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Whether or not you’re a shopper (and I can’t say that I particularly am), I do love me some good travel mementos. However, I’m not talking about the rubbish you see at the average stand aimed at tourists who barely know where they are (I’ll never forget the joints hawking spangly Mexican sombreros at the Leaning Tower of Pisa).

Whether you’re shopping for yourself or others, there are certain items that will always be worth seeking out. Paintings and other kinds of art are a prime example – wh

It was a rainy autumn day in Tokyo, as my companions and I shuffled out of the Toei Chikatetsu metro line at Asakusa Station. Emerging onto the street level, we quickly opened and raised our large, red paper umbrellas, on loan from our escorts, and made our way down a few alleys to the Ohshimaya Onda Chochin Lantern Shop.

Here, we were greeted with bows by Mr. Shunji Onda himself, a fifth generation master of the Japanese paper lantern.

Mr. Onda’s business was founded 160 years ago by his great-

Shopping in Costa Rica, whether for Christmas gifts or birthdays, etc. is a creative affair in Playa Guiones, near Nosara.

The eclectic Guanacaste beach community is home to more than 35 talented international and national artists who sell handmade art and products. The Nosara Artisans group always holds an annual Holiday Art Fair in Playa Guiones in December.

Artists make everything by hand, such as handmade bikinis and beachwear, unique pottery, glass art, fabric art, jewelry, painting, photog

One of my very most prized travel souvenirs is a vintage kilim, about 75 years old, which I bought more than a decade ago in the otherworldly medina of Fez, Morocco – with its black-and-yellow zigzag motif, it evokes exoticism and the quintessence of travel whenever I look at it. I’m instantly transported back into that world of mint tea and mysterious narrow byways, the tannery where I watched young boys dying leather for shoes and Ottomans, the rooftop restaurant where I first tried tagines