If you are a travel lover, you probably miss the days when you could spend your holidays exploring a new country. There is nothing more thrilling than experiencing a new dish, visiting a historical site, or interacting with the locals and learning about their culture. If your love for travel is met with a strong sense of nostalgia, then you probably have a lot of space taken up by souvenirs you have brought back from different adventures abroad. These souvenirs serve as reminders of a fantastic place you visited or a thrilling experience you had. Behind each object is an exciting story that rushes back into your memory when we come across them.
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When these souvenirs are displayed proudly where others can see them, they can be a great icebreaker for conversations and starters for friendships over common interests. The taste of travelers in the souvenirs they choose can tell you a lot about who they are. When a traveler walks into a gift shop, they have their pick of souvenirs in the form of clothing, postcards, jewelry, coins, art, books and the list goes on.
My choice of souvenirs is a bit too predictable; I collect children’s books from each country I visit. It has become a tradition that I maintain in all of my trips. Usually, I try to find books that deeply represent that country whether it has become a classic or a hidden gem that I can find. This has resulted in an ever-expanding personal library with overflowing bookshelves. Since I have not been able to travel in 2020 because of travel restrictions due to COVID19, I decided to reorganize my books which are my most valuable mementos. As expected, this exercise brought back a flood of memories, the most important of which is the story behind me starting this tradition in the first place.
In 2016, I remember walking down a street in Paris on one of my trips when I saw a cute little bookstore. As with most book lovers, I immediately went inside the bookstore to see what they had to offer. In one bookshelf, I saw no less than 10 children’s books about Paris as a city or France as a country written in English. There was much more in other languages as well. Needless to say, I purchased all 12 books which were in English. When I returned to the UAE, I visited multiple bookstores to see how many children’s books they had about my hometown Abu Dhabi written in English. At the time, I could not find much on the shelves of local bookstores. Therefore, I vowed to produce a fun children’s book to feature my beloved hometown, Abu Dhabi. Our book “Abu Dhabi Places to See” came out in 2017 and I am pleased that it was well-received, as it is one of our best sellers.
Below is a selected list of the treasured books that I collected from my travels. Do you have a favorite book that brings back fond memories of a country you visited?
Egypt: “Three Tales from Ancient Egypt” adapted by Samir Sobhy
France: “A walk in Paris” by Salvatore Rubbino
Georgia: “Five Georgian Folk Tales” retold by Elene Kvernadze and Eli Feiman
Greece: “The Trojan War Odyssey” text by Anastasia D. Makri
India: “365 Tales from Indian Mythology” by Om Books International
Ireland: “1916: A Country is Born” by Fergal McCarthy
Italy: “The Betrothed” text by Cinzia Bigazzi
Kenya: “We All Went to Serena” written by Barke Ramadhan
Finland: “The Moomins and the Great Flood” by Tove Jansson
USA: “Make Way for Ducklings” by Robert McCloskey
South Africa: “How Rhino got his Baggy Skin” by Andrea Florens and Claire Norden
Switzerland: “Heidi” by Johanna Spyri and Maja Dusikova