Worst Souvenirs Ever!

Ok we’ve all done it, gone on vacation and bought home a “collectable“.
Oh yeah - I’m talking about that fridge magnet, talking clock, fake state license plate, miniature Eiffel Tower with the word Paris on the side souvenir that you just had to have to remember the trip. Sooooo what was the souvenir that you just had to bring home.
Confess all!

The souvenir I just had to bring home - a wooden 48in hiking pole with “Zion Adventure Co.“ on the side. That pole help me scramble across a stream and under a waterfall, after that I just couldn’t leave it. *wink*

Some “tacky” souvenirs others have carted home. The world's worst holiday souvenirs: part two - Telegraph

I have a Pisa coffee mug that leans a bit more of a slant than the tower. I wanted to give it to my mom but she has very shaky hands and I might have gotten her scalded, so I kept it!
I "smuggled" a kilo of Stilton cheese in the center of my checked suitcase once. That was 30 yrs ago and I'm pretty sure it was illegal.

Worst souvenir I bought, and I fell for that one just like all Marines do in a far off land called SOUTH KOREA. Performing the yearlyTeam Spirit excercises, every Marine must go through the experience at least once to buy the infamous ROLEX WATCH! Let me tell you. You aint getting no rolex watch for TEN BUCKS and expect it to be real right? Well, that's all fine and dandy, but what I didn't expect was that the hour hand wouldn't make it back to Guam in the five days sailing. I laid the watch on my night stand and the vibration of the engine said "rattle rattle rattle" all night, and day long, and before I knew it, the hand came off. A pretty fake rolex gone berserk in less than a week. Didn't even get a chance to wear it and show it off.

BALI BAGS are like duffle bags, for shoppers in Bali, needing a cheap way to bring their souvenirs home, but these duffle bags litterally FALL APART. The zipper goes first, then soon, the bag rips apart. Real crap.

I bought some OKINAWAN SAKI and boy, when I took it back to the ship, and had a shot of it on my way back to Guam, it tasted like rubbing alcohol. The nastiest taste ever! I bought it just because it had OKINAWA SAKI on the lable. I gave a bottle of it to my friend on Saipan with fare warning. When I came back to Saipan, he informed me that it was the nastiest tasting saki he had ever had, and that it tasted like.....RUBBING ALCHOHOL!

Some of the leather wallets I picked up in transit though the Suez Canal, looked like it still had blood stain in it that hadn't quite been removed, it was stained in red color when you opened up the inside of the wallet where the money goes. Kind of like they killed the animal quick to sell the hide product.

I picked up an ashtray in Acapulco Mexico, made of ceramic, not even painted, just looks like clay actually, with the name of the restaurant. It was given to me as a souvenir, I still use it in my man cave (my garage) where I can smoke my cigars and watch football or tv. Just to use as an ashtray, its only good for that, nothing else. Garbage, but its functional and I've had it for years now.

Here is one. I got a souvenir from NYC. I'm looking at it right now. King Kong with one arm hugging the Empire State Building and his other arm pounding his chest with his fist. He's about almost as tall as the building itself. I wouldn't let kids play with it, they may poke their eyes out with the needle on the top of the building. On the bottom of the little stand it reads NEW YORK. Great for tourist eh?

I'd forgotten it, but I have a model of the Empire State Building too, no King Kong on mine just a thermometer in the front. But I do like the sound of yours. Nothing says New York like King Kong hanging off the Empire State Building - all my thermometer says is, it gets awfully cold in New York. http://bestsmileys.com/cold/13.gif

Don't know if this counts....I know its not what you really meant....but...........a scar on my foot from being 'stung' by a stingray on the beach at Tampa.

Was there with the whole family - and we were going for a swim in an area that had many other swimmers and seemed 'safe'. I had read up on the warnings and kept telling family to shuffle feet like me. Suddenly I was dinged and shouted out - they all thought I was joking...until I managed to raise my foot above the water line and everyone saw the blood sputing out !! And it really hurt !!

Quite an unforgettable souvenir.

Lee

Well, here is another trap about souvenir shopping overseas. I picked up some beautiful paintings in Asia, like in Bali, Korea, China, ect...but you don't think about what it will cost to frame the sob. Alot more than I paid the paintings for on every turn.

Don't buy cologne from street vendors in Bali. I bought some just to get them out of my hair, I mean like they followed me in a restaurant, about crying, so I forked out the 5 bucks just because I felt bad for the girl selling it, but not any worse than I did when I put the cologne on and the scent lasted maybe 5 minutes. It was obviously watered down or something.

And this one is a bit bizzare. I got some magnets for my refrigerator in Guatemala, of some mayan girls, in local costume, and one of them dropped from the door one time, and the head came off. I had to glue the head back on. I was hoping I wasn't cursed or something.......eeeek.

And now, I see a key chain, its a house with a see through glass filled with blue water and a plastic fish inside. Says Corpus Christi. I know I didn't buy it. Must have been my other half, my main squeeze, will have to ask her about that. Like what in the world made her buy that?

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Originally Posted by 29palms

And this one is a bit bizzare. I got some magnets for my refrigerator in Guatemala, of some mayan girls, in local costume, and one of them dropped from the door one time, and the head came off. I had to glue the head back on. I was hoping I wasn't cursed or something.......eeeek.

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This is hilarious^^^ If it had been Haiti you would have really had to worry. I've got a picture of a little girl (she looked to be about the same age as my daughter) that my wife doesn't want me to hang up because she says it creeps her out. I think its a great picture, though.

My useless ones: Got my kid a snow globe in NYC that all the water leaked out of. A bunch of 1l beer mugs-I never drink a liter of beer at home. A blanket from TJ- my dog liked that one. And of course a Hawaiian shirt from Honolulu.