Gift ideas: 5 great ways to commemorate a trip forever

The post-vacation comedown is real. One minute you’re reclining on the beach with piña colada in hand, or whooshing down a snow-covered slope on two skis, or exploring some other storied destination on your bucket list; the next minute, you’re back to the daily grind, back to work, back to “reality”…. How to keep the vacation buzz going? We’ve rounded up five cool, non-cheesy ways to commemorate your trip—and simultaneously inspire you to start planning the next one. Have a friend or family member suffering from PVD (post-vacay depression)? Any of the following would make for a great gift, too.

Cover your wall with a mural | Photo courtesy of @muralswallpaper

Cover your wall with a custom mural | Photo courtesy of @muralswallpaper

Have a custom mural made.

Perhaps the best way to surround yourself with vacation vibes—short of taking another vacation—is to select a favorite photo from your trip and have a beautiful, wall-size version of it printed. U.K.-based company Murals Wallpaper offers a custom service that does just that. You select the photo—maybe that sun-setting-over-the-ocean one? The mesmerizing nighttime cityscape? The Narnia-like forest?—and then an in-house design team gets to work enlarging, enhancing and digitally printing your wallpaper mural for installation in a bedroom, office or anywhere else that could benefit from a life-size postcard.

Make a photo book | Photo courtesy of @kretzke

Print an Instagram book.

A popular platform for sharing photos, Instagram is nonetheless an inefficient way to readily relive vacation memories. Scrolling through old ‘grams is arguably nowhere near as satisfying as holding an album in your hands. Fortunately, there are easy ways to turn Instagrams into a keepsake book. Artifact Uprising offers Instagram-friendly photo books, featuring a textured eggshell cover and 100-percent recycled interior pages ($18). The editing tool connects you directly to your Instagram feed, so there’s no upload required.

ALSO: Give yourself the gift of travel rewards when you join Orbitz Rewards!

Photo courtesy of Shutterfly

Order a personalized phone case.

Here’s a perfect gift for the tech-dependent (and who isn’t these days?): Choose a fun photo from your travels and have it printed on a smartphone case or tablet folio. Shutterfly enables you to play around with a variety of designs and select from an array of different iPhone models. Every time you reach for your phone or iPad, you’ll be reminded of a vacation memory—not that unlistened-to voicemail or unreturned email.

Photo courtesy of Snapfish

Print special coasters.

Speaking of photo-printing services like Shutterfly or Snapfish, they offer seemingly endless options in terms of household items you can personalize: pillows, quilts, drinkware, luggage tags, tote bags, plates. It can get out of hand pretty quickly—and not everyone wants a plush fleece blanket emblazoned with a vacation pic—which is why we think that coasters are among the more innocuous items to adorn with travel images. They have a distinctive function and can be stored away, if necessary. But choose the right series of images and you/your giftee may be inclined to keep them out all year.

Photo courtesy of Martha Stewart

Make a travel memory box.

Truth be told, this is about as DIY/crafty as we get—taking items like ticket stubs, postcards, maps, foreign currency and other trinkets from a trip and storing them in a wooden keepsake box with the destination stamped on the exterior. Martha Stewart Living gave us the idea (just Google “travel keepsake kit” for inspiration), and the reason we love this “craft” is because it’s basically an admission that the fancy commemorative scrapbook we dreamed of making just isn’t gonna happen. Hey, more time to travel….