When I travel foreign countries, I occasionally meet a stranger or a local people I happen to have a pleasant talk, and we usually exchange name card if that's available.

As I carry my personal contact card with my phone number, emails and messenger ID's, giving that to a new friend is a good introduction to them to remember me later on.

But sometimes I feel I need to give them a small gift to remember and appreciate my encounter with them, but it's usually difficult to find such gifts while on the road. And some cases, giving gift might be an insult to them for their kindness. Usually, saying "Thank You. It was a pleasure meeting you" or having the picture taken with them, and giving them my name card might suffice the situation.

Being a U.S. citizen, I found many were interested in Los Angeles where I live now and San Francisco where I used to live for quite some time.

For some places where I can leave a message or souvenir as a visitor, I frequently put one US dollar bill with a comment on it. $1.00 is not much in terms of face value, but as a foreigner in that country, leaving it as a souvenir with a comment is a special souvenir for them in many cases. Defacing a bill is a punishable in US I've heard, but that functions as a memorable souvenir.

In some places where the wish-fountain greets visitors, being a foreigner, I toss 25 US cent coin, which is also a souvenir for them. Although I could have used local coins, a quarter functions as a memorable souvenir. When visiting Buddhists temples, putting a US coin or a US doallar bill functions well.

In some special cases where I need to leave more memorable souvenir to some people, I used to give them retractable ID holder, which is a bit costly, but is quite practical for a daily life. Among all ID holders I've ever had, the one with Apple logo were most appreciated. Unfortunately as I left Apple Computer and it's difficult to visit Apple Store, I can't give them out anymore.

(June 4, 2005)

Copyright© 2005 Daniel SW Kim