A tradition of mine is to compile photos into a little travel book for every trip I take. We all know that travel is rich with moments worth remembering, and we can’t always visit the same place twice. Therefore, I’ve come to snap photos of each and every one of my travels and preserve them in photo books. Here is my explanation of what travel photo diaries are and why you need to start keeping them. Warning: you might just get addicted to making these!
Our Brains Can Only Store So Much…
That’s why we need to log our experiences! As much as we want to remember every detail of our travels, we can only remember so much. There are two types of memory your brain can perform: short term and long term memory.
Short term memory is collected and stored briefly while long term memory lays dormant until you actively call upon it. Long term memory sticks, but even then it can be flawed. The easiest way to remember the important moments of your travels is to log them in a manner that stimulates and encodes your long term memory. Pictures are one of the best ways to do this! Adding text to accompany your photos also helps with this process. If you’re interested in how memories are created and stored, you can find an informative article here.
Disregarding the technical jargon, memories+pictures+writing= better long term memory and recall, which is a good thing!
This is where the travel book comes in–you can trigger your memories through photos and captions of your adventures. Still not convinced? You should keep a travel photo book to:
- Remember the key moments of your travels
- Recall the little (but equally as important) travel moments
- Reflect on your experiences
- Keep your memories organized
The book is all about the platform and structure that works for YOU and YOUR memory, but I’ll let you in on the platforms that I recommend.
I’m Interested, Where Do I Begin?
Each of the travel photo books I’ve created has been made on a website called Snapfish. Snapfish, which is similar to Shutterfly, has been such a helpful tool. All I need to provide is the photos and the captions and Snapfish does the rest. My favorite thing about Snapfish is the prices, or should I say the discounts. I’ve made several photo books throughout the years and every time I’ve started one there has been some sort of large discount. The last photo book I ordered in December was only $10!
Here is the Snapfish process:
- First, I click on the “photo books” section on the navigation bar and I choose the size of the book (usually 8×8) and the type of cover. The material you choose for the cover mainly determines the price, so I usually stick to soft covers and keep them in a safe place.
- Next, I choose either a pre-established theme or create my own. Don’t worry though, all of the presets can be edited once you’re in the customizer!
- From here, you can enter the customizer and edit all of the angles of your book such as the photos, designs, layouts, backgrounds, embellishments, and more. This is where you get creative! Usually, each book includes 20 or so pages, but more pages can be added for a small fee.
- When you’re ready, you can hit “Review and Buy” and expect your book to be shipped soon.
Once you’ve placed all of your photos where you want them, you can add text to explain the photos. In my photo books, I usually try to pack as much information about the places I visited that I can remember. Sometimes though, I try and just let the photos speak for themselves. One of my favorite features is the project-saving of Snapfish. Need last minute copies for family and friends? You can edit and print new ones at any time, even after your initial book has been printed.
Having a physical book is important, and Snapfish has been a resourceful and affordable way to keep my travel memories close to me.
While I could always print my own photos and use a journal to create my photo books, I find services such as Snapfish and Shutterfly much more affordable and time-saving, especially since the quality of the books is much better than anything I could make. For a price like $10, how could I pass it up?
Do you keep travel photo books? Let me know below!