My collection of fridge magnets
Several years ago, I started collecting fridge magnets. From all the places I visited.
The rules
I decided to have some rules to not buy just any random magnet:
- if it is a city, then I have to stay overnight, eat something
- unless I went there for one day sightseeing
- or asked someone to bring me a magnet from there
- a magnet has to be nice or weird
- ceramic, clay, or metal preferred
- a picture on magnetic foil is the last resort
- magnets can be upgraded (new ones replacing old ones)
The story
In 2011, I was in Orlando, Florida, USA, and had no idea what to buy as a souvenir for my wife. She got a fridge magnet with “Someone went to Florida and all I got was this lousy magnet” written on it.
Some time later, I started buying fridge magnets for myself.
Soon there were tens of them. I was arranging them chronologically — by the time I visited each place. But one day, space was gone, so I reordered them and gained two empty rows.
In the meantime I got a few magnets from places I have not visited yet. They all ended up on the side of the fridge, as the freezer door was already occupied by my daughter and her collection of miscellaneous magnets.
Then I passed one hundred. And the space ended. Several magnets landed on a side of the fridge.
Magnetic board
That’s when I started looking at buying a magnetic board. This is how it looks today (a bit organised at the top, chaotic at the bottom):
It was not the best option as such boards are made from thin metal, so heavier magnets required adding neodymium magnets to prevent them from falling apart.
The map
Below is the map that I use to keep track of my collection. Local names are used. For names in non-Latin alphabets also Latin version is provided.
Short legend:
I visited it and have magnet from there
Still lack magnet from this visited place
Someone gave me a magnet from here