Whenever someone else would come back from a trip, I would ask them all these questions about their travels. Hoping to re-live a part of it with them. And what I was always so astounded by was how easily we all could forget things. At the moment, that bowl of ramen is the best thing you’ve ever eaten!. But when you return home, sometimes it can be hard to separate that delicious meal from all the others you had. So, I set out to finally put pen to paper (or, more accurately, mouse to computer) and create The Creative Adventurer Retro Travel Journal. 

The Creative Adventurer Retro Travel Journal

The Creative Adventurer Retro Travel Journal is an extraordinary and unique journal to record plans, capture memories, and bottle those precious once-in-a-lifetime vacations so you never forget a moment.

Prompt Journaling

Many travel journals are blank, but this one inspires and prompts you with fun and creative questions. This will help you capture even the smallest moments from your adventures. Remember your favourite foods, awe-inspiring sights, beautiful streets, and other emotional memories that make travel so fulfilling.

The Creative Adventurer Retro Travel Journal also has pages to let you sketch the things you see and paste in paper mementos, like metro tickets, receipts, business cards, and other ephemera. PLUS, there are lots of blank lined pages to record your notes.

The Creative Adventurer Retro Travel Journal also includes a personalized pre-travel checklist, customizable foreign words/phrases chart to help you speak the local language, and a day-by-day scheduler to help plan your trip. These day pages allow you to record the date, location, schedule, weather, and to-do lists. You can even note how your day actually went compared to what you originally planned. This is consistently my favourite part as things always go wrong, but it’s all about how you adapt and have fun on your travels!

The Creative Adventurer Retro Travel Journal includes:

• 166 pages to record all your plans and adventures on beautiful retro designs
• Compact journal measures 6” wide x 9” high, the perfect size to throw into your carry-on bag!
• Creative questions and prompts that will help you capture your favourite moments in great detail
• Room to record up to four trips/vacations. Take them all in one year or slowly over time. It is an excellent keepsake to treasure for ages

You can buy The Creative Adventurer Retro Travel Journal on Amazon in the US | UK | Canada | Australia

How To Use the Travel Journal

The Creative Adventurer Travel Journal is super easy to use as it prompts you along the way to insert pre-travel information and interesting fact-finding to inspired some research! Then during your travels, it will advise you to record all sorts of different memories and moments along the way you want to keep forever!

But to really fill out the journal and make it as exciting and full of treasures as possible, pick up all sorts of things along the way. Grab fun paper coasters with cool designs or awesome travel maps of places you’re visiting. Take pictures on your Instax camera and paste them into the journal. Business cards and itemized receipts also make for great additions. I love bringing a few rolls of washi tape with me to help decorate the pages. Washi tape weighs almost nothing, so that it won’t take up much room in your bag. If you’ve always seen cute postcards but never really had the inkling to mail anything, these also make great additions to the book! Ticket stubs and museum admissions stickers are lovely to glue in there anytime you have one! I love visiting stationery stores along my way to pick up some unique stickers too! Honestly, anything that catches your fancy or you feel like you want to remember is worth plucking up and placing into your journal.

If you pick up a copy, please please share it with me! Follow me on Instagram and tag @thecreativeadventurer to share all your beautiful journeys with the rest of the Creative Adventurers!

The post How To Collect and Preserve All Your Travel Memories! first appeared on The Creative Adventurer.

Maybe you know someone who just missed out on travelling to France this year, or perhaps you are just looking for some unique gifts fit for a queen! In our previous post all about the court of Versaille’s Christmas traditions, we talked a lot about how to celebrate in style. But what about the gifts? Here are 11 memorable gifts, all inspired by the pastel princess herself, Marie Antoinette.

#1 Hot Chocolate

Maire Antoinette would start every morning with a fresh pastry and a cup of hot chocolate. Chocolate was one of the most trendy inventions in Versaille’s court. Everyone drank it like it was the ambrosia of the gods. While a cup of hot cocoa was considered a luxury in 18th century France, instant hot chocolate mixes make for the perfect stocking stuffer!

For something exceptional, try the luxury brand from Christopher Elbow which has a variety of exclusive drinking chocolate. Drinking chocolate is made from melting a bar of chocolate and it much more rich and thick than instant powdered versions. My favourite is the spiced gourmet blend made with Valrhona dark chocolate and blended ancho and chipotle chilli-cinnamon for a spicy little kick!

If you’d prefer to provide the ingredients for a make-your-own kit, buy premium dark chocolate and add in some orange blossom water. Orange blossom hot chocolate was the invention of Marie Antoinette’s court chocolatier and her personal favourite flavour.

#2 Marie Antoinette’s Tea

To taste a little bit of history, you should pick up an adorable tin of Marie Antoinette’s tea blend. Nina’s is a tea house that dates back to 1672. The founder Pierre Diaz, worked as a perfumer to the Court of Versaille. He was so well-loved and successful that years after serving inside the palace, he opened his own tea and patisseries company. Marie loved his creations and had them brought to her room almost daily.

The very same company still produces the Queen’s tea blend to this day. This blend is made with apples, and rose petals picked from the King’s Garden at Versailles! While the tea is a real splurge, the beautiful tin that it comes in makes for a lovely little decoration. Even long after contents have all been drunk.

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#3 Black Jade Perfume

Perhaps the most intimate gift is the Queen’s own fragrance; Black Jade Perfume. This perfume, made by Lubin, was designed to replicate the aroma made by royal perfumer Jean-Louis Fargeon. Fargeon had this perfume developed solely for the Queen of Versaille herself. Jean-Louis Fargeon was inspired by all the flowers which grew in Marie’s beloved Trianon garden. It contains the heady aromas of rose, jasmine, and bergamot.

The name Black Jade comes from the legend that Marie would carry the perfume around with her everywhere she went. She kept it on her person at all times, inside a black jade bottle. Apparently, this bottle of perfume was one of the few items she was allowed to keep while imprisoned before her eventual beheading. The sense of smell is closely linked with memory, probably more so than any of our other senses. It can bring back memories long forgotten, and perhaps with this scent, you can even try to imagine the memories of the great Queen herself.

#4 Baroque-Inspired Shoes

Marie Antoinette was something of a clothes horse. Her yearly clothing allowance in modern figures works out to be around $3.6 million a year! She was known to change her clothes at least three times a day. And you’d have to in order to wear all those clothes! Recently, one of the Queen’s shoes, which had been in the same family for over 227 years, went up for auction. It sold for a whopping $50,000. And not even for the pair!

Luckily for us, we don’t have to fork up $50,000 for something quite similar. So many modern clothing and shoe designers have been inspired by the pastel princess. Brands like Hot Chocolate Designs and Irregular Choice have long been inspired by Versaille’s frills and extravagant fashions. These shoes are a wonderful gift for someone who longs to feel like she belongs in an 18th-century palace! While inspired by vintage trends and forms, they still feel modern enough to wear every day or on fancy occasions. Perfect for Christmas!

#5 Bath Time Luxuries

Marie Antoinette was famous for having baths. In the 18th century, it was very uncommon to bathe, especially as frequently as she did. Marie would have a bath every morning. Famously, she would bring pastries and tea into the tub to enjoy while relaxing in the water. As such a public figure, I imagine this private time she had to herself would have been quite essential for her sanity. As is my own bathtime routine, is the best part of my day too

Marie would put various perfumes, essential oils, herbs and even flowers into her bath to make it as luxurious as possible. Modern-day Marie Anoitnette’s would love a gift set from LUSH. Their Winter Wonderland gift set contains rose and other floral scented products that will make bathtime a dream.

#6 Night Gowns

Seeing as Marie Antoinette was a fan of dressing, even her nighttime routine was sumptuous. She would wear a beautiful nightdress every evening and was known to bathe in her nightgowns as well. These fancy nightdresses have been starting to make a come back. Perhaps with the explosion of popularity of Schitt’s Creek and Moira’s stylish pyjamas. More and more companies like Sleeper have been designing trendy night clothes that could also be worn out and about during the day. Their Atlanta dress is truly one of the most spectacular nightgowns, and thrown on with a belt, you’d swear it wasn’t loungewear at all! Suppose you are looking for something a little less pricey. In that case, even Amazon has a wide selection of vintage-inspired nightgowns, giving you that old fashioned baroque feeling.

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#7 Hair Accessories

As is evident from the incredibly elaborate paintings of Maire Antoinette, her hair was just as lavishly done up as any other part of her body. Her hair would often be so tall that she would have to kneel while riding in her carriage. Her court hair stylish Leonard Autie would decorate her hairdos with additional wigs, jewels, and even figurines. To give yourself a bit of the Marie Antoinette look without kneeling on the floor to get around, you should check out places like Etsy, which carry vintage hairpins or bejewelled clips. These are easy to add to any kind of hairdo and really bring a touch of elegance to your look.

#8 Blush Palette

One of Marie Antoinette’s lasting impressions was her makeup. She was responsible for the crazy of painting the face with white lead-based paints and decorating this now blank canvas with beauty marks, red lips and the iconic round rosy blush. To give someone those perfectly, peachy pink cheeks, this charming blush palette is just the trick. With the name Champagne & Macarons, how much more Marie Antoinette can you get?

#9 Seeds for the Garden 

Marie Antoinette loved to play pretend in the gardens of Versaille. There she would tend to her little plants and animals, imagining what it would have been like to be a peasant. Perhaps the imagined simplicity of their was something she was jealous of. An experience away from the rigours and rules of the court. Her little Trianon’s lifestyle of ease brought great comfort to the Queen even while it was miles away from the real struggles of the citizens of France. To create your own version of Marie’s Petite Trianon garden, buy some seeds ready to plant in the springtime. In times like these, growing and caring for your own plants is something of great pride and enjoyment to have in the confines of your own home.

If you’re lucky enough to live in a warmer climate, you can get started right away! Seeds like squash, cucumbers, lettuce and chard are very simple to grow. They are a great starter vegetable for anyone wanting to learn how to get a green thumb. If you are looking for seeds for a flower garden, consider the Versaille cosmos as a flower plucked right from Versaille. It is resilient and easy to grow and full of colour and life, just like Marie herself.

#10 Orange Blossom Water

The Orangerie in Versaille was one of Marie’s favourite places to escape. She loved the grove and the scents emitted from the trees. So much so that she asked everyone from her bakers, perfumers and chefs to incorporate orange blossom water into a myriad of her favourite things. The Queen was known to drink orange blossom water in her hot chocolate as a way to cure her nerves. But orange blossom water is good for more than just nerves. You can use it to tone the skin just as you would rose water. Or throw some into your bath for soft, glowing skin. It is such an inexpensive yet versatile gift.

#11 Macarons

While Macarons may not have been eaten in the palace of Versaille, a myth perpetuated by Sofia Copolla‘s film Marie Antoinette, they are nonetheless something that feels iconic of the great French Queen. Although the macaron dates back to 1533, that version of the macarons was much more straightforward. It was made with almond paste, not almond flour, and was filled with a simple ganache. There were no pastel colours or delicious fillings.

It wasn’t until 1930 when Ernest Laudurée (founder of the Laudurée pastry shops) brought new life to this traditional classic. From then on, macarons have been one of the most popular desserts in France. They have almost become an iconic symbol of the city. So even though Marie Antonette wouldn’t have eaten them, there is no doubt they feel like she would have if she lived today. So I say go on and enjoy a few macarons no matter the historical accuracy. They are too delicious to pass up. And if you can find some with red and green colours they look amazing on your Christmas table. Laudurée even offers gift boxes of their iconic macaroons online. So as long as there is a Laudurée near you, you can have a package of macarons delivered right to your door this Christmas.

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I hope these ideas give you some inspiration for gifting this year. Even in the confines of your own home, these treasures will perhaps soothe that inflamed wanderlust. And with them, your giftee will be able to feel like they are travelling to the halls of Versaille. Let me know in the comments what you’re planning on gifting this year and if any of your ideas are inspired by places you’ve travelled or are dreaming of one day visiting.

Happy Travels, Adventurers

The post 11 Unique Holiday Gifts Inspired by Marie Antoinette first appeared on The Creative Adventurer.