Coasters Make Great Travel Souvenirs

I love to collect coasters. I first started collecting coasters about 15 years ago on a trip to the west coast of the United States. I was on a business trip to San Diego and was looking for a small token of the trip to take back home. I can remember clearly the little shop on the harbor in San Diego that sold a variety of tile products including coasters. I chose a nice little scene with San Diego printed on tile. At this point I was not thinking of a collection but just a token of this trip.

A few months later on a trip to San Francisco with my husband, I came across the same type of tile coaster and purchased one with the San Franciso cable cars. Now my collection had begun, on all of our trips since then I search out a coaster to remind us of our travels.

Sometimes looking for single coasters can be quite a challenge and on a few occasions I have had to purchase a set to get the coaster that I wanted.

In researching for this lens, I have discovered that people collect coasters for a variety of reasons. There are coasters for favorite sports teams, coasters for with scenes of nature, coasters with art designs and a wide variety of beer and bar coasters.

Once I started collecting coasters, the challenge was started. Everywhere we go I look for coasters.

My husband and I love to take cruises that stop in many ports. Sometimes we take tours at the ports and may only have a short time for shopping. These stops always include looking for a new coaster to remember that city. It has become quite a challenge, and a lot of fun, to find just the right coaster.

Sometimes we are not successful in locating a coaster and on those occasions I now use a photograph that I have taken of the location and create a coaster from the photo when I return home.

The photo here depicts just a few of my many coasters. Starting in the back row, they are from the following cities or countries: San Diego,California, Jupiter, Florida, Hawaii, Sorrento, italy, Cyprus, Wales, and Delft, Holland.