When I travel, I do my best to do as little shopping as possible. I try to focus on the experience and snapping some photos vs. leaving with a bunch of souvenirs. However, I have one thing that I collect whenever I travel: Starbucks mugs!
I’ve been collecting these mugs since my first trip to NYC in 2014. Every trip I’ve taken since, I make an effort to grab one! We even made a special pitstop to grab one while I was in Park City (where they literally have ONE Starbucks location.) Over the years, I’ve also had friends surprise me with these mugs when they return from trips! Starbucks has changed up the style a few times, so I have a few different kinds of mugs. My collection includes mugs from their “Relief” Collection, “You Are Here” Collection, and the “Been There” Collection which is the most recent version. The black and white relief ones are probably my favorite style, but each is special because of the associated memories.
I’m going to walk you through my small collection and share some of the fun memories associated with each mug.
Relief Collection
New York City
October 2014: I got this mug on my first trip to New York with my Aunt Mary and my friend Emily. I’ve been to NYC multiple times since, but that trip will always have a special place in my heart. It’s when I fell in love with NYC! I can’t wait to go back again once all this COVID craziness is behind us.
Beijing – Holiday Edition
December 2015: This was gifted to me from a friend who studied abroad in Asia back in college. I love the little twinkle lights since it’s a holiday edition!
Shanghai
December 2015: This Shanghai mug was also gifted to me from a friend who studied abroad. I’m not sure why this relief mug was done in navy vs. black, but I love the small colored details within this mug. Check out that cute little table and umbrella!
Prague
June 2016: I traveled outside of the USA for the first time ever during the summer between my junior and senior year of college. One of the places that I visited was Prague and it was such a beautiful destination! I felt like I was walking through a storybook and I loved exploring there. I want to go back some day! To read more about my experience in Prague and to see some of the fun photos I took, click here.
Paris
June 2016: Ahhh Paris. I’m not going to lie, I had incredibly high hopes for Paris. However, due to circumstances outside of my control (weather included) it wasn’t quite what I’d hoped it would be. It was raining a LOT while I was in Paris and the UEFA Euro 2016 was going on. That being said, it was SUPER busy everywhere!
Fun Fact: Because of the Euro, there was a MASSIVE orange and white soccer ball hanging in the middle of the Eiffel Tower… Which I ended up editing out of all of the photos I took there! I really want to go back to Paris in the fall or spring at some point. I think it would be great to explore more of the non-touristy spots when it’s less busy. I also want to have a full day to just enjoy the Louvre! I took some of my favorite travel photos on this trip while visiting Versailles. See those photos and more of my travel recap from Paris here.
Boston
June 2017: My family and I went on our “East Coast Adventure” the summer after my senior year of college and it was so much fun! We visited Boston as well as Cape Cod. I could totally see myself living in Boston. The thing I liked most about Boston was that it has the metropolitan vibe that Chicago has, but there’s also something historical to see everywhere you turn. It was also really cool to drive by the Kennedy compound in Hyannis! I also love being near water, so Cape Cod really hit that sweet spot for me. I’d absolutely go back to visit both again!
“You Are Here” Collection
Banff
October 2017: I went to Banff for a week my first year post-grad and it was beautiful! Lake Louise is like something out of a dream. I need to put together a travel guide for Banff at some point still and I’ll probably share some more photos (beyond outfit photos) then.
San Francisco
Unsure: Honestly not 100% sure exactly when I got this mug, but one of my former roommates, Bea, brought it back for me when she visited! I’ve visited San Francisco before myself, but that was years ago! My aunts live in Northern CA, so my family stopped there as well as some other spots during a multi-week trip when I was in middle school. It’s great to have a mug from there, so shoutout to Bea for bringing it back for me!
Austin
February 2018: Austin was the first time I truly solo traveled. I went down to Austin to visit a few friends and I also popped by Kendra Scott‘s headquarters. At the time, I was still working for the company, so I got a full tour of home office and the original store on South Congress! Fun Fact: I helped open the very first Midwest Kendra Scott store and worked for KS for over 3 years! It was a very cool trip and this mug is a great reminder of my first real solo travel adventure.
“Been There” Collection
Puerto Vallarta
August 2020: This summer I went on my very first press trip to Puerto Vallarta with an awesome group of bloggers! You can read my full recap from the trip right here.
Utah
March 2020: This spring I went on my SECOND press trip and got to visit Park City! I still can’t believe how lucky I am to get to travel for Bowtiful Life. The fact that my first two press trips were in under a year is just crazy to me. I can’t wait to see where else BL takes me! I went on this trip with some of my Chicago buds, so it was very special to experience this destination with them! I’ll be posting full recap from this trip here on the blog some time soon.
Well, that’s my collection of Starbucks mugs! I hope that you enjoyed this fun little post. Do you collect anything in particular when you travel?
