi Gordon for her touching story about helping sea turtles survive in Maui. What meaningful souvenirs!

Simon Whaley’s story about the sycamore tree at Hadrian’s Wall is poignant and moving. The photos are so beautiful.

And Sandy Maximus, your painting souvenirs are stunning!