Sending The Memories Home

So much time and effort goes into packing your bag before setting off on a trip that the idea of adding anything else to it along the way is frankly terrifying. It’s probably taken you weeks to find a way to squeeze your favourite, oversized type of shampoo into the Tetris puzzle that is now your bag.

The truth is though, that we all find things along the way that we’d love to have for ourselves. After all, you’re probably visiting somewhere far far away and they have all sorts of shiny exciting things you’ve never seen before. I know when we were travelling we were particularly hard on ourselves, looking back there are a number of things I wish we’d picked up along the way from all sorts of weird and wonderful places.

We were so concerned with the weight of our bags that we didn’t even entertain the idea of buying something new. However, your bag doesn’t even have to come into it, with worldwide shipping companies like TNT Direct it’s easy to collect the things you want without putting any extra strain on your shoulders.

Am I saying you should go on a wild spending spree? No, just don’t pass up the opportunity to keep hold of or collect the things that mean something to you.

What can you send home?

The Little Bits

Postcards, hostel business cards, train tickets, posters and the entrance tickets to all those magical national parks you’ve visited. Everyone likes to hold onto these little bits but usually before long they disappear and are lost forever.

It probably goes without saying that they’ll get thrown out at some point in the future but, when your back at home suffering from the travel blues they’ll give you something to look through and make a great collage piece of your adventure if that’s your thing.

Creative Commons Flickr Credit: Gavin Firkser

Event Tickets

And in my case, that means tickets to football matches.

I like to try and go to games in as many different places as possible and while collecting the scarf of every team I see appeals to me, it doesn’t appeal to my wallet. By attending the games I already have the tickets and they make a great souvenir that I’m always paranoid about losing, plus I can use them to impress my friends with worldwide football knowledge.

Gifts

We seem to live in a culture where it’s expected that you’ll return from a holiday with gifts for other people. I’m sure you’ve worked in an office at some point where you’ve forgotten that gift and grabbed some sweets from the airport last minute, we’ve all been there.

Thankfully on a long term backpacking trip you only really need to consider those really close to you. Once again, visiting all of these new places it’s only a matter of time before you come across something perfect for your mum. What better way to surprise her when she’s missing you than with an unexpected delivery from the other side of the world?

Creative Commons Flickr Credit: kris krüg

Your Jeans

Well, maybe not literally your jeans.

This is probably the must useful thing about worldwide shipping for backpackers. For first timers, it’s pretty much inevitable that you’ll over pack and somewhere between day two and seven you’ll be ready to throw half of your belongings out the window. Avoid the spontaneous impulse to do so and instead head to the nearest post office and send it all home.

What’s the strangest thing you’ve sent home while backpacking? Or maybe there is something you wish you’d have sent?