Dear Myself,

You know what’s not a good souvenir?  Books.

Yes, books are wonderful.  You love them, you crave them, they bring you happiness and such.

But books are also heavy, and you are traveling via airplane and there is a weight limit for luggage.

I know, I know.  You start off small.  You just get a couple of paperbacks that are from an independent bookstore here in London and thus aren’t available anywhere else in the world.  Plus, 2/3 of them are gifts!  Totally understandable.

And then a notebook.  You need one for your studies here, and they’re unusual again.  So just a notebook or two.

Or four.

Then came the souvenir program, the book for your classroom…

The gorgeous French children’s book with the laser-cut illustrations, and the book of paper cats for your classroom…

and you’ll think you’re done.  You’ll think this is enough, this is fine.  But c’mon.  You know yourself, and you know it’s not enough.  Because there’s a bookstore in Jason’s neighborhood that you keep walking past and you know there are books here in England that you can’t get in the US and you know you have nephews who like books and you also have a weakness right now for poetry and there’s that one book Jason was talking about and what’s the harm in just take a quick look?

This.  This is the harm:

You buy nine books. Nine MORE books.  And then you lay out all of the books on your bed and think about how you have to get them all home and you’ll wonder if you have a problem, especially since you still have 3.5 days to go.

But you’ve been trained for this.  You were raised by parents who taught you that if you bring it, you carry it.  Surely this will all fit in your carryon bag, which will eliminate the worry about the checked bag weight limit.  Right?

Still.  Why can’t you be drawn to something practical?  Something foldable and lightweight and small and just as good a souvenir? Scarves or yarn or tiny earrings?

Or, you know, you could just decide to spend the rest of your souvenir budget on pottery.

Yup.  Real practical packing item, pottery.  Well done, you.