Best Push Pin Travel Map

I got a push pin travel map because I wanted a fun decoration in my home that would remind me of where I have been and where I have yet to go. It would be a source of inspiration for my travels. I wanted a travel map that would look good and be a point of conversation. My first thought was to buy a push pin travel map! Boy did I not realize that there was so much out there for push pin travel maps.

To start off the map I picked is here.

I am going to walk you through my line of reasoning to best explain why this map was the best choice:

1. Creative, customization, artsy: these were the attributes I looked for at first when searching for a travel map. I found adorable ones where I could customize the wording to say something along the lines of ‘Marissa’s Adventures’ and have my own legend customized to what I wanted. I looked at the price and balked, $400 dollars for a map and some pins!! No thank you!!
2. DIY: I did a total 180 and looked up DIY maps. I thought it is just a map it should be pretty simple to put together. I am not that artsy and it started involving a cork board and  a special type of glue and buying a frame which for my lack of art skills made me nervous I would screw it up and it wouldn’t look good. That was the last think I wanted. With a nice frame too this still would have been in the ballpark of $40+ dollars.
3. Scratch Map: I briefly considered a scratch map to scratch off where I have been. I quickly dissuaded myself from this idea because while it would visually make it apparent where I have been, aesthetically I don’t think it would have looked good. Even if you have been to a lot of places, whole continents would have been blank.
4. Classic look, good value: finally, I ended up wanting a classic look at a good price. I found the PERFECT map. I could not believe it after all my searching I finally found one that I loved in my price range!! At $75, I got a good-looking map that I could display all my adventures. This for me was a better value than DIY or an artsy one because it was closer to the DIY price-range but looked so much better than I could have done myself. Plus it is a classic representation of where I have been and the blue matched well with the rest of my apartment colors.

The best part about getting this map is putting all the push-pins in! I had such a blast documenting everywhere I have been. My boyfriend and I spent the good chunk of an hour sitting down and placing pins in the map. Red for where we have been together. Blue for me. Yellow for him. A single green pin for home. It is a fun activity to do with a loved one or a great gift to buy for a travel-crazy friend.

Once the pins are in, you get to display it! It is a great conversation piece so I recommend displaying it proudly in a room on the ground floor that people can see! All of a sudden you and your dinner guest will bond over similar trips to Italy that you both took, the topic of which might not have even come up without the map! Plus every time I walk by my map it makes me smile, reminiscing on all my adventures and inspiring me to plan new ones! It makes you realize how little of the world you have seen, creating an itch to put that next push pin in!

The link to buy this map on Amazon can be found here: Craig Frames Wayfarer, Classic World Push Pin Travel Map, Gallery Black frame and Pins, 24 by 36-Inch.

And yes this is my travel map below with my travels depicted! Enjoy!