How to: Make a Travel Map

I absolutely LOVE to travel. And I even used to think I was a world traveler. I’m not although I have one stamp in my passport that expired 3 years ago. That’s something right?

Anyway one of my goals is to travel to at least all 50 states. So far I’ve been to:

• Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia,

That’s 27 out of 50 for those of you who are counting. And yes I can count, even though I’m not a Math Major, I’m an English Major :).

So anyway I decided I wanted to get a map and display where my family and I had traveled. We pondered how many colored pins we’d need. Do we do a you, me, them or an us or a family? Do we count before marriage, after marriage, Tbug’s travels with her mom? That’s when we decided that all four of us would have our own color pin, we’d include travels before and after marriage and we’d include traveling Tbug had done with her other family. My pin is purple (go figure, right Liss). Tbug is blue. Hubby’s is green. Abug is a rose pink color.

So if you’re crazy like me… then this is what you need to make your map too.

• Map. I went with a 50″x32″. My husband thought I was nuts. Maybe I was!
• What you’re going to put the map on. I went with a 4’x3′ bulletin board. It was a little taller than my map and not quite as long but I’ll address that.
• Headliner & Carpet Adhesive or other adhesive.
• Pins to mark travel destinations.
• Scissors
• Heart to mark where home is (optional)

The white trim on the right and left side is all the longer the map was than the bulletin board so I just trimmed the edges and bam, it fit.

I also mentioned that the bulletin board is taller than the map. I laid the map out and drew a line so I knew how high to go up with my adhesive.

The adhesive I chose is actually for headliners in cars. It worked GREAT! you spray a couple layers, one way and then the other (left to right then up and down). 3 or 4 layers and allow them to dry for like 5 minutes a piece. Then you place the map down. No pictures of that because it took all hands on deck to try and not get wrinkles. I had a couple, but not many. That’s not bad!

I got a little carried away with the adhesive so I just rubbed it off the metal frame with my finger.

And bam. The finished product. My wrinkles were down around Alaska, can you see them?

Then it’s time to start placing pins on the map.

So then, it was time to have some additional help hanging this. Remember, it was 4 feet across… Hubby and I decided where it needed to be hung, then I held the map while he put the screws in.

And this is the final product. Now the top couple inches, I think I’m going to decorate, I just haven’t figured out how yet. Any ideas?

I absolutely love to travel and hope that some day I have this map filled up with just my pins… and theirs too :).

While thinking about all the places I’ve had the privilege to travel to, I realized… out of all my friends… I’m kind of one of the only one who has only lived in one state. I guess living in multiple states doesn’t mean you travel… but anyway at least I get to travel and I know where home is, right?