We’re not even through the first quarter of the year, and 2013 has already been a wonderfully abundant year in travel for me. I had a grand Central American adventure in February, where I fortuitously met Cristin, another American blogger and intrepid world traveler on the journey to Nicaragua and we became fast friends. I have short trips planned to Seattle, Chicago and other domestic locales throughout the remainder of the year. Travel and clothing are the two things I’ll pinch my pennies for, and a good trip, short or long, near or far, is something that’s always on my radar. Fashion and travel go together like chocolate and peanut butter, in that they’re pretty great on their own, but together, it’s out of this world. Jewelry and scarves make the perfect souvenirs (small, light, and easy to pack), and I love having a little wearable keepsake from my travels.

Tourist fashion is a style sub-genre that often invokes images of fanny packs, white court shoes, and other (regrettably) wearable awfulness. Slate has an absolutely fantastic photo blog up right now of tourists at various United States sites throughout the years, and scrolling through the pictures had me smiling at the delicious sartorial nostalgia of it all. There’s the good, of course the bad, and the stuff that makes you smack your forehead and wonder why, of all trends, did this become popular in a totally different part of the world?

Readers: if I could give any travel advice, it would be to travel as often as possible, explore the world fearlessly, and try not to look a hot, obviously-I’m-a-tourist mess while you’re doing it.