The Souvenir We Bought Before We Even Left

Woah, a no-makeup pic on the blog? I must be pretty brave!

I read somewhere (I wish I remember exactly where) that the most meaningful souvenirs you can bring home from a vacation are the photos you take throughout your journey. This idea is what convinced Nate and I to dip into our Europe savings fund to purchase a camera. It was hard to see that money go, but we both felt better about it once we realized that the pictures we take abroad will last us much longer and mean much more than anything else money could buy.

You're probably thinking, "What? You weren't bringing a camera to Europe with you?" Yes, we were. Kind of. We both have our iPhones, but we also had a little Kodak point-and-shoot camera that I was planning to take most of our photos with. It wasn't a very good camera... it had literally the same exact specs that our iPhone cameras have, minus a few special features that we most likely wouldn't be using on our trip anyway.

So, we took a trip around town to 3 different Costco's and a Best Buy to find the perfect camera. Nate had done some research and we ended up buying a nice little Sony digital camera. It's not a digital SLR or anything, but it has received excellent reviews and ended up being the perfect camera for our price range.

I'm excited to use this souvenir not only for Europe, but for Maui, birthdays, Christmases and any other big family events that may come up in our future!

What's the best souvenir you've ever purchased on a vacation? Do you prefer taking photos over shopping for something to bring home?