As a poor student in the 60’s, I was lucky to pull together the money for a trip to France, but didn’t have a single sou left to buy souvenirs. What I did instead was to carefully scour my change and collect one French coin of every denomination minted that year.
After I got home and got a little money together, I found a jeweler who made my centimes and francs into a beautiful charm bracelet. It represents the time and place of a life-changing trip, and decades later, I still wear my all-time favorite souvenir.