Sharing My Travel Memories In Style With Dune Jewelry
Confession: For as much as I’ve traveled (I did visit 15 countries and 3 continents in just 1 year!), I own shockingly few souvenirs from the places I’ve visited.
I’ve pinpointed 3 possible reasons for this.
- I have a tendency to overpack, leaving no room for souvenirs. (Please tell me I’m not alone in this)
- I always seem to break whatever delicate items I do purchase in transit. (I blame the airline companies)
- I have a shelf filled with unused trinkets purchased abroad that are simply gathering dust. (It turns out that my mini replica of the Colosseum isn’t actually all that useful. Who would have guessed?)
In truth, the reason I somehow always fail to take home mementos from my times spent traveling is probably a combination of these factors.
Don’t get me wrong. While walking through the markets of Marrakech, the lovely tea sets and colorful fabrics tempted me. The gorgeous ceramics I found in Positano were hard to leave behind. Don’t even get me started on the Christmas markets in Prague and Budapest.
Despite all of these incredible international shopping opportunities, I returned home from a year living in Italy with a newfound love for Chianti wines, a million new memories, a whole lot of photographs, and virtually no mementos of my time spent living abroad.
I don’t know about you, but for me, it is the stories behind my travels that excite me, not the items I purchased abroad or the shopping I squeezed in.
That’s why I was so excited when I discovered Dune Jewelry.
Disclaimer: this post was created in collaboration with and is sponsored by Dune Jewelry. As always, my opinions are my own.
About Dune Jewelry
Dune Jewelry is a US based experiential jewelry company that uses sand from around the world to create unique and beautiful jewelry pieces that help you tell your travel stories.
Their motto is
“Live for the moment, then take it with you.®”
Now that’s a motto I can totally get behind.
If you are looking for a one-of-a-kind way to wear your travel memories, you can actually send in sand from anywhere in the world and have it made into a piece of jewelry!
They also have a sandbank with sand from 3,000+ locations around the world for those of us who aren’t sand collectors.
While their site features many beautiful products from bracelets and necklaces to earrings, I fell in love with Dune Jewelry’s Stacker Ring Trio.
I’m especially enamored with the ring trio because the delicate rings are not only super cute and totally on trend, but also allow me to tell my own travel story, as I was able to select 3 different sands to feature in the set.
My Dune Jewelry Story
Water (and sand) have always played an important role in my life. I grew up on a lake and many of my earliest childhood memories are of me splashing around in my “backyard.” As I grew up, I’ve always had a longing to be near a coast-I even moved 2,000 miles away for college so I could be closer to the ocean! What better way to showcase my travels and my love affair with the beach than with an accessory I can wear every day?
While choosing 3 different types of sand may seem like an easy task, for me it was quite difficult! After all, I’ve made memories in over 20 countries and 6 continents! While there are so many special places that I have visited over the years, I ultimately decided to pick the three locations where I have called my home.
After selecting my sand, I was more than excited for my ring trio to arrive! It even came with a card detailing where each ring is from (just in case the sands you pick are similar in color!). The rings came out beautifully and the individual grains of sand look so gorgeous and unexpected up close.
I ended up choosing sand from:
Lake Michigan, Chicago, Illinois
The first sand I selected for my Dune Jewelry ring comes from Lake Michigan, Chicago IL. I grew up about 1 hour north of Chicago and spent my childhood summers frolicking in the waters of a lake I grew up in. While the sand I selected comes from Lake Michigan, I think in the future I’ll send in sand from my hometown’s lake to commemorate all of the wonderful memories I have growing up on the water!
Beaches of Newport, California
The next location I wanted to feature is Newport Beach, California. After graduating from high school, I spent four years attending the University of California, Irvine. I absolutely loved these years in the sun, and even lived right next to the sand in Newport Beach! Naturally, I had to put this home away from home in my trio.
Positano, Amalfi Coast, Italy
For the third and final ring included in the set, I selected sand from the incredible black sand beaches of Positano. Though I was technically living in Florence, Italy for 1 year, I didn’t exactly want to include sand from the somewhat gross Arno River. Instead, I chose to commemorate my time working for a student travel company by selecting sand from Positano-a destination I have been to over 6 times as a tour guide!
Why Dune Jewelry is my new favorite souvenir
As someone who is constantly thinking about, talking about, and (of course) writing about travel, I love being able to showcase my (miss) adventures every day with my Dune Jewelry rings.
The trio is so beautiful to me because each ring tells the story of my life and travels. I am so looking forward to adding more rings in the future from meaningful places I have visited. I am already thinking about creating a bracelet or necklace with sand from Greece, where I lived for 1 month doing a Workaway experience.
My Dune Jewelry rings help me feel like a piece of my 3 homes is always with me, even when I am far away.
Looks like I finally found the perfect souvenir.
If you’d like to purchase your own sand made keepsake, be sure to check out Dune Jewelry’s website!
What sands would you want to wear? Let me know which beaches have captured your heart in the comments below!
You might also like:
- Exactly How I Lived In Europe + Got Paid To Travel (And You Can Too!)
- How I Spent 1 Month In Greece (Almost) For Free!
- My 2016 Instagram Best 9 (and the stories behind them!) #2016bestnine
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