There have been three things that have been a constant wherever we have visited America over the last thirty years. More of an obsession since 1996 to be honest. I wouldn’t consider myself obsessive but it became apparent that we seemed to come home with one, two or three things from each visit.
- Fridge Magnets – I have some from our first visit to California in 1984 and some have faded from exposure to the sun and others I cannot move around because they are stuck to the front of the fridge by the heat of the sun. Share your fridge magnet collection with us all.
- Planet Hollywood Pins – I don’t see many Planet Hollywood restaurants these days but when they first appeared on the scene they were pretty cool places to go. I have always been a Film and TV fan rather than music, so Hard Rock Café held no interest for me. The rarest pin that I have is a pin from the opening night at Niagara Falls. It was given to me by an executive of the firm when he saw my pin collection on my Planet Hollywood Beverly Hills jacket. I had too many badges for the jacket and it started weighing a ton so I moved them to a Disney 2000 lanyard where they have stayed ever since. Unfortunately the remaining Planet Hollywoods’ are few an far between and the logo has changed so I have consigned my collection as closed.
- Starbucks Mugs – Back in 1998 I bought an Orange County mug and that was the start of my collection. We decided that we would get a mug from where we visited and that way it becomes like a travelogue for our trips. To date I have 115 different mugs. Not all of them is a different city but certainly a different style of the same city. If you are wondering there are over 6000 unique mugs in the Starbucks portfolio from around the world.
Now Starbucks will only produce a mug for a city or state if there are enough outlets in the area. This is why I don’t have a New Orleans, St Louis or Kansas City mug, they didn’t have enough Starbucks to warrant their production during the time we visited. Every couple of years they introduce a new design. All of this is in Fred Orange database of Starbucks mugs. Here is the link to my collection Maxine’s Starbucks Collection.
On my last road trip to New England I managed to get the new style New Hampshire and Massachusetts but couldn’t find the Maine one no matter how hard I tried. If anyone can locate one for me let me know and we can sort it out.
I think the most exclusive mug is from the original Starbucks store in Pike Place Market, Seattle and is only available from there.
I bought a second hand bookshelf to display the mugs on. They have never been drunk from but have been washed on a number occasions. If I get colleagues visiting places I have been but were unable to find a mug I ask for them to bring me one back. I pay them of course. This expanded to them bringing back a mug regardless of if I have been or not so when I got a Vietnam mug I was really happy but my husband just said ‘we haven’t been there!” It resides towards the bottom of the collection.
I have sold duplicates on Ebay and one time I sold a Hong Kong mug to someone in Texas. He paid £25 for the mug and an additional £10 for postage and packing. He left me positive feedback but admitted that although it had been packaged well he took it out of the box and promptly dropped it and it shattered!
With the advent of the internet I can research what mugs are available before I travel or check to see if someone going to an area will have the chance to pick one up for me.
If anybody in Maine reads this let me know about the state mug….please!
USA Road Trips by Max 
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