Leave nothing but footprints, take nothing but pictures and memories — and don’t forget about them. “A wise man once said a third of your vacation enjoyment comes from researching and planning it, another third from actually enjoying it, and the remaining third from reminiscing and sharing photos and stories with friends and family afterwards,” says Brad Moss, executive director of Trusted Adventures. The travel alliance offer these five tips to help you keep vacation memories alive:
- Build a scrapbook/ photo album to sketch out your memories and thoughts about the trip. Everlater.com, a new free online journaling and scrapbook application, is a great resource for techies and social media-savvy travelers.
- Send postcards to your friends to bring up conversation about your trip when you arrive home. Or keep your network in the loop by posting photos and updates to Facebook and Twitter. If you pre-stamp postcards before you go, you can just fill in and mail them whenever the mood strikes you.
- Make a post trip slide/video travelogue to share with your friend and family. You can tell stories and talk about the next trip you’ll all share together. Create one online using Animoto.com, which also has a mobile app.
- Utilize social media to tell the whole world about your travel experiences. Send a vacation review to TripAdvisor.com. Post video blogs on YouTube. Blog about your trip when you get home or while you’re on the move. Many blogs, like WordPress and Tumblr now have mobile apps that let you post from your phone.
- Stay connected to people you traveled with and organizations you met or were exposed to during your trip. Make donations to charity and volunteer your time to organizations you became aware of. Exchange e-mails with travelers and share pictures online by creating a group album on Photobucket.com.
And, remember, it is never too early to start planning your next trip!
