10 Ways to Savor Your Travel Moments & Memories

1 Journal.

I have been a big proponent of journaling for a long time, and taking time to write down travels etches the experience into our beings more. While actually traveling, I spend a few minutes at the end of every day (or first thing in the morning if it was a late night out) jotting down quick notes. These notes capture the names of places we ate, things we saw, and any remarkable moments. I don’t try to make these notes into narratives or make a story of the entire day; I am just allowing myself to hold on to the day while the feelings are fresh.

When arriving home, this blog becomes a more detailed journal. But even if you don’t record things publicly, and even if you can’t find time while traveling to journal, sitting down once back at home with a few moments of quiet to record things (again, while they are still fresh) can be a heartening experience.

2 Start a blog or use a photo journal website.

Obviously, not everyone needs to try to do a public-facing website like this one. And, indeed, a public-facing website can end up making the writer self-filter. But it is possible to use WordPress, Squarespace, or Wix to create a site to share with family and friends, or even to capture travel journals for yourself. Think of it like a scrapbook.

You can also organize your photos into albums to share on sites such as Google Photos or Shutterfly.

If you want to use social media to organize trip memories and photos, that can be a good option for some. I create Instagram stories for each of my trips and find they are primarily for me. Just remember that if you upload to a social media site, you are giving ownership of the photos to them, as well. Plus, do it for you, not for likes or validation.

3 Print out photos. Frame, or create a wall collage.

Get the photos out of the virtual world and into your home! Print photos and frame them. 

We print one photo from any adventure where at least two of us were together and have created a huge mural on an upstairs wall. We use Command strips and unframed printed photos, but Mixtiles are a great option, too.

You can use your fridge and magnets to post travel photos there, too. Put the photos in a place you can see them often.

4 Place pushpins on a world map.

We have two huge maps on the wall in our basement – one of the world and one of the USA. After we return, we’ll put a pushpin in the cities and places we saw.

There are very elegant versions and editions with National Parks, but we found we prefer having the details of the large, classroom maps.

5  Update your phone wallpaper.

I set my phone wallpaper and background to a photo from our most recent trip, and change it again after the next trip. Mr. Family Trip uses the random selection option on his iPhone for his wallpaper, and each morning he wakes up to a different random memory.

6 Create a trip “box.”

Take trinkets, tickets, napkins, matchboxes, printed photos, and create a special box that holds your memories of that trip. Put it on your coffee table or bedside table where you can see it regularly.

7 Cook food that reminds you of your trip.

So many of the places we visit offer cuisine and tastes different from what we normally make at home. But the benefit of modern conveniences in most places is that it is fairly easy to get exotic ingredients and spices delivered to your door, or even better, from a local specialty store. On some trips, I’ll bring back spices or salts from the country itself.

But what’s better than cooking a meal for yourself based on your travels? Sharing that meal with family and friends!

8 Listen to music that reminds you of that trip.

This will, for me, either be a song I heard for the first time on that trip (introduced to me by a fellow traveler, my family, or a musician in the country) or related to the style of music that the country celebrates.

9 Buy Christmas ornaments from the place you travel.

I have a friend who recently introduced me to this tradition, and I wish I had thought about this sooner! She buys a Christmas ornament from the countries she travels to, and every year when she decorates her tree, she remembers that trip viscerally as she pulls the ornament out. 

10 Check it off in a book or off a list.

Decades ago, when we first started traveling together, Mr. Family Trip and I were given the book 1,000 Places to See Before You Die. And while we don’t treat it like a checklist, we put our initials by any entry in the book we have visited – our kids do it, too. 

You can do this with any book that appeals to you. You can also create your own checklist (a bucket list), hang it in your house, and check the places you go and the adventures you have off that list through the years.

Either way, let the trip stay with you and become part of who you are. Don’t let it happen and then be treated merely as a checklist item. Allow the experiences you have change you, to make you deeper and richer. Savor the trip when you get back.