When you aren’t traveling, there’s more you can do to relive past memories than looking through your camera roll or rewatching your archived Instagram stories. I’ve put together a list of several creative things you can do to remember your favorite trips with the help of unique and handmade products from Etsy.
Header Image: KUULYS on Etsy
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When purchasing items online, it’s sometimes hard to forget there’s someone who’s actually behind the business and or making the product. At Etsy, there’s an individual seller behind each product and there’s no better time to support these small businesses. Check out these 10 ways to commemorate your past trips while also helping to #StandWithSmall businesses.
1. Fill in a Scratch Map
Photo Credit: KUULYS on Etsy
Get in on the scratch map trend and commemorate all of the places you’ve been to by scratching it off a map. But don’t settle for a boring one. KUULYS on Etsy has beautiful versions of a classic scratch map. When you scratch off a country on The National Flowers World Scratch Your Travel Map, the national flower of the country or region will appear underneath. It’ll make you want to plan another trip as you commemorate so you can see all of the flowers on the map.
2. Start a Scrapbook
Photo Credit: FlorrieandWill on Etsy
Get started on a scrapbook for your past trip with this Travel Journal Scrapbooking Kit from FlorrieandWill on Etsy. Use this as inspiration and a starter kit that they’ve curated specifically for travel scrapbooking. It includes several pieces of travel themed paper items like postcards, vintage book pages, used postage stamps and more. In addition to the kit, you can use printed tickets like boarding passes from your flights and cutouts from maps and brochures that you’ve picked up at the destinations for your scrapbook.
3. Journal in a Travel Inspired Notebook
Photo Credit: bluestiggy on Etsy
Sometimes the best way to process your thoughts is through writing them down. Put your travel thoughts down on a notebook. And since we’re fans of eco friendly items, consider using an eco friendly one like one from bluestiggy, where the cover is made with upcycled cotton handmade paper and pages are made from recycled cartridge paper. And you can even use any extra paper items from the travel scrapbooking kit mentioned above to decorate the cover of the journal.
Read More: Eco Friendly Luggage for the Sustainable Traveler
4. Light a Candle…
Photo Credit: WandrlustHandCrafted on Etsy
… that is, a travel candle from WandrlustHandCrafted. Are there certain scents that remind you of places that you’ve been before? There are some hotels I’ve stayed at who spray their entire hotel with an amazing scent, which are available for sale in spray or candle form. You can remember a destination too with a candle. WandrlustHandCrafted creates candles named after destinations. There’s one called Bora Bora, a Jamaica one, Malibu and France too. This Thailand one will remind you of the bamboo of forests of Thailand with its notes of green coconut, leaves and fruit.
5. Color a Travel Pillow
Photo Credit: CampfireInk on Etsy
Do you like taking road trips? I’ve taken a ton along the east coast of the US from New York to Florida. If you’re like me and have taken one before in the USA, you can commemorate your American road trip by decorating a pillow sham, like this one from CampfireInk. Take on a fun DIY project while at home and remember all of the states you’ve visited by coloring in the states and customize it to how you want it to look.
6. Scratch a Bucket List
Photo Credit: TheModernNatives on Etsy
Did you go to Lake Tahoe, Niagara Falls, Pearl Harbor or Mount Rushmore on your last trip? Cross (or in this case, scratch!) off the destinations you’ve been to on this 75 Iconic US Landmarks scratch poster from TheModernNatives. While you work on scratching off the ones you’ve been to, remicense about your trip to the destination and think about how it might look with all of the destinations scratched off.
7. Do a Travel Puzzle
Photo Credit: RidgelineCarvings on Etsy
Start a puzzle depicting a landscape or iconic location of the country you visited, find one that has a world map, or get one like this Laser Engraved United States Puzzle by Ridgeline Carvings. It even comes with a treasure chest for storage. While working on this puzzle, you can test your knowledge of geography and if you’re doing the puzzle with someone, you can talk about the memories from your trips.
8. Organize Your Collections
Photo Credit: EverestHomeDesign on Etsy
Do you collect things from your travels? Maybe you keep a few coins from the country, or handmade jewelry from local artisans. Whenever I travel I try to pick up a pair of earrings and when my family members also travel, they know what to get me. They’re so easy to bring back since they barely take up any space. But because earrings are so small, I need a way to organize and not lose them. That’s why an organizer like this from EverestHomeDesign is perfect for displaying and organizing studs and dangling earrings. While you organize, you can commemorate where you got each of the pieces for your collection.
Read More: Travel Inspired Jewelry
9. Back Up and Frame Your Photos
Photo Credit: legacyimages on Etsy
You’ve likely taken lots of photos during your trip and once you’re home, it’s a good idea to back them up in a harddrive or cloud service just in case. Once you’ve taken a look through all your photos, pick a few of your favorites to frame. Find a frame that matches where you were like this wood frame with the skyline of New York City. Their Etsy shop also has frames with other destinations.
10. Find a Piece of Personalized Jewelry
Photo Credit: DaniqueTrends on Etsy
When you’re home, spend time looking for a piece of personalized jewelry that you would wear with some significant words or information about your trip. For example, DaniqueTrends has a Custom Engraved GPS Coordinates Ring that you can customize. Since both the outside and inside of the ring can be customized, you have double options for what to have written. The outside can have the GPS coordinates of the place that you visited, meanwhile the inside of the ring can have the date of your trip.
Find out more about Etsy’s #StandWithSmall campaign and see some of their Editor’s Picks.
What are some ways you’ve commemorated your travels?
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