Travel Scrapbooks – record those memories!

 I have been reflecting about the places I have been blessed enough to travel to. Growing up whenever I went away with my family or with school on trips, my mum would encourage me to do a scrap book about my experience. When I look at them now I am so glad that my mum encouraged me to, as it is so special to be able to remember the experiences and now share them with my children.

One of my favourite scrapbooks is of my skiing trip to Vallorie in the South of France (I went with school). I kept details of daily activities, foods I ate, funny things that happened with my friends, photos of ice sculptures and the ice rink that was an outdoor swimming pool in the summer. I wrote loads and is so funny looking back at my 13-year-old self and the experiences I had.

With my children I have always had the intention to do this, but it has never turned into actual scrapbooks. As we have some extra time on our hands in the current pandemic, we are working on a scrapbook for our trip we made in January 2019 to Saudi Arabia. This was a special trip for us as Muslims to visit Makkah and Madinah.  I kept plane tickets, business cards for hotels and shops and took pictures of the different places that we visited. Each child will be writing about their favourite memories to add to the scrapbook. 

I hope that this is the start of a tradition in our family to document our adventures.

£3.99 from B&M

Some photos of our trip

Our tickets and hotel card

Why making a travel scrapbook is beneficial:

• ·        Children can express themselves without constraints. Using descriptive writing, pictures, materials and more, put onto paper their journey and feelings.
• ·        It can promote organisational skills and creativity. Arranging how things will go on the page and ordering their story.
• ·        Creates memories that can be looked back upon and can be shared with others.
• ·        Allows reflection of new experiences and other cultures.
• ·        Can be a family activity; bonding time to remember special experiences.