By As we’re planning out our travels, we each budget a portion of our money to shop.
You may be thinking shopping malls or high-end stores. It’s quite the opposite actually.
We love little shops, boutiques and street vendors. Also it’s really fun to haggle prices! How else are we going to hone our negotiation skills?
We’ll admit some of (ahem, most of) our purchases are a bit random. Val’s are anyway. Kim’s are more of a quirky obsession. So we figured we’d share a few of the random items Val has purchased as well as the quirky must-buys for Kim. Keep reading!
Val picked up this gorgeous mask on 2 Girls Who Travel’s first trip to New Orleans. We have no idea which shop it came from, but a fair guess would be somewhere in the French Quarter – although you can find them in almost any novelty shop there. Now, ask us if she’s ever worn it?
Val is super proud of this one…not only did she negotiate the price, but also the sculptured head she wanted. This came from a gift shop in Greece (we think Athens) and the owner was trying to offer up Ares – tuh! No thanks, everybody knows Zeus is the BEST Greek god.
Get your minds out of the gutter. This is a work of art, hand sculpted by an artist in Havana, Cuba. The man had so many on display – all colors, sizes, etc. Ahem – anyways that’s all we have to say about this item.
So not sure what to call this (it’s not a wind chime, but it moves similarly). Basically you hang it outside your home or on your patio and when the wind hits it, the colors move … Val picked this up on one of our trips to Mexico – wanna say Puerto Vallarta. The woman showed us in the shop how it worked, so imagine Val’s disappointment when she got home and it didn’t move at all 😐 – still pretty though.
On to Kim’s quirky obsessions…
Everyone likes a good shot glass, right? Because you never know when you want to have shot with a friend or two — or 37.
Magnets are a girl’s best friend, or however the saying goes…
Kim makes it her mission to pick up a magnet on every trip…no seriously. We’re not joking.
So you may be wondering how we became fascinated with this stuff…honestly Val just has an affinity for picking up random things that catch her eye. The more unique, the better. Each item reminds her of that particular destination and so she can have a physical representation of her memories.
For Kim, she started collecting magnets during childhood because she loved to see them every day on her fridge as a reminder of her adventures…plus they are usually one of the most cost-efficient options for souvenirs for a kid!
Her older brother was in the Air Force and traveled the world and when he’d come home to visit, he’d bring his shot glass collection. Kim decided she would do that one day – see the world and get cool little glasses! (*Back then she didn’t know what you did with those little glasses; she just thought they were cute!)
What about you? What are some interesting, unique or downright ridiculous items you’ve snagged while traveling? Let us know in the comments.
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