Finally, there’s a genius little keepsake that keeps track of and shows off the countries you’ve travelled to, and it gives back to a good cause too! The Traveller Collective keychain is a simple yet trendy travel accessory that’s handmade in Vancouver, with real leather, and a sturdy, easy-to-fasten clasp that you can attach to any bag you travel with.
The point of the keychain is to collect a metal ring with the initials of each country you’ve traveled to, which makes for a much cooler keychain than individual ones from each place. Can you imagine? You’d be jingling like a reindeer! It’s also fun to see your collection of countries grow, as you increase your rings and fill the metal loop. I personally can’t wait until the next person asks me to name every country I’ve been to so I can just throw them my keychain and tell them to have a look.
As a full-time world traveler, I personally love the Traveller keychain, because when I hold it in my hand, and feel the weight of the metal rings representing the amount of places I’ve traveled to, it makes me feel proud and grateful, and inspired to go travel more. It also reminds me that there’s a whole lot of world to see, and many many more rings to add to my keychain!
I’m also a huge fan of supporting products that give back to people and areas in need, which is what the Traveller Collection keychain does. They donate 10% of all of their revenue to their current Education Project, which is helping build a school, and providing education materials and leadership training for a community in Dum, which is in the Tigray District of Northern Ethiopia. Dum is considered to be an ‘end-of-the-road’ community with about 2,200 people, and the non-profit that the Traveller Collection is working with is called imagine1day.
It means a lot to me that such a great product also gives back to the world, and even more that they will be bringing on of their customers to Dum in October, to experience first-hand the impact that they’re making through the keychains!
So if you’d like to get your own Traveller keychain, the way it works is you order your keychain offline, and then submit your list of countries visited for them to stamp onto small metal rings that go around the key ring. As you travel to more countries, you can add more and more rings, or even just update it every couple of months or so.
Since I knew I’d be going to 4 countries during my “Maysia” trip (May in Asia), I went ahead and ordered the 37 countries I had already been to, plus the 4 I knew I’d be going to, because I was eager to see how many little rings I’d have on my keychain. Mine looks pretty impressive with 41 rings, but I’d love to see what someone who’s visited even more countries’ keychain looks like! Well, I’d also probably be a bit jealous!
I also used my keychain to take my own “keychain photos”, and by that I mean instead of buying a souvenir keychain with a photo of the place I’ve traveled in, I take a picture of my Traveller keychain with the ring for the country I’m in, in front of a popular area that represents that country. For example, when I was in my 40th country, the Philippines, I took a photo with my little metal ring with the initials PH in front of a token shot of the island’s crystal clear waters in Alona Beach in Bohol.
I also took photos of my CH ring while I was hiking the Great Wall of China, and my JP ring while exploring the Fushimi Inari Shrine in Kyoto, Japan. This way I have a photo with a story to go with each little notch on my ring, which makes the keepsake even more personally valuable and memorable!
Disclaimer: This post is in collaboration with Traveller Collective, however I personally own and love my travel keychain, and honestly represent all stories and opinions and whatnot stated above. 🙂
Very cute idea!