Why it can be hard to keep your travel memories alive
We travel like fugitives on the run (think El Chapo but with much nicer accommodations and sans Sean Penn) which makes it challenging to keep our travel memories alive after the trips have ended.
One time, years ago when Blonde was still employed in a grown-up’s job, she returned late on a Sunday night after a walking trip of Spain’s glorious Costa Brava. She got back to her home in Boston around 11:00 p.m, listened to her voice mail (this was so long ago people still did that) and had a message that she had to be in New York City for a 3 day meeting beginning at 8:00 the next morning. That meant frantic packing and getting only a couple of hours of sleep before catching the 6:00 a.m. shuttle. And the whole trip to Spain fell out of her brain. The memories hadn’t “baked” long enough and she didn’t follow the tips we’re going to share with you.
All travelers go places they vow they’ll never forget and then many promptly or gradually do forget. There is so much important stuff competing for space in your brain; who’s dating Justin Beiber, what is that thing on top of Donald Trump’s head and why did the TSA not allow you to bring your exploding hoverboard onto your flight? As you ponder these issues your trip memories leak away.
Luckily for you we are here to tell you how to keep your travel memories alive for many years to come. We also have a giveaway (2 actually) that will make preserving your travel memories a pleasure (assuming you’re a winner).
Make a travel photo book to keep your memories alive
When we get back from a trip and upload all of our pictures to our computers we make a photo book of the trip. Doing this is a combination of fun and torture. Fun choosing the pictures of places, people and things you most want to remember and torture trying to remember where each picture was taken. If you really can’t remember then just don’t bother with captions!
We generally use Shutterfly just because they’re who we started with and we like the quality of the books they produce. Plus they have a lot of sales and ways to get free shipping. We’ve also used Apple’s phot0 book making software and SnapFish.
It’s truly amazing how going through one of these books – especially if you’re having a day when you’re feeling down – brings back good memories and lifts your spirits. Plus other people will willingly look at them if you leave them out in view. And then those people will think you’re an absolute genius to have made the book. We are not sure why this is such an impressive accomplishment but it seems to be to everyone who looks at our books.
Bring back small useful souvenirs made in the country you visited
Most of us (with the very notable exception of Blonde) do not want to bring back something that’s heavy or takes up valuable space and adds weight to our luggage. And many of us are at the point in life when we have so much “stuff” that the last thing we want to do is add to the clutter.
But if you bring home small things that you will make use of you will reignite your travel memories when you use them. The vital thing is that the item was made in the country you visited. A souvenir made in China is not a way to keep alive your travel memories of France. We have been to some countries (Australia comes to mind) where there is very little manufacturing and it’s difficult to find things made there but that’s a requirement for our souvenirs (and explains how Brunette left a boomerang in an overhead compartment ..).
Keep a journal to keep your travel memories alive
We keep journals in large part to make sure we have information to use for blogposts but even years before we had the blog Brunette kept journals. The very neatly written ones above are hers. (Bet that was a surprise.)
You probably don’t need the details we do but just a paragraph about the highlights of each day can help preserve your memories and really be fun to reread long after the trip. We often look at our notes and see something we had forgotten about and it’s usually something funny and possibly embarrassing. If we’re lucky it’s good enough to make us both snort wine out of our noses.
Read to the end of this post and subscribe to the blog and you may win one of two beautiful high-quality travel journals by Axel & Ash.