Why I Travel

Collecting Moments & Passport Stamps | Why I Travel

 

If you’ve been with me on this solo blogging journey for the past year (time flies!) you know that I travel quite a bit. What you may not know though is that I’ve been traveling pretty much my whole life. I’m not new to this! I’ve been using this little phrase, collecting moments and passport stamps, all across my social media but I’ve never really taken the time to explain it. Until now!

Collecting Moments | Memories

I belong to a family of immigrants all from Jamaica. We were fortunate enough to be able to take trips back while growing up. Aside from my family in the D.C. Metropolitan area, I have quite a bit of family who settled in other places mainly being Toronto, Orlando, and NYC. So in addition to going to Jamaica, we would go to Orlando at least once a year, drive to Toronto every summer for Caribana, and do random road trips to NYC several times a year.

Collecting Moments --Memories

The majority of my best moments in life so far are connected to travel. It’s how my family is able to remain so connected despite no longer living in the same country or state. We travel far and wide for graduations, weddings, birthdays, parties, and sometimes for no real reason at all. For these reasons, many of my cousins and I are as close as brothers and sisters despite the distance.

 

Collecting Moments | Photos

The other part of collecting moments for me is the photos. I have some photos of our trips and travels growing up but not as many as I would like. It’s obviously a different time where taking and storing photos is a hell of a lot easier than it used to be. Who else has loads of disposable cameras with undeveloped film from childhood? Now in the age of smart phones and digital cameras, I make it a point to document as much of my travels (and life in general) as I can with pictures. It doesn’t hurt that as a blogger, having photos is kinda important, so I take even more. As a result, I’ve developed a love of photography. I’m by no means a professional or anything but even I can see how my photos have gotten better over time. I look forward to the new pictures that I have the opportunity to take every time I take another trip. Even if it’s a repeat location! I aim to capture some of these moments in time in a photo to share with others, to reflect on my travels, and to leave my own stamp on the world. As Buju says, “memories don’t live like people do,” over time we forget things. When that time comes my photos will bring me back.

Collecting Moment --Photos

 

Collecting Stamps

Passport stamps! Earlier I mentioned that most of my travel growing up involved the same places and was family related. It was also at a time where a passport wasn’t required everywhere–you could travel on your birth certificate. So I actually didn’t get a passport until I reached high school. Minus the years I spent in undergrad and a couple after, I’ve only just started ‘collecting stamps’ from new places in the last couple years.

Collecting Stamps

 

For many travelers traveling is a favorite past time but collecting stamps is the physical representation of those memories. We’re proud of them. We work hard for them. I love to flip through the pages of my passport and be flooded with memories from the places the stamps represent. Each stamp is a memory, a collection of stories, and a badge of honor of sorts. No new country feels quite complete if you didn’t get a stamp. Kind of like, where’s the picture or it didn’t happen.

 

#Onward

Now that you know where I’m coming from, not much is changing going forward except that I’m collecting more stamps. I still travel for and with family. I also travel with friends–and strangers to some degree. New memories are a part of the package, and I am totally here for it. I’m still focused on collecting more stamps and creating more memories in epic places with great people. Collecting moments and passport stamps is so much of my travel why but in general is a phrase I truly live by whether I’m traveling or not. To me, life is all about your collection of moments; those memories you get to stamp in time in your heart or through a photo with people you love.

Memories

I call myself a Moment Collector (kinda like the Debt Collector, haha). I’m absolutely excited to continue adding to my collection of moments and passport stamps. Of course, I have other reasons for traveling such as just being curious about the rest of the world, wanting to see and experience other cultures, and taste different food. But those are all fractions waiting to be simplified one last time. It still boils down to moments. Those are my travel whys. What is your #travelwhy? Comment down below and/or use the hashtag #travelwhy in a tweet or on Instagram so we can all share our WHY! Get inspired!

 

One Last Thing

One last thing before I let you go. I’m bringing #traveltuesday from my Instagram live to your inbox! I did a few live chats last month and it was difficult finding a time that worked for us all. I want you to get these tips to unlock your inner traveler! So I’ve decided to take my #traveltuesday tips straight to your inbox. Here’s how this is better:

  • Reach More People — Since we don’t all have to meet at the same time, I can reach more of you which is ultimately the goal.
  • Time — It was a challenge finding that sweet spot time wise where people are available in the evening to tune in. With these emails, you can access my #traveltuesday tips at any time.
  • Better Value — Using an email format you’ll be able to go back and reference important information and you don’t miss anything!

Don’t worry. If you enjoyed the live chats I definitely plan to continue doing them from time to time.

Get Travel Tips & Tricks Delivered to Your Inbox!




Kingteeuhh Why I travel

28 Comments

  1. When I was a kid, my mom stockpiled her film for years, to save on the expense of having it developed. But she still continud to take photos – we just never saw them developed. Then when I was a young teenager, she got them all developed at once. I think something about going so long without seeing pictures of our lives hooked both my sister and I on photography. Since high school (and the digital era hadn’t started yet when I was in high school) I’ve been obsessed with trying to collect moments in pictures.

  2. Photos ARE precious! I LOVE to look at old photo albums of when I was growing up. Brings up a lot of good memories. I am glad that you are now able to take lots of pics! 🙂

  3. I love this, we are lucky enough to have a book of stamps that started being collected by my grandad and them my dad continued it. I love looking over them to see where all their adventures have been.

  4. Yessssss to all of this! I love to collect memories and stamps as well. We recently started a gallery wall in our home where we display our favorite picture from each country we’ve traveled to. I found with cell phones and social media it’s too often we just snap and post on IG but never see those pictures again.

    1. So true!! I’m trying to be better about not allowing my photos to go into a black hole. I love that concept of displaying a favorite photo from each country.

  5. This was great! As someone who wants to travel more in the near future, it was cool to hear your perspective and see how you cement the memories of all of your experiences!

  6. I love collecting like this. It’s something I cherish because I get to document my life with my kids this way ?

  7. I absolutely love collecting photos as well. I’m always having to upgrade my cloud storage plan! 😉 I always say that one day our kids will be grown and out of the house, and our photos will be all we have to look back on. I like capturing memories for future generations to look back on, too.

  8. One thing I’m looking forward to doing in the next year is traveling. I love seeing new sights and watching how different cultures live. I love the idea of collecting stamps instead of souvenirs!

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