When I go abroad, I rarely collect souvenirs. In fact, I only really have two – a snow globe from Stonehenge and another snow globe from Budapest (the latter merely because we had too much money left over at the airport, a real travesty). Instead of going out and buying knick knacks, I tend to find myself collecting (or hoarding?) tickets and photographs, recording my journeys through bits of paper I somehow end up keeping.
I recently left for a trip around South/ East Spain, with no plans to return for a while. In a country where I know no one and will be living in a house of strangers, having some journals from home surrounding me which I can fill with sojourns and notes of my Spanish adventure is exactly what I need to vent.
Swapping junk for a little handmade book which I can look back on in sixty years in my South American mountain house (the movie Up, anyone?) and remark “these are all the insanely cool adventures I got up to when I was younger” sounds pretty much perfect to me.
I was recently sent a scrapbook from ChickenPink which is ideal for my upcoming trip to Spain – it’s so strong and sturdy that when I took it to Turkey a couple weeks back and wrecked everything else in my suitcase with some mysterious spillage (totally not because I am unable to close lids properly), it held up perfectly.
I’ve already stuck in a bunch of photos from recent trips – anyone that knows me also knows that I will easily go through miles of camera roll within mere days of arriving at a new destination because of how excited I get! My own little book comes with envelopes for prints and spaces for doodles, and now I think that all I need in my suitcase from now on is a change of clothes, a camera, and this journal.
I love the idea of keeping my travels within the confines of a book, and especially love mine because of how the finish and design reminds me of the book in Up (another reference? She didn’t!) – but of course it’s up to y’all how whimsical you want your own books to be.
Every traveller needs a travel scrapbook, a space to vent their journeys – and switching out mass-produced souvenirs for little books like these really renders something to treasure. I don’t know about you guys, but it’s inspired me not only to have a cute time touring Spain, but also to re-watch a classic Disney movie featuring an old dude called Carl and his lovely little companion, Russell. I’ll stop.
Do you guys collect souvenirs or are you also a journal and scrapbook sort of person? Let me know in the comments below!
Scrapbooking is super. I think it can be more effective than buying souvenirs as well, depending on what the souvenirs are. And it’s fun to look through them now and again and remember!! Thanks so much for stopping by my blog, I hope you have a great weekend :)) x
I hate souvenirs because they just end up in the ‘rubbish room’ and I find that I never look back and appreciate them because most of it is tat that you didn’t really want haha! I love scrapbooking and love that you prefer to remember holidays in this way!
Soph x
This is cool! I’ve always wanted to start scrapbooking. xoxo
I love this idea! I have a box off all the little tickets, money and other stuff I’ve collected over the years travelling but I’ve never actually done anything with them. I really should!
This really is a brilliant idea; you truly are a travel blogger now babe, haha! We tend to throw away souvenirs over the years, but a scrapbook would stay with us forever. I can only imagine how packed full your scrapbook will be of adventures, experiences and memories in a decade from now!! 🙂
Aw bless you! You’ve seen my blog when I was a looooot younger and had some pretty naff posts, so finally becoming a “travel blogger” is one of the cutest comments I’ve ever had! and let’s hope so 🙂
I love to collect matchbooks everywhere I go but rarely buy souvenirs. I love your scrapbook idea—I always save tickets and postcards and take tons of photos so this would be a great use of them!
vxo Annie
Thanks for sharing such an interesting idea!
Love the idea. I used to collect souvenir travel books but I stopped collecting them. Have a lovely weekend xoxo Cris
Ich mag den Blog, die Idee der Schrott-Buchung ist eine, in der ich nicht zu viel nachgesehen habe, aber es scheint cool.
Yasss for scrapbooking.
I love it when i was still studying.
It is very nice!
We never buy souvenirs, instead we always create a scrapbook and save everything in there, from train tickets, receipts, Polaroids and write every experience possible! Is the best way to save memories 😀
With love,
xx
Patricia & Miguel
I’m not big on souvenirs so I love this idea. Scrapbooking is a really wonderful way of preserving your travel memories in a personalized way that really makes it all the more meaningful when you go to look back on them.
Hi Amy, how you doing? Hope you’re enjoying your summer!
I couldn’t agree more with you, I feel like there are a lot of trashy souvenirs but there are other great things we could keep when we travel, and since I am a collage maker and I adore memorabilia scrapbooks are the thing for a traveler like me. I have many travel scrapbooks in my collection and I’m always looking for things I could paste on my journals in every travel!
Best regards!
Scrapbooking is such a clever and cheaper alternative of souvenirs. When I was little, I loved to scrapbook every little place I visited. But I suppose now, being more busy, I have less time to construct such memorable moments. Besides, I also buy souvenirs as gifts for fellow friends and family.
I always hated souvenirs, never found it valuable but I couldn’t figure out what can I do to keep the memories of the places I travelled besides taking pictures in my dslr. Your post definitely answers this question of mine! Making a travel scrapbook sounds so awesome, need to start it!
Hope you’re having an amazing week!
This is such a lovely idea! To store all the memories on a scrapbook. <3
First, I love that you mentioned Up because I made Ben watch that with me earlier this week and he loved it! He then spent the rest of the night not sleeping because it made him think about all things LIFE haha. But I knew I was in love with this post just from the title alone. This is SUCH a good idea and I don’t know why we haven’t started one of our own yet! I’m buying one right when we get home. Now we’ve just got to find 5,000 helium balloons… 🙂
I don’t usually collect souvenirs, so I do love this idea of a scrapbook! Keeping everything in one book is such an amazing idea! Thanks for sharing!
Great post dear! I myself am a huge fan of keeping my travels within the pages of a book – I’d rather have 50 scrapbooks than 500 little souvenirs.
I always buy something useful like souvenirs 🙂