Start Your Travel Traditions

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This holiday season, you will likely overhear friends and family talk about holiday traditions. These traditions can be everything from family gift exchanges to reading a holiday book every night leading up to Christmas. These traditions are typically passed down from generation to generation. But traditions don’t have to stop once the holidays are over. If you are planning a trip here soon, you should consider starting your own travel traditions.

Travel traditions come in many shapes and sizes. I know people who travel to different international destinations every year to celebrate their wedding anniversary. Maybe you have a favorite vacation home exchange you want to visit annually with the entire family. There are many fun ways to begin travel traditions. To help you brainstorm, here is a look at some of my own personal travel traditions.

Book an international vacation every other year. My husband and I love to travel. On even years, we will travel abroad. We’ve been to Mexico, Europe, and South America. Once we return from our trip, we begin saving and planning our next trip. Next year, we are eyeing either Spain or Japan. Click on the links to view International Vacation Home Exchange properties in both countries.

Celebrate Mothers Day (or any holiday or occasion) with a road trip. I am a new mom so this is a new travel tradition for us. Every Mothers Day weekend, we will take a road trip somewhere as a family. Earlier this year, we spent the weekend in St. George, Utah. Some of you may travel to grandma’s house for Thanksgiving as your travel tradition. Make the holidays, or special occasions, excuses to travel. (For tips on surviving that trip to your grandmother’s house during the holiday season, check out this IVHE post).

Keep a travel journal. How you opt to document your travels is strictly up to you. Me? I prefer photos as opposed to words for my journal. Pictures, after all, are worth a 1,000 words. This is a great tradition that you can share with friends and family. Technology also makes it easy for you to save your journal digitally.

Purchase keepsakes from your vacation. I have a collection of picture frames from all of my travels. My mom purchases bells from all the places she visits. Maybe you bring back a rock or some sand. Or you buy a postcard from every city you visit. Whatever it may be, begin a travel tradition to collect keepsakes from your travels.

The great thing about traditions is you can always begin new ones whenever and wherever you want. Whatever that tradition may be, make sure it is special and unique to you.

What are some of your favorite travel traditions? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

Thanks to travel writer Carla Pruitt. You can follow Carla on Twitter @crobscarla