While many take to traveling during the summer, we always get the travel itch when fall draws near, and we've been looking forward to both our planned travels and all the photos we'll be taking and then displaying around our apartment. It made us start wondering how others track their travels...
For avid travelers, keeping track of all the places you visit can not only be fun, but also a visually interesting opportunity for art in the home. Do you keep a visual track of all the places you've been to, and if so, how?
Let us know if there are any other ways you track your travels than the ones we've mentioned! And if you are looking for a little more inspiration for your own travel tracking, be sure to check out previous posts like Travel Inspiration: Chart Your Adventures, Cara's Travel Inspired Room, and How To: Plot Your Escape.
(Image: Flickr member [misspiepie] and [unlimited inspirations] licensed for use under Creative Commons)

Commercial Flour Sa...
It's not really on a grand scale, but I keep a Google map of every street I walk down in Manhattan. It's getting a bit unwieldy.
For big trips, I will usually do one of the first two options or buy a small piece of jewelry. But for all trips, I keep a separate travel journal that is used to log specifics of the cities visited, like restaurants, parks, shops, etc.
I have vacation photos on my computer and a few things I've collected while traveling that I alternate displaying - but nothing big saying where I've been.
I buy an original 8x10" piece of art that truly displays what I think of a place...for example I have a dog-butt sniffing woodblock print from Seattle (kind of fun and laid-back like Seattle), a photograph of a pinup girl signed by the artist from Denver, and a print of a mermaid from Sarasota, FL, totally kitschy like Florida. All are framed in the same frame in my apt.
Hah, I went to school in Eugene. Nice photo! Might want to skip Corvallis though : )
I simply have a 'travel' folder. Both a hard copy and one on the computer. Works great.
I buy a little clay "part of town" every time I go to Cinque Terre, Italy. I have a green door, a street arch and a black & white striped church so far... they are only up to 6x6" and a 1-15 euro each!
Also I started buying water colors (or drawings) from street artists. You can usually bargain & get a good deal! I got 2 for 15 euro in Salzburg, Austria. I love to sketch on trips too... those make fun little pieces of art to hang all together because I usually doodle on scrap paper or the backs of entrance tickets (for instance in Florence's The Academia I sketched one of Michelangelo's unfinished prisoners/slaves... I have seen "David" enough... I lived right across the street form him when I studied abroad!)
And my favorite things to buy from each trip: ornaments! I get to open them up once a year and reminisce about all the places I've been! Unless, they stay out all year like my wooden painted flower from Pittsburgh's Phipp's Conservatory.
I download all my photos into carefully named files...then I clean them up (crop, enhance etc.)...then I email some to new friends, "as promised". Then I sort for pix to enlarge for display (at this point some will be digitally manipulated, depending on the style and my thoughts at the time)...then I forget allllllllll about them!!! LOL, but too true!
I actually do browse these files when I'm bored and that tends to regenerate my desire to display them, but it hasn't really happened yet.
Actually, my sister has more of my travel pix on her walls than I do!
Sad, really...
all of the above.
i have photo boxes and lots of framed prints and enlargements from my travels. i love buying street art, too! i also have a map and pins. you might say i am obsessed with travelling! when i have more wall space, i plan to buy some of those lovely vintage looking poster ads from my favourite cities around the world.
I think it's funny the map is just of Oregon in the picture.
I created a custom Travel "archive" box. I purchased nice archival storage boxes and inside each I glued dividers to hold discs, brochures etc. For each trip I burn a set of photos to a disc and make a label for it and place it and any corresponding travel brochures ticket stubs etc. I want to save in the box. Each box holds about 15 discs and corresponding stuff. I'm on my second box now.
instead of a wall hung map i use a free standing globe with push pins!
I have a map with pins and a variety of souvenirs on display, including some framed posters I brought back from Paris and London.
My husband and I buy a souvenir magnet every time we travel somewhere together and have them all displayed in chronological order on IKEA magnetic strips in our kitchen. It's a fun, unobtrusive collection that reminds us of our travels and makes for a great conversation piece.