I have seen a lot of people here say that they leave space to buy some souvenirs. I wanted to share what I do because it might help some people...
This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/onebag by /u/MusicCityJayhawk on 2025-09-29 04:06:23+00:00.

I have seen a lot of people here say that they leave space to buy some souvenirs. I wanted to share what I do because it might help some people here who struggle with trying to save room for souvenirs.

In every city I visit, I buy a postcard. I usually throw them in my laptop sleeve for protection. When you buy postcards they will usually offer you a small paper bag to protect them, so I will keep one of those bags to protect all of the postcards from my laptop going in and out of the sleeve multiple times.

What do I do with these postcards? I will have a picture frame made for all of the postcards I collect on each trip. I would rather have my postcards displayed prominently on a wall than buy some souvenir that I shove into a drawer and never see again, or buy a shirt that I will eventually outgrow or get stained.

Postcards are the perfect one-bag souvenir solution because:

  • They take up very little space
  • They have very little weight in a world where airlines are now weighing bags.
  • Everyone can afford them ($1-2)
  • You can make them look good by placing them in a nice frame, or finding some other creative way to display them.
  • In many tourist destinations, they are sketches or prints of paintings. So they don’t have to be the cliche post cards that look like an advertisement of a city.
  • I have sometimes bought a postcard at a local shop, but I later find a better postcard. Because they are usually 1-2 dollars, you never feel bad about buying an extra post card.
  • You can get more than one post card in a city if you feel like it. When I was in Rome, I bought several postcards.
  • If you want to get a gift for loved ones, send them a post card from the city you are visiting. Sending a quick note to tell someone that you were thinking about them when traveling would probably make their day, and it would give you an excuse to tell them about your trip when they call you after getting your card a few days later.

That is just my two cents. I hope it helps some of you with your packing dilemmas.