Guest Post: Keeping Travel Memories

Well, its Tuesday. That means I left our apartment in the wee hours of the morning,  took an hour car ride to the airport and then boarded my flight at 11:10 am South Korean Time. (If everything went smoothly, unlike my flight here when I had to stay overnight in Detroit) If  things continue down this smooth path, I should arrive in South Carolina at 1030pm EST. In the mean time, I've got a guest post (and pictures) from Sabrina at coffeerocketfairytale. Enjoy!

Hello everbody!


I am Sabrina from coffeerocketfairytale and I am writing on this lovely little blog today, because the amazing Rachel was looking for a guest writer and I happened to be the first one to put my hand up. So here I am, totally excited about meeting you all!

Rachel suggested to write something on travel, because she is travelling at the moment. Now travel is a wide topic and I could go on and on and on about

my favourite travel spots
the best airline
the coolest bags for overseas travel
the coolest accessories for a long-distance plane ride
my favourite vacation, places I want to see or want to see again... and so on.

But this would be faaaar too much to put into one post (I mean, I could put it into one post, for sure, but I think it might result in the entire internet crashing, because this post would be ENDLESS). So to get some inspiration, I just had a look at the old photos of my previous travels and remembered my first big Overseas Experience, or OE:

A mix of rain and snow was falling, the streets were more wet then white and the world outside looked more ugly then beautiful. I was sitting in a physics laboratory, listening to the most boring account of the most boring discovery a human being ever made (THAT boring that I can't even remember any of it!) - and the next minute I found myself on a sandy beach in an exotic foreign land, walking along the shore, cool waves lapping around my toes.

That was my first big OE.

Of course it wasn't real.

It was a little (imagined) escape from physics class at secondary school, an experience my best friend Jo and I shared ever so often. We had discovered "visualising" as a type of meditation a little earlier and soon found out that Physic lessons provided the best space and time to practise. The monotone voice of our teacher made it easy for us to drift away and dreaming of places of hot climate was the best way to handle the icy cold in the classroom during winter.

Today, six years later, I can happily say that in the meantime I have visited some of these places that I had dreamed of back then myself.

I have experienced the hot and humid climate in Singapore and Malaysia, felt the buzz of Sydney, Australia, and lived in Wellington, New Zealand, for almost two years.

I saw some of the prettiest (and most crowded by tourists) sights in Germany, skied down Austrian mountains in winter and spend a week on a Dutch sailing boat.

Every now and then, I grab one of my photo albums, look at the pretty pictures and remember the good times I had and the great people I met.

Making memories and keeping them are two of the most important things for me when I travel. In 60 years from now, I want to sit in my rocking chair, surrounded by my grandchildren (or - if I shall never be blessed with children or grandchildren - a bunch of children that visit me once a week so that I can read fairytales to them and tell them about the life back in the day when people had old-fashioned stuff like weblogs), and tell them about my travels.

I want to keep them on a journey through my memory with them, show them pictures and old movie tickets and dried flowers and stuff...

✈ write notes into the travel guide book of the place you visit

✈ draw your route on a map of the country/region of your stay

✈ keep a travel diary

✈ write a travel or holiday blog

✈ collect articles from the local newspapers or magazines (e. g. those about events that took place during your stay)

✈ take lots of photographs

✈ turn photos into slideshow

✈ use them for a photobook

✈ print them/get them developed and stick them into an album

✈ make a photo calendar

✈ make a collage out of your photos

✈ keep a sketch journal (draw the things & people you see on your trip)

✈ write poems or short stories about your trip

✈ collect little things: postcards, match boxes, business cards, coffee cups,

✈ buy an unconventional souvenir: instead of typical souvenirs like towels, keyrings, etc., buy a souvenir that will always remind you of the trip (a nice pair of shoes from Milano, a Eiffel-tower charm for your bracelet...)

✈ carry a video camera and make a movie about your trip

✈ if there is one particular song, band or record you mainly listen to during your holiday, buy it and take it home (melodies sometimes have the power to bring back memories)

✈ at the beach: collect sand and mussels, draw something with watercolours and later put liquid glue on top, then pour the sand over it and turn it into a beautiful beach-picture (during autumn you can do a similar thing with leaves)

How do you keep your travel memories alive?