Make lifelong memories during your family vacation and travel somewhere memorable for just that purpose. Be it meeting Mickey Mouse or touring historic landmarks, the best places for travel memories can create unforgettable experiences that your family won’t soon forget.
But once back home, what should you do with all those photos and souvenirs from your travels? To help, we consulted travel experts about how they display important keepsakes from their trips.
1. The Smoky Mountains
The Smoky Mountains offer an idyllic destination to make memories with your family. As a national park, this region features hiking trails, scenic overlooks, wildlife encounters and Dollywood, an amusement park offering rides and shows. Plus, making memories here won’t cost an arm and leg!
The Great Smoky Mountains National Park, nestled astride the Tennessee and North Carolina borders, spans 800 square miles. A prime destination for outdoor adventurers, you can hike to breathtaking waterfalls or camp in its backcountry – plus you’ll encounter wildlife like 140 tree species and 1,600 black bears!
Townsend or Bryson City offer an idyllic alternative to Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg’s bustle. Here you will find more laid-back shops, vintage ice cream stands, Appalachian restaurants serving hearty meals with soulful music – locals refer to these quieter areas as “The peaceful side of the Smokies,” providing welcome relief from noise and crowds.
Add another fun memory from your Smokies trip by adding a travel map and scratching off each location you visit on it – it’s an interactive and unique way to keep those vacation memories close, plus makes an awesome conversation piece in your living room! Currency from each country you have visited could even help mark specific spots – it makes an excellent present for someone who enjoys traveling!
2. Road Trip across the U.S.
Road trips are one of the most enjoyable and unforgettable ways to travel, offering unparalleled freedom and independence. Within two or three weeks you can complete a cross-country road trip, visiting Yellowstone National Park, Lakeside Ferris Wheel (home of world’s largest ferris wheel) or Red Rocks Amphitheater (Denver). Additionally, make the famedly flat journey across Kansas (ideal for making “this is as boring as driving across Kansas” jokes), tour Utah desert landscape or gaze upon stars at Joshua Tree at nighttime!
Road trips are also an effective way to relive past memories. For instance, fans of Gilmore Girls can visit Stars Hollow’s real-life counterpart in Connecticut by touring Kent and Washington Depot where filming took place or visit Florida Keys to experience another side of Florida other than beaches, theme parks and retirement communities.
Cooking with ingredients from your trip is an excellent way to relive past memories, particularly if they possess strong aromas and flavors, so bring home any spices from the area when on a culinary excursion.
Road trips offer the ideal opportunity to experience some of the finest autumn foliage displays across America. Starting out in Vermont’s towns of Stowe or Waterbury and driving over Kancamagus Highway can create unforgettable memories that last a lifetime.
3. Europe
Europe is a popular travel destination, thanks to its vast cultural legacy dating back millennia. Visitors come from all corners of the globe for its history: Ancient Greece ruins, Roman empires and medieval castles as well as Renaissance art, classical music and the Industrial Revolution are just a few attractions that attract millions each year – with Europe alone drawing more visitors annually than any other continent combined!
One of the best ways to remember a trip is to bring back something tangible from each place you visit – be it postcards or pieces of paper with memorable quotes or phrases written on them; native spices or food items from local markets which will reintroduce aromatic and flavorful memories; even cooking up something from these spices can bring the entire trip alive again!