4 Ways To Keep Your Travel Memories Alive

Last updated on 15 July 2026

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It’s important to keep those travel memories alive

Whether you’re between trips, saving for the next one, or just having one of those weeks where you’d give anything to be back on holiday, it’s worth holding onto those travel memories properly rather than letting them get lost in your camera roll.

So, you’re on holiday. You have your phone, and possibly a separate camera, too. You’re in a constant state of snapping away, taking videos and selfies while you capture your favourite moments.

But what do you do when you get back home? When the sand has finally come out of your car, when the sunburn has faded to tan, and when the holiday buzz has died down. What about all those photos left stranded in your camera roll?

I have been there! While I’m usually quick to take all the photos off my phone/camera and often will share them on social media, after the first week or so back from holiday I forget about them.

While printing out photos from film cameras is a thing of the past, it’s still nice to have some hard copies of your favourites. But perhaps before you do that, you need to decide what to do with them first. Here are some ideas of things you could do with your holiday snaps to keep those travel memories alive.

4 Ways To Keep Your Travel Memories Alive

Scrapbook

If you’re anything like me, then you like a little DIY, a little arts and crafts, every now and then. Over the years I’ve found that printing out travel photos and pasting them into scrapbooks is not only a great way to keep those memories for a later date, but it’s a lot of fun looking back as you put it together.

I like to save little things from the trip, such as train or bus tickets, departure slips, brochures from museums, galleries and events, or even picking up the business cards from stores I’ve either brought things from or have really enjoyed. A train ticket stuck in a scrapbook says more than any photo can on its own.

But all of these get stuck into the scrapbook to add an extra something-something to your holiday snaps.

Snapfish Album

After my trip to Greece in 2013, I put together a Snapfish album of our travels for my friend’s birthday. Snapfish, and other sites like it, allow you to upload your photos and insert them into a book which they then create for you.

You can either use pre-designed layouts or create your own to get the book exactly the way you like. Add captions to your images, collage a page, make a 2-page spread of a particularly great picture, or mix it up with a few pages of text to recount what you did. With Snapfish, there are so many great things you can create, but it’s perfect for keeping those holiday memories in a fun, creative way.

Instagram Square Albums

While photo albums perhaps aren’t as popular as they once were, I discovered one day these sweet little square albums, designed for your square Instagram shots.

Instagram was originally designed to be an online collection of your photos, and it sure makes for a fantastic platform in which to share your adventures with the world. (Even if we’ve moved away from the square images these days.)

But it is fun to be able to print those pictures off in their square form and pop them into a little album made just for them.

I have about 6 of these tiny albums, and each holds square Instagram images from a different country, back when I posted square images. Athens in one, Paris in another, London, Scotland, Sydney. They’re also perfect for a quick flick through if you want to show friends your holiday snaps but don’t want to overload them with the thousands you really took.

Frame them

Have 1 or 2 pictures from your travels that you really love? Why not enlarge them and frame them?

There’s something special about displaying your travel photos in your home, especially if you’re rather proud of the shot. They’re also a nice reminder, right there on your wall, of the (hopefully!) great times you had on your trip.

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At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter which of these four you go with, or if you mix and match all of them.

Scrapbook the messy, sentimental version. Get a Snapfish album made for the polished one. Print off the square Instagram shots for a quick flick-through. Frame the one photo that still makes you stop and stare.

The point isn’t to pick the “right” way, it’s just to actually do something with those photos instead of letting them sit untouched in your camera roll forever. Future you will be so glad you did. 🎉

Have any other ideas as to how to keep your travel memories alive? Let me know in the comments!