Like most travelers, I have specific mementos I collect from my trips. My main collection is shot glasses (I have over a hundred), and secondarily I always look for a “unique” memento (something I can wear, like jewelry, or something for around the house that isn’t too tacky). Along the way, I started noticing a new pattern in my collections: scarves.
On my first visit to India, I was mesmerized by the color and detail in the scarves, which are a major textile there. I picked up several as gifts, but kept one for myself:
Istanbul is, of course, another place famous for their beautiful scarves. This time, I came home with 5 of them. Most of them I purchased for quite a bargain…I want to say I paid $2 USD total for both of the striped ones and $5 USD total for the flowered ones. I splurged on the green one and paid around $20 USD. Oddly enough, though, it was the $2 scarves I’ve come to love and wear the most. They still carry the scent of the Grand Bazaar:
I used to visit the Philippines for work, and on each of my last two visits my lovely co-workers gifted me with some beautiful scarves:
Finally, on my last trip to Romania, I bought this one at a quaint little underground shop in Sighişoara:
There’s something almost magical about being able to wear a scarf or a piece of jewelry from a place you have visited, and it has a way of keeping the memories alive and with you. I wish I had picked up my love of scarves earlier in my travels, but I know there are scarves waiting for me in the pockets of the world I have yet to visit….
...and then there was Sarah 
SO beautiful, all of them. When a friend and I were in Madrid I had to cut her off…she put all of them on at once to take a picture and needless to say her head was barely in the shot!
Thank you! And I can understand how your friend got carried away…seeing them all together, its very hard to choose 🙂