Relevant icon is relevant! That kind of travel--maintaining emotional connections with known places--would be a great subject for literature too.

I think traveling and writing is a difficult proposition a lot of the time, and possibly an unproductive one. After all, there are things that you can only experience at this other place, so focusing on those may be a better use of time. And, as you point out, the things one experiences in travel can directly help writing, too.