How to Turn Your Favorite Trips into a Home Full of Meaning
I have never been one to collect magnets, postcards or t-shirts while traveling. Instead, I bring home handmade pieces that are useful in my home. Items include a tea pot from the Cotswolds, the warm wool blanket from Scotland, the Italian pottery crock in my kitchen and the Caribbean folk paintings displayed on our sun porch. It was in early 2025 that I realized that many of my cherished travel memories were captured in my photographs.
In early 2025, I realized that many of my most meaningful souvenirs weren’t tucked into drawers or displayed on shelves—they were hidden in boxes and hard drives, quietly waiting. Preserving travel photo memories became just as important to me as collecting handmade treasures from around the world.
Could I sort through over forty years of travel photos in a year? The task seemed overwhelming as I looked at boxes full of printed photos, multiple cloud accounts overflowing with digital photos and old smartphones with images to download. I spoke to friends who lamented the same problem. We all had travel and family memories stored away. Cherished moments bubble wrapped and gathering dust.
It took a year to sort through thousands of photos and to write this blog. But, this blog outlines the path taken, the supplies sourced and how I used my favorite photos. I promise you the effort and time is worth the result.
If you have cherished travel or family photos, follow along….
It all started with one Amazon box
To start the project, I did invest in two tools purchased from Amazon. Honestly, I think that both items helped me jumpstart my quest.
The book: Keep the Memories, Lose the Stuff: Declutter, Downsize, and Move Forward with Your Life This book covers downsizing and decluttering but has invaluable tips for sorting through photos. I used the tips and resources from the book, including instructions to preserve my old, printed travel photos. If you need inspiration to get started, order this book.
Photo Stick: I used the photo stick from Omni to download photos from my current and old smartphones. Thousands of photos were effortlessly downloaded in moments. I was later able to upload those photos to the cloud where I sorted at my leisure. I like using a photo stick because I also stored the stick in a safe place as a second backup.
My Top Three Photo Sorting Tips
I followed the advice included in : Keep the Memories, Lose the Stuff: Declutter, Downsize, and Move Forward with Your Life and it took six months of casual sorting to “touch” all of my photo memories. Here are my top tips from lessons learned.
- Set up a project zone: Have a box ready for the printed photos you want to keep, a place for photos to share and trash bags to quickly discard unwanted printed photos. For digital photos, invest in cloud storage before you start sorting.
- Start with your oldest photos, either printed or digital: Since my oldest travel photos pre-dated the invention of digital photos, I started with my 1980s printed photos. As you start with your oldest photos, you will quickly realize that your taste in memories has changed over the years. Places, people, food may seem unimportant now. (I only ended up keeping 2 photos out of many from the cheese shops and cafes on Rue Mouffetard in Paris.) When you start with the oldest photos in your collection, your sorting speed increases.
- Plan to share your photos: Sorting photos brings joy when you pre-plan to share with family and friends. As I sorted photos, I set aside images that I knew family or friends would enjoy receiving as gifts. Photos were included in holiday and birthday cards, given in frames, shared on social media and emailed. When you know that sharing photos will bring joy to others, the sorting task does not seem as daunting.
A Home Full of Memories
After sorting photos for months, I had my legacy collection. My favorites from the best. Once my legacy collection was complete, I saw how preserving travel photo memories transforms a house into a living story—one where every room reflects places, people, and moments that continue to inspire.
Now, it was time to incorporate them into our home and everyday life. Here is how I used my legacy photos:
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A collage of favorite Caribbean photos on canvas and MixedTiles
Gallery wall by theme or destination: Group photos by theme or trip and mix frame sizes for visual interest. My gallery wall has a combination of canvas prints and MixTiles. (I have found the best deals for canvas prints on the link provided)
- Floating shelves & Photo Ledges: I rotate framed travel photos seasonally or after each new trip. I also use a photo ledge in our spare bedroom and fill a basket with framed photos. I encourage our guests to feel free to change our display.
- Coffee table photo books: I created professionally printed books featuring highlights from our travels. The books are on our living room coffee table and on bookshelves throughout the house. (I used SnapFish to create and print the books)
- Canvas or metal prints: I used larger statement pieces to feature landscapes and favorite sunrises.
- Rotating digital frames: I display a curated selection of travel photos on my Roku TV, on a digital frame and I turned an Amazon Fire Tablet into a rotating photo display with the FoToo App.
The displays have not only personalized our home but also keep our travel memories visible, meaningful, and part of our everyday life. Travel ends…but the memories keep traveling!
Your photos aren’t just pictures–They’re mini time machines back to your favorite moments.
Making Travel Memories with Tour Plan International
The most powerful travel memories often begin long before the first photo is taken. For sixty years, Tour Plan International has helped travelers create journeys that are rich in meaning, connection, and once-in-a-lifetime moments—guided tours and bespoke adventures designed to be experienced fully and remembered forever. These are the kinds of trips that fill your camera roll with sunrise landscapes, shared laughter, and photo-worthy details you’ll treasure for decades.
Create a travel photo book and share with family and friends
Long after the bags are unpacked, the memories continue to travel—framed on your walls, shared with loved ones, and revisited every time a familiar image brings you right back to the world you explored.
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