Souvenirs are a great way to remember a vacation once you get home, but sometimes they can be hard to fit in your suitcase, especially if you have chronic overpacker.
Outing‘S Catriona Rowntree knows better than anyone how to travel efficiently and has the perfect answer to the souvenir dilemma.
Start collecting refrigerator magnets.
She tells 9Travel that refrigerator magnets are the ideal travel souvenir.
“If you’re going to collect anything, keep it to something you can easily grab and take with you.”
“You can get one at any airport, right before you leave to get home,” she says.
For her, the tradition started when a visitor to her home noticed that Catriona didn’t have many trinkets for a travel reporter showing all the places she had visited.
And so her magnetic wall was born. While some people hang magnets on their refrigerators, Catriona bought a magnetic sheet to stick in her pantry, where she keeps her keepsakes.
“I could, of course, stand here and tell you a story for every magnet there,” she notes, looking fondly at the wall.
“I absolutely love looking at this wall and seeing all the crazy places I’ve been. Of course, the crazier the magnet, the better,” she laughs, pointing to a magnet of a sailor’s head that doubles as a bottle opener . .
Magnets on her wall include magnets from Hvar in Croatia, Bora Bora in Tahiti, a lion head to signify seeing the big five on safari in South Africa, and even a Lightning Ridge magnet from here in Australia.
Catriona notes that some travelers are equally fond of collecting snow globes from every destination they visit around the world. But you can’t get anything better for her than a refrigerator magnet.