Here's A Really Fun Way To Show Off Your Travel Photos - Hand Luggage Only

Travel is something that lots of us not only enjoy a few times a year but are also truly passionate about! We crave adventure, whether that’s the other side of the world or a few miles from home… after all, travel is all about the memories we make and the fun we have while doing so!

If you’re anything like me you’ll have arrived home from your last trip with hundreds of photos and not a clue on how, when or what you’ll be doing with them. If I’m honest, most never see the light of day – which is a huge shame, especially as I have always, have fond memories of looking back at old family and friends photos. They really are so special, especially for teasing my sister on her crimped hair choices from back when we were younger! 😉

Recently, I was introduced to Wall Snaps and Square Snaps and found myself with a myriad of choices to remedy this problem…not the ridiculous crimped hair but being able to share, print and create lovely memories of some of our most amazing trips!

Ever since I got my first digital camera, I don’t think I’ve ever really created actual physical copies of photos I’ve taken (pretty sure all the physical photos I own are from film cameras) and so, the chance to do so was one I was only too eager to try out. Now that I have the final results – it’s also one that I’m only too eager to share with you – especially as some of photos are from a trip I’d been planning for YEARS!

7 Ways To Create Your Own Travel Feature Wall

1.) Personalise your home with your travel snaps: There’s a reason why till this day, we still like to share our photos, not just in old family albums but even across social media. Even till this day, the need to update social media when you see something fantastic is still pretty strong in all of us! Printing out your photos isn’t a new idea but I can definitely say using Wall Snaps, to do this is an idea I without hesitation highly recommend.

Why? Well, it’s that whole ‘leap of faith’ thing, just like when you buy those jeans from eBay and you hope to goodness that they look as good as they did online and fit even half as good as they seemed to on your computer.

The amount of times when I’ve been horrified or been left laughing (in outrage) from online ordering makes me really REALLY celebrate those moments when a place just gets it right and Wall Snaps definitely does. It’s also really easy to print your photos in personalised frames, canvases as there’s a huge variety on offer here with other customisable elements and a vast range of mounts but the main thing for me is just that final product! Anyway, no point describing it to you – let me show you! 🙂

2.) Choose your feature wall wisely: One of the key things with any feature wall is to choose your wall wisely! Ideally, any feature wall should grab your attention as soon as you enter the room, but it can’t afford to be one that gets too much ‘traffic to it’ – the last thing you want is for someone to knock down your souvenir or photos off your wall when walking past.

I’d say start with a blank one that’s pretty much dedicated to your travel pieces and you’ll almost have yourself this life-sized puzzle back at home, waiting to be filled with travel memories. I’m a sucker for a hanging souvenir (travel masks, hanging ornaments…etc) so having a “travel wall” fits perfectly with the kind of items I bring back home from my travels. (My cousin built herself a little shelf and that’s where she keeps all her travel memorabilia, photos included!).

3.) Choose your memories: One of the hardest things about creating a travel wall, which includes photos, is choosing which memories you want to share (there are so many great ones to choose from, right?). The great thing about Square Snaps is that you can print off quite literally hundreds of personalised polaroid pictures as well as retro prints so it’s definitely worth checking out the different style products here to figure out what suits you best.

This being said, you probably only have enough space for a finite amount of prints so how do you go about selecting the ones to print? (Even if you do end up printing hundred like we did). 🙂

In my case using my souvenirs as a guide, I’ve found the best way to select the photos is to find a ‘story’ you want to tell.

For instance, you could choose to change things up after every big trip to showcase the latest adventure you’ve been on (almost like your own ever-evolving home art gallery). Or you could choose a photo for every continent you’ve visited (or perhaps even one for every country). Or maybe you’d like to focus on a specific time-frame/timeline in your life? Point is, choosing a story you want to tell make that tricky job of selecting favourite travel photos just that extra bit easier (and a tad more structures).

4.) Draw the eye with contrasting colours: Displaying travel is no time to go for similar tones/colours. The world is diverse and people are so different, even within the same country – let alone across different countries so feel free to mix things up here and embrace the (sometimes sharp) contrasts across your different photos.

Boring, monotonous grids of photos are only suitable for Instagram and even then, definitely not for travel! (By the way, switching frames and mounts can be quite a great way to achieve that perfect ‘organised chaos’ look too).

5.) Make your memories larger than life: One of the best thing about most modern cameras is that you’ll be able to blow up your pictures to gigantic proportions – we all get so much of small photos digitally on our computer and phones so why not make things more interesting and make your photos more ‘life size’… again, think ‘Home Art Gallery”. 😉

6.) Mix old and new: Let’s face it; the concept of an interesting travel wall is one that draws its strengths from the diversity of your experience. New experiences can seem more exciting, partly because we’ve more recently actively chosen them but there are some old gems that deserve their place of pride out there too.

To that end, we say, mix them up – if for nothing at all, it can definitely tell the story of how you’ve changed over the years… or at last give you a chance to display those cute baby photos of yours!

7.) Create polaroid style photos to save on space: This proved very handy when I moved to University halls… and when you move from working in a city like Edinburgh where your rent money gets you so much space to somewhere like London where you pay almost 3 times as much rent for 1/3^rd of the space. Square Snaps do pretty nifty polaroid photo prints (using your photos of course) which you can then display using cool little hanging tools like these ones!