5 Creative Ways to Document your Travels.

"One man's trash is another man's treasure" - Someone who's probably important

This is my motto when I'm constantly collecting, err, hoarding the littlest things from my time abroad. From restaurant paper napkins and water bottle labels written in a different language, to city maps, tickets, and metro cards-- I keep them all. But I don't just dump them all in a box and shove them in my closet. I showcase my travels and the thousands of photos I snapped so I can reminisce on my amazing adventures on the reg. Here are 5 creative ways I document my travels.

1.) Key-Chain Tree.

Confession: I am a total key-chain enthusiast. While some people collect stamps, hats, or shot glasses, I collect key-chains. As cheesy as it sounds, they make perfect sense. They are small so they take hardly any room in your suitcase and they can be found in every city, country, or state you visit. So how do I show them off? A key-chain tree.

I bought what was supposed to be a jewelry holder from Urban Outfitters and instead of hanging up necklaces, I took all my key-chains and plopped them right on there. It has definitely become a conversation starter.[as you can see I might need to find a bigger tree soon.. oops..]

2.) Shutterfly Photo Book.

Shutterfly is one of those companies I'm slightly obsessed with. It's easy to use, completely custom, and their products make great gifts. They even have the option of adding a clear envelope to the inner cover of your book to hold all your ticket stubs, maps, etc. The only negative is that it's pretty time consuming (sorry mom, still working soon your birthday gift). Here are a couple of my pages for ideas:

P.S. Never pay full price for your photo book. If they don't have a promo code on the website for 50%, wait until they do or go onto Groupon and look for a deal there.

3.) Shadow Box.

Shadow boxes are the perfect way to take the random crap you collect from your travels and make it look presentable. I have three shadow boxes all of which I got from TJMaxx and have filled to the brim. If you don't know what a shadow box is (no shame, I didn't know until a couple years ago), it is basically a 3-d box you hang from your wall and can pin papers and photos in layers inside of it.

4.) Picture Map with Pins.

Okay. So the maps with the pins on them are no secret, but I added a little something to mine that I have yet to see. I cut out what was supposed to look like a luggage tag, punched a hole in one end, and tied a string from the pin to the tag. I then added a picture of the country's flag on one side and a picture of me in that country on the other.

I love it because it adds a little more of a personal touch than just sticking a pin in the map.

5.) Pictures Signs.

Once I was aboard the MV Explorer and embarked on the journey that would forever change my life, AKA Semester at Sea, I knew I wanted to bring back something special for my parents, who helped fund the trip, but of course I had no clue what... that is until we were in our first port in Morocco. I saw one girl hold up a paper sign that said "Thanks", and from there I knew exactly what I was going to do. We had 9 countries, so I could take a picture in every country we went to and spell out a phrase with 9 words, but that just wouldn't do. There were way too many cool cities too, so I decided to make it a 12 word phrase-- "Thanks Mom and Dad for Giving me the World. I love you." [Scroll through below the see the pictures]

THANKS

MOM

AND

DAD

FOR

GIVING

ME

THE

WORLD

I

LOVE

YOU

Once I got home from my trip, I went to my local CVS and printed out the 12 photos then put together a little photo album and gave it to them as a thank you gift.

You can also use picture signs to give someone a shout out when you're abroad. For example, when I was in Gibraltar hanging out with my monkey friends, it was my sister's birthday, so I decided to make a sign for her wishing her a happy birthday.