And the Fork Ran Away with the Spoon

Over the years, we’ve catalogued an array of creative ways to remember a trip — like collecting magnets, using old passports as Christmas tree ornaments and recreating foreign cuisine at home. But now comes one we’d never heard of, via Skift.com: one man’s collection of silverware stolen from the airlines.

Traveler Frank Schaal gathered more than 80 spoons and forks from in-flight meals, starting in 1965. As his son Dennis Schaal writes for Skift.com, “My Dad asked a steward whether he could buy one of the spoons brought out for an onboard meal, and the steward said he would look away so my father could take one.

“My father never asked again — and the rest is history.”

What’s cool about this collection is that it would be very difficult to recreate nowadays — when’s the last time you used anything but plastic utensils in economy class? And many of the airlines from which Schaal “borrowed” silverware are now out of business, such as TWA, British Overseas Airways Corp. (BOAC) and Northwest.

It makes me wonder what an equivalent collection might look like if you started it today. There’s not much left to steal from the airlines these days — the occasional pillow or blanket on an international flight, perhaps? — but you could make a similar collection of hotel items: pens, notepads, soaps, maybe even bathrobes.

What do you collect when you travel?