Social media apps have gone a long way in helping people share their travel memories.  Whether you’ve posted photos of your Roatan rentals oceanfront property on Instagram, added the view from the top of Kotor’s Castle of Giovanni to Facebook or tweeted a shot of Long Beach on the west coast of Vancouver Island, the fact is you’re using a platform that could possibly, one day, disappear.  And although it seems highly unlikely here in the early 21rst century, you have to remember these apps have been around for less than 15 years.  You probably didn’t care to think Vine, Myspace or Friendster would possibly become irrelevant either.  This article will give you some ideas of how you can ensure your travel memories will last forever.

Keep A Scrapbook

We all end up with little pieces of paper, tickets and receipts from our travels.  Whether it’s your boarding pass, a receipt from a restaurant or a ticket stub from a play, these bits of paper may seem like garbage when you empty your pockets, but months or years down the road, they can work to bring up long forgotten memories.  Rather than throwing all of them into the recycling bin when you get home, keep some of them and paste them into a scrapbook.  They’ll look much more interesting to you and your loved ones as time passes.

Create A Travel Box

Travel boxes are similar to scrap books, but you’ll be able to hold onto a lot more three-dimensional memories.  You can use an old cigar box, decorate a small cardboard container or purchase a small crate on your travels.  Along with your slips of paper you can add stones and seashells, matchbooks, travel brochures and other small souvenirs.  Rather than boring your guests with yet another photo slideshow of your trip, just hand them the box, let them dig through it and ask questions about whatever they might be interested in.

Send Yourself Postcards

Postcards are becoming a lost art, but if you do still send them to people, you’ll find out they truly appreciate the thought and effort.  But rather than send them and never see them again, buy an extra one to send to yourself.  Not only will you end up with a frameable photo, you’ll have a stamp, stamp mark and whatever memory you wrote on the card itself.  If writing a note by hand and tracking down a post office is too much of an ordeal, there are online services available that will create and send a postcard to whomever you please when you upload a photo.

Start A Collection

If you focus on a singular, simple souvenir, it won’t take that many trips before you have yourself a collection.  It’ll cut down on your indecision during souvenir shopping as well as the amount of stuff you have to bring home with you.  It could be as simple as the smallest denomination coin available, a sew on patch, a button or pin or something slightly more substantial like a snow-globe, teaspoon, thimble or local art.  Just try and choose something that you know you’ll come across no matter where you go.