Eight Things You Shouldn't Bring Home from Vacation

The items you bring home from your trip can be of two types: souvenirs and smuggled items. I advise you not to buy souvenirs or contraband goods that you want to bring home. I'm not just talking about an item, for this souvenir to be worth preserving and cherishing, it needs to be not only a rare and valuable item as a souvenir, but also experiences that you hope will become a part of you when your trip is over. Poor preservation isn't much of a difference, but here are the information and experiences you'll want to make sure you leave it behind for good and for good.
It's worth some thought and action to make sure nothing you don't want comes home with you; Here are eight things you should leave behind before you board the plane home.

1. Coins and Currency

Leave coin and currency collecting behind. If you will absolutely never use them. While a country packs so you don't forget to bring all the money you have left over from your last trip, even if you know you'll be visiting again, very few travelers, despite their good intentions, have the storage capacity, time and energy to spare. The best thing is to spend all the foreign currency you have and return home with empty pockets. Or at least almost empty.
If, unlike others, you know you'll be returning soon, an exception might be to take one or two larger denominations of bills home with you, which can be useful to avoid paying transaction fees before paying ATM fees when you return. When you get off the plane to a foreign airport, 20-50 dollars of foreign currency in your pocket can provide great comfort.
If you collect foreign coins and banknotes. As much as it makes a good souvenir, narrow it down to a few pieces that really interest you and spend or exchange (or even gift) the rest before you leave. If you want to use your remaining foreign currency for the benefit of others, here are some tips on foreign exchange, including information about UNICEF's Change for Good program.

2. Items that are likely to pass through security

On a return trip from Lithuania via Amsterdam last year, the list of permitted substances was slightly enforced at Vilnius Airport. When we arrived at the gate for our Amsterdam-bound flight home, security was tightened and many people flying from smaller airports were forced to throw away the belongings they had spent in Vilnius. The big bottle of Gira beer? I am sad. Homemade borscht? If you can eat it before the flight, please do so; Otherwise, I'm sorry.
There was no layover on our flight home to the USA, but if there had been security would have been tighter. We all know the things airport security staff will allow through, not the things they won't, and when it comes to international airports this can often be reinforced.
So, if you don't want the things you carry in your handbag to spill out at each successive airport while packing your suitcase for your flight home, you should choose what and how to pack it, not just based on the first one but also on the one with the strictest security among the airports you will pass through.

3. Fake Accent

Many international travelers find themselves trying to keep up with speech patterns while reviewing their accent at home while traveling. There are a few good reasons why they do this, for example, when overseas I sometimes find it helpful to enunciate every word much more clearly than my South Jersey roots would usually demand.
You'll usually want to reduce this when you get home. If you like your words a little more clearly, you can pause some of your diction improvement, but don't let yourself develop a European-like accent after a few weeks in an old country. You ask why? This would be imitation.

4. Items You Don't Need Anymore

There's no reason to take home things that are broken, worn out, won't fit, require moving to a new home, or simply you no longer need. Is your travel toothbrush worn out? Throw it away before leaving the hotel. Alternatively, if you're done with something someone else can use, don't forget to give it away. Ask the hotel concierge if there are any local charities that could use your belongings.

5. Creatures

Good night, sweet dreams... and do not bring any creatures in your clothes or bag. Bed bugs are the most obvious culprit to avoid. Because it is very difficult to destroy them, especially when they haunt your home.
Bed bugs won't be the only thing you want to avoid. Bringing home cockroaches, bug odors (many of which come in packaged goods from China to America) or even mammals that can enter anywhere, such as mice, can leave you in a victim situation if they enter your living spaces. When packing and unpacking, check both your bag and clothing for stowaways.

6. Foreign Viruses

Just as much as you want to avoid carrying visible (or barely visible) creatures, you'll want to try to do the same for disease-causing viruses and bacteria. It is not uncommon for insects to spread internationally to a new country due to travelers unknowingly carrying them; Over the last few years, most US universities have seen several disease outbreaks, most likely through international students coming to America.

We said that it is not easy to keep yourself away from viruses and bacteria. The best way forward is to do the things you usually do when trying to prevent infection and then see the results. There are some tactics that include immediately washing the clothes you take out of your suitcase in hot water, cleaning your suitcase and taking a look at it when you get home, airing it to dry it, using antibacterial gel and soap, and finding a solution no matter what happens in this area. I know people who put their bags under the porch in freezing conditions or put their clothes and bags directly in the sun in the summer, both of which can help rid your luggage of bacteria and viruses that proliferate in hot, humid conditions.
You don't just have to watch out for microscopic stowaways at your destination; The planes themselves are full of viruses, bacteria, and a fair amount of the usual filth.

7. Illegal Things

This might be okay in Amsterdam or Uruguay, and it might be okay in a sense in Switzerland and Spain (not to mention Colorado and Washington), but it might not be legal in most places where it would invite trouble, especially at airport security checkpoints.
This is not something you should take lightly; Transporting illegal items across international borders can result in very serious charges. If you have such items, leave them behind.
It's not just the most obvious items that will get you into trouble. This could be wormwood or seaweed oil or offal stew. Additionally, products that are otherwise perfectly legal in the United States—fruits, vegetables, seeds, and the like—may not be allowed to be transported across borders unless necessary. When in doubt, leave it at home.

8. Jet Lag

You can learn exactly what it is and what you need to do to avoid it in our blog post Five Ways to Beat Jet Lag, where we talk about this situation in more detail.