We wanted to expand on our response to a question Alyssa asked about the framed map in the photo below and share a bit more about the idea behind it, how it came together, and why it’s stuck with us over the years.
What you see in the white frame on that shelf is a card from the City Walks: New York boxed set. For anyone unfamiliar with the City Walks series, each boxed set contains a collection of small cards that outline short walking tours through neighborhoods and highlights of a city. Each card includes a simple map, step-by-step directions and a few interesting facts or landmarks to watch for along the route. They’re designed to be easy, self-guided adventures on foot rather than long, structured tours.
I received the New York edition as a gift when I moved to the city, and the cards sat in a drawer for a while after we left New York for Richmond. When we were putting together our first apartment and looking for inexpensive, personal art, the cards suddenly felt like the perfect option. They were small, graphic and meaningful — each one represented a specific place or memory from our time in the city.
We picked eight cards that mapped out neighborhoods and routes that were special to us — places where we lived, where we worked, where we liked to wander and where we made memories. Each card is roughly 4 by 6 inches, which made them an ideal fit for inexpensive white frames we found at IKEA. Once framed, the cards became a compact collage that felt like a postcard-sized tribute to our former hometown. The layout was intentionally casual and slightly mismatched, which helped reinforce the homemade, collected feel.
Because the cards are so lightweight and easy to move, the framed collage has traveled with us through many apartments and rooms. The look stays fresh whether it hangs in a dining room, a hallway or a living room shelf, and the small scale means it works well as a focal point in a cluster of other personal items or as a subtle nod to a place we love.
City Walks offers editions for a number of cities beyond New York. They cover familiar destinations and often include family- and kid-friendly versions as well. The boxed sets are typically affordable, making them a budget-friendly option for travelers who want a keepsake that can double as art. For anyone looking to turn travel mementos into décor, these cards are an easy, flexible solution: frame a few that matter most, arrange them together, and you’ll have a compact gallery that tells a personal story.
We’ve kept our New York cards on display ever since we framed them, and they continue to spark conversation. They aren’t just pretty graphics — each card holds a memory: a favorite sandwich shop on a route, a park bench where we stopped on a rainy afternoon, a subway line that took us across town. For people who appreciate small, meaningful pieces of art, travel cards like these offer an affordable, creative way to celebrate places that matter.
And a small note for the creators of City Walks: if you ever consider a Richmond edition, we’d happily help point out routes we think capture the spirit of the city. In the meantime, these little boxed sets remain one of our favorite, low-cost ways to turn travel and memory into everyday décor.