Following the money trail

I'm beginning to like the sound of Numismatics, a new hobby I would like to venture into. Just like my stamp and postcard collection, my starting point is courtesy of my father's travels abroad. Just last week, I remembered that my mother has in her keeping, a small bag full of coins originating from various countries the world over. Being a ship captain, his work brought him to different ports in different countries so every time he would return from his seafaring, he would have these loose change which could not be exchanged with the banks and money changers so my mother just dumps them all in this small bag. I asked the coins from my mother and I decided that I will sort them and store them properly. I remembered that I had a classmate in college who was also into coin-collecting so I asked him for some pointers. I also found this cool site for coin-collecting newbies which has very helpful information on how to get started, minus the info overload factor. Presently, I have not finished sorting the coins by country yet. But I'm enjoying the experience so it's not a problem. What I'm seeing that would pose some problem for me is finding the proper storage materials for my coins. It's important to store the coins in non-PVC flips or albums and I'm afraid there's a shortage of that where I live. Never mind, I'll worry about that later :)

I'll let you in on a secret. The real reason why I arranged my father's postcards and why I want to sort those coins is because I want to chronicle his travels; I want to know what countries he has been to and when he was there. Who knows, someday I may be able to visit the same places he's been, retracing his footsteps in a sense. And when that happens, no doubt it will turn out to be a truly nostalgic journey for me.