Travel memories

Travel memories albums - The cat, you and us

With the spring season around the corner one thing pops up in my mind every 5 seconds: travel! And since we can’t make our minds of where we could go this summer and in what budget, I have decided to fulfill my travel appetite by keeping in order our last adventures memories.

I have the slight obsession of keeping mementos for everything, that parking lot ticket: I need it, that entrance: they are soo cute, that super wrinkly shop ticket: of course I need to keep it! So I end every time with a bag full of (what for me are) goodies that remind me of each of the steps of our beloved travelling adventures. You can go ahead and call me a hoarder, but I can’t get rid of anything even if it obviously will have its ink faded away with time. That’s why when I go back home I need a proper storing place. I have already explored several storage/display options although I’m not sure if still yet have to find the ultimate one.

Travel memories albums Travel memories albums

Do you see the wrinkled map on the left? This is exactly the one completely soaked from our visit here (last pic!).

Travel memories albums

When I come back home the first place I put all my treasured papers is a box, but to be honest while is handy to put things aside is not that useful if you ever want to go through them, so I like to keep an eye for more display-ish options. Randomly browsing a scrapbook shop I found a tickets album and I thought that it may work, sure not everything I collect from our travels are tickets but somehow I thought I could squeeze the other stuff as well. Luckily I soon realized that the two separate compartment in the album were easily converted into one, and most of my maps and flyers fitted at full size. I then added text and little doodles next to each of the items. So far I have stored in this ticket album Paris and Wales, and I still have room for Sintra and probably Amsterdam – going backwards on this!

Travel memories albums Travel memories albums

Dani entrusted me with his vintage Donald duck pin bought as a kiddo when he visited Disneyland with his parents. I think we should share our little Disney pin collection soon, with the hopes that by sharing it will somehow grow, ha!

Travel memories albums Travel memories albums Travel memories albums

A similar approach I tried with our Japan keepsakes. Anna & Albert gave me for my birthday this sweet travel diary for Japan, so I used it during our trip to make lists, plans and bring our google maps in printed form, but also afterwards to stick the tickets and other memorabilia.

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The good thing about this imaginary way of re-visiting our travels via scrapbooking is that this time I can enroll Juno with me, hands down she is the one I miss most during our holidays abroad.

Do you also collect keepsakes from your travels? How do you store/display them? I would love to read your experiences!

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16 Comments

  1. Jane Y. ADDS...

    I used to be the same way – keeping everything including receipts, stubs, etc. the only problem i had was not having a way to scrapbooking them! i love what you have done here and would love to bring this back in my life as well! :)

    11th March 2015
    • We reply...

      I like both options, while the diary was a little more work than the ticket album (for its already built plastic bags) it was more customizable. I yet have to decide, but I think I’m going to buy another tickets album at least for my shorter travels. Big hug Jane! :)

  2. I am truly impressed! I love the idea of a travel scrapbook, but ever since I spent years and years trying to finish the one I made for my semester abroad in London/Europe, I will never be able to make one again. It’s a lot of work, so props to you! The finished result is SO worth the effort! xo

    13th March 2015
    • We reply...

      Thanks! I’m trying to keep it simple so it’s not too overwhelming, you’re right that it can be so much work that’s why I was exploring the ticket album idea that has built plastic bags and makes things a little bit faster, not as cute and personalized but still! :)

  3. Fiona ADDS...

    I’m such a shocker for keeping everything! I remember looking back through my travel books as a kid and discovering leaking packets of sauce :P lol To be honest I can’t even remember the significant of the sauce but I appreciate little fee’s love of keepsakes :)

    What I like about film photos is I end up with physical photos so our last few trips I’ve made photo albums but I didn’t even think of adding in all my little bits of bobs I’d collected into the album, I think it could easily be done and make it even more fun to look through!

    aww I’d miss Juno too! What a cutie and how nice for Dani to trust you with his awesome brooch!! It perfectly matches your red cardigan :)

    13th March 2015
    • We reply...

      Super Lol to the packets of sauce!!! :) Little Fee was such an adorable kiddo! :) Great idea to add the analogue pictures in the travel albums along with the keepsakes, I will copy this idea with my instax wide pics (which I hope will make this year after the challenge ;P). Oh! I think we can’t count Donald duck as Dani’s pin anymore, I fell in love hard so it’s now on my collection (thanks Dani!) ;)

  4. Kirsten ADDS...

    This is too cute! I really like the Japanese travel book. I’m so bad, all my mementos are in a pile in my jewelry box. I love the idea of a beautiful book though, on a coffee table maybe. I like the maps in there, it really helps especially for visual people like me.

    13th March 2015
    • We reply...

      Thanks Kirsten! It’s so fun to browse the map with the places you visited (or where planning to) added in them after a while :) it makes it much easier to remember the route to each place and the names of all the stores, hotels, etc..

  5. I used to hoard all these things too, but I never knew what to do with them, so they just collected dust in one of my cabinets. I realized I wasn’t doing anything with them and hardly ever revisited them, so I thought, what’s the point? I stopped hoarding those things. But now that I see this post, I feel like my hoarding is a little more validated. Making a scrapbook of it all is a wonderful idea! Maybe I’ll get back to my guilty pleasure of hoarding :) -Audrey | Brunch at Audrey’s

    13th March 2015
    • We reply...

      I totally get your point, once in a while I stop and then reconsider why I hoard all these little bits, I’ve tried to limit it on my daily basis (movie tickets, …) but with travels is something I can’t control, hahahha. Big hug Audrey!

  6. Nicole ADDS...

    I collect everything too! I have boxes crammed with tram tickets, hotel napkins & tokens haha! I really need to put it all in an album with photo’s! It will be so lovely to see like yours when I’m older! xx

    http://www.roseandmuse.com
    http://www.roseandmuse.com

    14th March 2015
    • We reply...

      I think it’s so neat to revisit it now, so I guess when the years pass I would be even more excited. I am going backwards with the scrapbooking, so I hope to find keepsakes from my early travels that will surprise me because I totally forgot about them :)

  7. Deniz ADDS...

    OMG!!! Damaris, our travel-memory notebooks look soon similar!! I want to show it to you soon! I keep every bill we take from restaurants (but I forgot to take the one we went together, and I felt so sad about it, but at least I have a polaroid photo for that day), also take some notes about the city I travel to, also draw some childish pics, and paste some small polaroid photos on this notebook.

    18th March 2015
    • We reply...

      How fun that you have very similar travel scrapbooks from your travels! :) And how cute to include the polaroid pics as well!

  8. elena ADDS...

    hi!!! so finally I’m not the only one doing this in the Whole universe!!! I started collecting paper memorabilias since I was a teenager, just before going to high school-90’s!
    Then I kept collecting and still I do now! I have a huge collection of journals about my journeys, trips, museums visit, weekends.I collect everything made of paper-business cards, tickets, parking and restaurants receipts, maps, I love to sit down on the sofa, and made scraps and stick them with glue and washi tape in my cahiers!!! so glad to start following your blog!!! do you imagine? since my 90’s I’m collecting scraps, so so many things-ah, airport and baggage tags, I also keep all the reservations made for plans and hotels, all the organization of our marriage and honeymoon, it’s a life in papers!!!!! I just added you in Instagram, I’m “strawberrygirlspurpleworld”.ciao!

    24th March 2015
    • We reply...

      thanks for following along and for your comment Elena! Very happy to meet another paper collector nuts ;) Oh! And I see from your IG profile that you are from Italy, love cinema and zombies, all three favorites of mine! :)

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