8 ways to rekindle travel memories
“Traveling, it makes you speechless and then turns you into a storyteller.”
Your travel experiences have shaped who you are. We preserve and then revisit our travel memories to reconnect with the elements of those experiences that have had an enduring impact. Those with wanderlust have an opportunity to learn from the past to satisfy the present “itch”. Remembering the feelings from our travel past can also shape our future choices and increase our travel wellbeing.
Try it!
Give yourself the gift of some uninterrupted time for reflective reminiscing about your past travel experiences. This activity is fun, informative and feels good. Studies show that it is also great for your brain to have the chance to be reconnected to travel memories!
Choose to deepen personal insight and start with one of the eight memory strategies from the list below that you don’t often use. Feel the nostalgic energy and connections that emerge. In this activity, you will be collecting and then curating the travel memories that surface; the things that make you smile, laugh, cry or even cower with embarrassment. Some will be familiar and some, if you stay curious and open, will be delightfully unexpected.
Scan the list of strategies to begin your journey down memory lane and gather the things that will help you reconnect with your past travels. Even if you don't have a lot of trips under your belt, you can reflect on the close-to-home experiences when you have felt like a traveller at heart.
You’ll also need some sort of note taking system that works for you. There are many options such as random pieces of paper, electronically in a notes app, in a word document or on colourful sticky notes. I often use a journal and then repeat the activity fairly regularly, so I just keep adding new thoughts and travel memories as I go.
You will undoubtedly produce a tangled collection of randomness - and that’s ok - you are looking at a lifetime of experiences! Stay curious and open to the messiness of reminiscing. I’ve developed a worksheet to help take the mess and make sense of it for later.
Travel Memory Strategies
Travel photo albums
Trip photos are an obvious place to revisit to stir up travel memories. I received my first Kodak brownie camera at age 10, which coincides with the first stirrings of my wanderlust. Since then, photography has been an important part of my development as a traveller. In fact I can also say that travelling has been an important part of my development as a photographer. Either way, my photo albums span decades of changing technology from the 80’s until now.
2. Digital photos
Shiny gold stars to people who have all their photos neatly in albums. If your online photos are unorganized and on your list to tackle one day, be assured that you are in good company. Scroll through your digital photo files or social media feeds and when a photo sparks a travel memory or elicits an emotion - write it down!
3. Travel journals
I am a bonafide journaler-wanna be. I use journals all the time but have rarely benefited from journaling with any regularity while on a trip. The benefits are many! Travel memories grow fuzzy over time and photos don’t always capture the experience fully. I hope to develop this skill. I recently re-read one of my only travel journals from when I was on a school trip to France and Italy. It was fascinating to see what my 16-year-old self noticed and took the time to write about - including boys - but also cultural differences and art! I regret not having these insights from other trips I’ve taken!
Check out my journals created with some of my favourite travel photos! here
4. Stories
Ask your traveling companions to share stories and participate in some remember-when storytelling. Telling your travel stories to others is a wonderful way to surface the things that matter to you. Listening to other people's stories is equally fun and can jog a travel memory as we all remember and retell our experiences uniquely.
5. Souvenirs
Walk around your house to look for items that were either from or inspired by your travels. Studies show that when we crave the positive emotions from the past, concrete items like souvenirs act as transitional objects to bring us back to the feelings we felt from that time. People bring home the most interesting and eclectic assortment of things from coasters to train tickets to holiday ornaments to fridge magnets. Find your souvenirs and enjoy transporting yourself back in time!
6. Span your travel timeline
Writing (or drawing) a personal journey, focused on your travels over time, can show how travel moments have shaped you as a person. Start at the beginning and chronologically recall experiences that have mattered. In this way you will be remembering your first trip, your best trip, your worst trip, a faraway trip, and even the experiences of travel-like bliss close to home.
7. Eat and drink
Travelling is multi-sensory as we smell, touch and taste the world. Source out some food or make a recipe from a place you’ve visited. These travel memories aren’t necessarily about the Michelin-star restaurant meals (of which I have never eaten) but about the food and dining experiences that added something memorable to the trip. In many cases it is the tasty food itself, but also the adventure of finding the food, eating something new, the surroundings and/or the people!
Full confession: I’ve been known to wander my local wine store aisles both remembering places I’ve been and longing for future destinations to make my purchase selections!
8. Movies & books
Watch a movie or read a book set in a location you have travelled to or in ways that you have explored (e.g. by train). Pay attention to the connection between the story being told and your own story.
For book recommendations, I’ll turn to Ann Morgan, a UK author who read her way around all the globe’s 196 independent countries. Her list is an incredible place to explore (and a very cool challenge!). Find it here: https://ayearofreadingtheworld.com/thelist/
Or check out mine here:
With each and every strategy, be open to what pops into your mind. Stay attuned to the feelings and don’t stay limited to just a list of sights! Why do these memories come up? Why do they matter? Which aspects of your travel experiences elicit the strongest feelings?
Have fun with this!
Reflect with a travel motive framework
As a temporary wanderlust scientist, use your journey down memory lane to build a foundational understanding of your wanderlust. With the collection of travel memories and snippets of travel bliss, you can begin to connect with the deeper ‘why’ fueling your wanderlust.
One tool is the travel motive quiz. You may have already taken the quiz to figure out your primary travel motive. If not, do it here!
Look back in order to look forward.
Your analysis with this worksheet will likely align with the results of the Travel Motive quiz but the activity goes farther and will provide you with a richer picture of how the other motives influence your unique and beautiful travel personality. Other parts of your travel personality include your thrill threshold and your personality type along the introversion and extraversion continuum. (More exploration of travel psychology in future posts).
What are the aha’s from your reflective reminiscing? Comment below!
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