Hi there, friends!
One of the highlights of what I do is hearing that I have inspired y’all to get out into the world and travel. More than that, I love hearing how much of a positive experience and impact it made on you. As a result of my experiences abroad, I passionately believe the old adage, “travel is the only thing you can buy that makes you richer”. It changes you for the better, when you get outside of your comfort zone and immerse yourself in a new culture. And, more often than not, when you think about the memories that you think back on the most fondly, a lot of times they were from a trip you took. On this most recent trip, I was thinking about how many countries I have been to now [eighteen] and whether or not I’m doing all that I can to remember some of the places that I’ve been. Often times, I’m averse to popping into souvenir shops and I’m not a huge fan of local markets. Those are always the two places I feel like people go to grab items that help them ‘remember’ where they’ve been but, I’m convinced there have to be better ways!
Here is what I came up with and please let me know if you have any other ideas:
Bring a travel journal to write in each evening or morning.
It’s almost impossible to remember everything you do during your trips or how all the experiences you had affected you mentally, emotionally, physically, etc. so I think taking the time to decompress by writing it all down is a really cool way to look back on trips down the line!
Sometimes, I’ll stumble upon old blog posts from London, where I essentially recounted a lot of the things I went through while I was there, and I’m always surprised by how little I remembered about that experience in particular until I re-read my own words. It’s always kind of fun to go back and almost relive those experiences. As much as my time in London had it’s share of sadness and frustration, there was so much sweetness about it so it’s fun to ‘go back’ to it through those blog posts. I believe the same would be true with keeping a journal and having it to go back to from time to time. Over time, I think it’d serve as a reminder of the growth you’ve made, as well.
I tried keeping one while we were in Spain and I did much better than I have one previous attempts to keep a journal so fingers crossed I remember to keep it going on my next trip. I was motivated to keep it going thanks to the next suggestion I make!
Take instant photos to incorporate into your journal entries.
The creative in me sometimes thinks simply writing out everything you did and everything you felt onto paper is a bit boring and mundane. It has a lot of emotion but no life without pictures, in my humble opinion, so I thought it’d be fun to incorporate some photos from that particular day into those journal entries. Of course, taking and then subsequently printing photos with a traditional camera, which would likely be too large for your journal, wouldn’t make this feasible from a time perspective. You would need something more instant. I recently discovered the HP Sprocket 2-in-1 Photo Printer [more HP Sprocket options HERE] and found it the be the perfect solution! You can literally take a photo during your travels and instantly print it OR, thanks to Bluetooth connectivity, you can print a photo that you took on your phone if you happen to have that handy at the time of a perfect picture opportunity. They also have film that has a sticky back so you can easily put them in your journal without having to worry about how to attach it to your journal. It’s literally the perfect solution! I took mine with me to Spain and the girls and I had fun taking some photos with it! The quality of the photos are pretty good, as well!
Buy local art, ornaments or knick-knacks.
This idea might not be for everyone as we all have our own ideas of what looks good in our homes but when I went to Amsterdam with my friend Kathleen, she told me that she always likes to find a local artist to buy art from as well as a Christmas ornament. She said when she busts out all of her Christmas ornaments, she’s reminded of the blessing of travel and what it’s given her. I thought that was a really sweet sentiment.
Write post cards to your travel companion and send them, if it’s feasible, while you’re traveling for them to read when they return home.
I absolutely love this idea and I actually got it from something I did with some friends when I was a freshman in college. My boyfriend [at the time] and I and another couple went down to the Keys for Spring Break. I’m not exactly sure why we did this but I think it was raining outside so instead of going out we decided to play games in our hotel. So, we were drinking and playing games and, eventually, decided to write all of our inside jokes from the trip on to this one postcard that we had randomly bought from a souvenir shop, I guess. I remember that Spring Break was non-stop laughs. We all had the best time but I think, the thought behind this was, that if we didn’t write down our inside jokes and memories, we’d forget them all. So, we wrote it all down and picked one person to send it to, which was me. I remember finding it a few years later and it put the biggest smile on my face. I think there was a tinge of sadness because neither my boyfriend at the time or the other couple were together anymore but, at the time, we were having the time of our lives. So, it was such a sweet thing to stumble upon and it made me laugh some of the things we wrote on there. I think it’d be an equally as sweet sentiment to sneakily grab a postcard from somewhere during your trip, and write a little note and a fun memory from your trip to your travel companion, whether it’s your best friend, sister, husband, whoever! I know if someone did that for me, it would make me feel so special. You can always store it in your travel journal to look back on, as well!
Take short video clips throughout your trip to compile into one video at the end.
Whitney is REALLY good about doing this. She is also the QUEEN of making a playlist for whatever trip we’re going on and we play it TO DEATH throughout the trip. Anytime we are taking a break from exploring to get back to emails or do some writing, we play the playlist. Anytime we are getting ready to go out to dinner, we play the playlist. Anytime we get in the rental car, if we have one, we play the playlist. Ha, then at the end of the trip, she compiled all of the little video clips from the trip and puts them into one video [through magic, I’m guessing, or maybe using iMovie or Triller] and puts our favorite song from the playlist behind it. She made THIS ONE for our Canada trip and I actually just stumbled upon it the other day and it was so fun to relive it by watching it.
If you’re heading somewhere fun this Fall or for the holidays, I hope this helps spark some fun ideas on how to remember them! And, again, take a look at the HP Sprocket 2-in-1 Photo Printer! It is so easy to use and super lightweight. It also would make a great gift for the holidays either for your friends who love to travel or a college student away at school!
How do you remember your travels? Are there any other ideas that I’m missing here? Feel free to share in the comments below!
