Keeping Vacation Memories Alive When It’s Long Over

When your vacation is long over, make sure to keep your memories alive for years, if not forever, by following my 10 pieces of advice.

Let’s face it. It’s hard to remember everything all the time. I like to do these things because when I’m much older, I don’t want to forget my special memories.

Collect a Special Something From Every Destination

We usually collect a small magnet to add to our refrigerator, but many other people collect other things. It could be a Christmas ornament, a shot glass, pencil, pens, tea towels, etc. Special keepsakes are meant to be special because it’s an everyday item that reminds you of those special vacation memories.

Collect Brochures and Keep in a Photo Box or Scrapbook

This is such a fun way to create memorabilia. Brochures can change over time, so keeping these and making a collage or keeping these in a photo box, for instance, is a fun way to see the changing times & where you visited. This makes for another fun way to remember those vacation memories!

Collect Postcards

Aside from taking the photos yourself, this is the next best thing. We’ve been to many places where photography was not allowed indoors, but at the gift shop, they have postcards of what it looks like indoors. Some postcards are just absolutely beautiful or it could be a photo of something you couldn’t take yourself.

Do Unique Things

People usually do the most popular landmarks, the tourist traps, etc, but there’s something very special, and you might surprise yourself, on how great the hole in the wall spots or the off the grid places are. We once visited a green sand beach on the Big Island of Hawaii that we were told about while we were there and we’re so glad we visited because it has been one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen & been to. It was not very populated and locals drove you out to it or you could have hiked it. We were driven since we’re not really hikers. So go out of your way at times and/or don’t be so persistent in sticking to your itinerary to experience something that could be truly unique. Make your vacation memories memorable by getting out of your comfort zone.

Journal

Journaling is an expression of many senses. You can express what you saw, tasted, felt, heard, and smelled all from a pen & paper. You may do this already on a daily basis, but have you kept a journal just for your travels? Call it a travel journal or travel diary, this is a fantastic way to make sure you can always come back to it and relive your memories.

Make Albums on Facebook

Facebook has this great feature in which you can save all your vacation photos or any photos for that matter, and create albums. It is very easy to find your photos when they’re named as albums. You can access it anytime and share a memory whenever you like. I access this all the time when I want to share on my “Memory Maker Monday” thread on my Facebook group, which you can join at any time!

Reminisce

Get together with friends or family, break out some wine & games, and reminisce about the vacations you have taken. There’s so much fun in sharing and talking about the experiences you encountered. So get together and make it an event!

Revisit

If you can, revisit the places you vacationed once before. Things change, people change, and there is always going to be something new you can do. Try out places you didn’t eat before in the city, try one of those unique things to do that you didn’t get a chance to before, and speak to new locals. Going back to a place you fell in love with or even the place you grew up as a child will have special meaning to you. For example, a few years ago I was able to visit the neighborhood and the actual house that I grew up in. The people living there were so nice and so many childhood memories came back to me.

Snapfish

I use Snapfish for our yearly family album keepsake. They make it so easy for you to organize your photos, whether it’s yearly, travel related, birthday’s, Christmas, graduations, etc. You can save it and make it a work in progress. They also have many decorations, clip arts, frames, and layouts for your album. And to top it all off, prices are very reasonable! If you don’t want to do an album, they have many accessories like calendars, mugs, home decor, canvas prints, etc. I love the albums because they make great coffee table conversation pieces! When you’re ready to check out everything they offer and/or order click here or the photo directly below.

Save Up For Your Trip in a Special Jar

You can pay for a vacation with a credit card or your bank account outright, but there is something special about saving up for one and FINALLY paying for it. Your hard work seeing being accomplished makes it more memorable and you also feel a sense of gratification. We save our coins in a large wooden vase that we have from Costa Rica (a special something from above that I spoke about) and after a while or when it’s full, we use it primarily for fun and makes for unforgettable vacation memories!

Do you have a unique way to remember your vacations? Do you already use any of my 10 ways listed here? If you don’t already, which one stands out to you most? I would love to hear your answers in my comments!