Growing up I used to collect vintage coins. I couldn't afford to purchase any but my grandfather had a few coins and he gave them to me. It was interesting and overtime I had maybe 20 different coins. Some were old and others relatively new from India and overseas.
The oldest coin I own is from British ruled India. It was an 18th century coin although I don't remember the date. I also have One Anna from the late 18th and early 19th century (if I remember correctly). They were hand-me downs to my maternal grandfather who kept them in his possession for many decades until he gave them to me.
Overtime I realised that there wasn't anyway I could expand my collection. I lived in a small city, there wasn't any way to procure anymore of these old coins. People who have them don't really let them go for free. So I decided to collect stamps instead.
I have an uncle who lives in US and I managed to get a few stamps from him. Many stamps were from across India. A couple of friends gave me some stamps from a couple of other countries where they had relatives. But other than dreaming of visiting some of these countries, I had no real motivation to keep collecting them.
Later in my teens when the motorcycling bug bit me I began collecting motorcycle scale models. I travelled to Bangalore for them and picked them from a store that sold Maisto brand of scale models. They were quite detailed but also expensive 13 years ago and I could only manage a handful from the money I had saved up and later when I moved cities it wasn't possible to lug them around so I left it there.
One thing that I stuck with were my books. I am a voracious reader and I read everything I can get my hands on or find interesting. I had a massive collection of comics which I donated to my school as I felt many kids would enjoy reading them as much as I did.
But, overtime I ended up with a large collection of books and I moved cities with them. It was expensive but I did it anyway. But it was impractical and ergo I switched to a kindle. So I stopped buying as many books as I used to. I w
I read way too much information on Steemit and on the internet in general in the last 2-3 years that by the end of the day, I don't have a lot of time for reading books anymore. But, ultimately I want to have a giant bookshelf with a ton of books and dedicated space for my collection on motoring.
Last year after my accident I was suggested to collect my boarding passes when I travel. It was around mid-july and I was just getting back to travelling after a hiatus.
This time I wanted to try this out for a year and see how many boarding passes I end up with. I used to crunch some serious miles every year touring on my motorcycle once. Now I fly around a lot as my hand hasn't recovered enough to ride motorcycles.
Yesterday, as I left on another trip I took out my boarding passes and found out that I have managed to collect around 70 passes. All paid for by myself. As a former motoring journalist, it was common to be flown around, flights and hotels paid for. But doing it yourself is a whole different ball game.
It's hard for me to sit idle and I can't stay put at any one location for too long. The desire to travel and the need to keep moving is rather strong. These 70 boarding passes and resulting travel have given me a lifetime of memories. When I sit and check the dates I have a ton of nostalgia.
Traveling is one of the greatest joys in life and if you can do it with some good friends or strangers for company it's even better. I travel around a lot to meet my close friends and spend time with them. Hopefully, my collection of boarding passes will cross 100 later in this year. Would be great if it did before July but i'll settle for whatever I can manage.
It's always good to spend your money on new experiences!
So do you have a hobby where you enjoy collecting something?
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