Some of my favorite times of each year are the days during which I am on vacation. Vacations are these wonderful periods of time where we get to explore new places, surround ourselves with loved ones, take a break from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. When I’m not on vacation, I like being able to look forward to my next trip and / or being able to reflect back on past travels.There are lots of ways to commemorate your trips. I have little things that I do and I observe friends with some of their own traditions I wish I’d taken up years ago!

Use Those Photos

If you have your camera or smart phone with you on a trip, chances are you have lots of photographs documenting the time. I always edit them and post them to Flickr to share with friends, but I often go no further. Printing some photos take hang around your house is an obvious way to use vacation photographs. Another one is to create items with the images. For my most recent trip to Nepal, I ordered magnets from PicStick. This way I can have the images doing double duty on my fridge – cheering my up by reminding me of fun times and holding up the week’s grocery list.

My PicStick magnets are commemorating a recent trip to Nepal.
When I see my PicStick magnets on the fridge, it makes me smile, remembering a good vacation.

Expand a Collection

Some friends of mine buy a Christmas ornament every time they go away on vacation. They’ve been together more than ten years so now their Christmas tree is loaded with good memories. Why didn’t I start something like this years ago?! Another woman I know collects sand from each beach she visits. At home she has small jars carefully labelled with the names of the beaches and the days she got to walk in their sand. Other people buy shot glasses, key chains or figurines.

Friends buy ornaments from each vacation destination. Their Christmas tree documents their travels over the years!

Buy Visible Souvenirs for Your Home

On each trip Wonder Boy and I go on, we buy plenty of junk or things we know won’t last long, like the saffron we purchased in Nepal. We also try to get something we can display in our house somewhere. It doesn’t need to be big and it’s okay if we’re the only ones who notice it. Every time I walk past out kitchen and I see the tiny stockings on the door, I smile and remember Ecuador. When I see the little scooter made out of recycled cans on our mantel, I remember walking down dusty streets in Ghana. Walking underneath the little hats mobile in our living room takes me back to Vietnam. That visual queue is all I need. (Also, none of the items I just mentioned cost more than $5.)

In Nepal we might have gone a little bonkers, coming back with many things for our house. Souvenir shopping there was like walking into a country-sized World Market where almost everything was my taste…

When I see the little scooter made out of recycled cans on our mantel, I remember walking down dusty streets in Ghana.

Create a Travel Display

My friend Outside has a bookcase where she displays mementos from her travels. She aims for things that are smaller in size but represent the place well. My godmother had similar system, but she dedicated an entire room to the display, calling it her travel room.

The travel display Outside keeps to commemorate her travels.
Photo by Outside

How do you commemorate your travels?


I received a free trial of PicStick Magnets. You can check them out, too, and save 25% off of your order by using the coupon code KATE25.The company ships worldwide for free.

This post originally appeared on Kate’s Point of View. © Kate. All rights reserved.