Travel Collectables: Stickers, Beer Labels and Magnets

You may have read down the years how I always try to collect souvenirs on my travels. For example, when I backpacked around the world, I would always buy a fridge magnet for my Mum, send a postcard to my youngest brother Daniel and occasionally I would buy random gifts for my Dad, my brother Marko and my sister Cathy. For myself, I would collect banknotes, coins and stamps from every country.

My Beer Travel Collection
I also enjoy drinking and trying new beers in unusual and quirky places and as such I try to avoid the global, commercial excremental brand names. Each time I tried a new beer in a country, I’d write it down, I’d try to remember to take a photo of it, keep the bottle top (if it was a bottle), peel the label off and stick it in my album, as well as trying to find a beer mat or coaster for that beer!

My Travel Sticker Collection
Having owned a few physical items on my travels, I also started collecting travel stickers. My old guitar and laptop had stickers stuck on them, from places I had been. Since I don’t own a suitcase though, I don’t actually have anywhere to put these stickers while I’m travelling. So now, I simply buy them in places I go, and later in life will consider what I should do with them.

My Travel Embroidered Flag Collection
In 2006, my parents bought me a green fleece with Northern Ireland on it. Gradually I started to buy iron on embroidered patches and put them on this fleece. It started with just a few and then it grew and grew and grew until I had over 100 iron on patches! I started buying the flags of each country I visited as well as any significant regions or quirky badges that took my fancy.

My Stamp Collection
I have over 1000 stamps! I have collected them for years, even before I became a long term backpacker. These days, everytime I see a cool new stamp in a new country, I buy it for the collection. I even have stamps from Adammia, Christiania and Uzupis, a hat-trick of unrecognised countries!

My Mum’s Fridget Magnet Collection
I try to buy my Mum a fridge magnet from every new country, or even city or town if significant enough. This even has included custom magnets down the years. Basically my Mum has more fridge magnets than will ever fill a fridge and her current fridge is not even metal so those fridge magnets are now in a box! But I’m always looking for a new magnet for Mum!