9/3/24

Howdy,

It’s the travel edition. Buckle up!

Photo:

We’ve done three cooking classes over the past year— Paella in Madrid, Petit Farcis in Nice, and most recently, pasta in Tuscany. I highly recommend doing cooking classes while traveling if that’s your thing.

Idea:

While traveling abroad, it’s common to need to show your passport while checking in for the flight, going through customs, boarding, and checking in to hotels. Each time I have to (well I think it’s the courteous thing to do) flip to the photo page before handing it off. And each time, the flipping to that page pisses me off.

So, my solution.

Put a small piece of double-sided tape on the inside cover of your passport.

This makes getting to the photo page ridiculously easy.

You’re welcome!

*I’ll caveat that this is the way American passports are designed. I assume it’s the same for all countries, but not 100%.

Thought:

The 3 Levels of Souvenirs

I’ve been thinking a lot about bringing travel home recently and the kinds of souvenirs that offer us the most value, so I concocted the 3 Levels of Souvenirs.

Level 1: Basic Souvenirs

Pop into a gift shop and buy a fridge magnet, shot glass, tea towel, etc. This Level of souvenir reminds you of the place you visited, or “did” (please, can we end this use of referring to a trip?). They are the same thing, just with an image swap of the place you’ve visited.

Despite being the lowest level of souvenir, they still serve a purpose. And I’ll be the first to admit that we have a dozen magnets stuck on the refrigerator.

Level 2: Unique Souvenirs

These are souvenirs you either play a part in creating, or are very specific to a place.

For example, having wine from a winery tasting shipped back to your house.

Artwork you acquire while traveling is Level 2. It doesn’t even have to have the destination written on it.

Doing a tile painting class in Lisbon and taking home the tile would be Level 2.

Level 3: Experiential Souvenirs

These souvenirs are the best and also the hardest to acquire because you often can’t ‘buy’ them.

In this level, the souvenir is a repeated experience or activity that you continue to do after you return from your travels. It’s the souvenir equivalent of what’s called a ‘memory dividend’ in the book Die With Zero.

Take the pasta-making class in the photo above. We learned to make pasta from scratch and decided we were going to do it at home. So I bought a pasta rolling machine, and we actually made pasta. (Definitely wasn’t as easy as it was during the class.) But now, each time we make pasta, we are and will be taken back to that day and the experience we had.

Here are two more examples that were completely self-collected:

The hotel we stayed at in Tuscany had an amazing red fruit crostata—a tart with a really buttery crust and jam filling—served every morning at breakfast. We liked it so much that I asked for the recipe. What we got was just a few ingredients scribbled on a piece of paper. When we got home, we looked up some directions to go along with the ingredients, baked it, and it was delicious. Now, we’ll make it again and relive that memory from Italy—a true Level 3 souvenir.

Another example: While Olivia’s brother was visiting, we went over to Cascais one day and had lunch. I ordered a Drambuie iced coffee. I didn’t know what Drambuie was, but it turned out to be fantastic. So I went up to the bar and asked how to make it: just a shot of Drambuie over an ice-shaken espresso . I made my first one at home yesterday, and it brought me right back to that day.

Most of my examples are food/drink related, but they don’t have to be. Food and drinks are a big part of why people travel, so it makes sense that some of the best souvenirs involve them.

Level 3’s could also be a skill you acquire, or something you hear that you end up repeating. Even inside jokes your repeat from a vacation are a kind of Level 3 souvenir if you can remember where they came from.

The gist of a Level 3 souvenir is that it is experiential.

So the takeaway: Grab the fridge magnet, but also try to bring home some souvenirs you can create new experiences with.

*I have a whole other thought on how much blue sky opportunity there is for hospitality brands to create Level 3 Souvenirs, but that’s a thought for another month.

See ya next month!

-Troy