Some encouragement for recording your travels

Do people still keep handwritten journals? It’s most likely that anyone who does record their travels, has advanced to something electronic, I certainly have. Although it’s just easier as a Blogger.

My travel blogs originally started out as scribbled notes in the back of a old exercise book. Basically my travel journal became whatever I could get my hands on in terms of writing material, from one destination to the next. It really wasn’t anything special. I have collected many notebooks from my travels, over the years – they are great mementos.

Recording my travels

I record my travels in other ways too, some more traditional than others; which of course tends to have a creative aspect.

My Smash Book or scrap book – When I finished my first Smash Book from my travels, I showed it to everyone who was interested. It was so much fun completing each page and it didn’t really take much time. I still get it out and turn the pages from time to time, reminiscing. Plus I’ve started 3 more books since then. What’s great about a Smash Book page is that you can create one for anything eg creative walking, not just for your travels. Want to see some more ideas – check out these pages.

My album – I used to keep photo’s in traditional albums. Now I just pick out a small selection of photo’s to print and keep these in an album of Project Life pages. Sometimes I add a few notes/stories. It doesn’t take long to put together and I can always add things and decorate pages later on.

My travel sketching – Ok, so this is fairly recent in terms of my travel records, but it’s a very personal way to capture moments which I really enjoy.

My blog – When I started blogging about my travels, it was merely to keep my friends and family updated on what I was up to, and to avoid having to go over the same stories time and time again when I finally returned.

These days, I am so glad that I took the time to write along the way, as I often look back and reminisce over a trip or two, especially when I am busy preparing for another.

Tips for recording your travels

I would encourage you to record your travels in some way. Not only is it a nice thing to reminisce over, and spark memories, but it can be handy as a reference to help others who are travelling to a destination you have already visited.

You won’t see the benefits until you have given it a try for yourself. Maybe it’s one of those things that you have tried before, but never kept it going, and now slightly regret not having done so. Don’t let that put you off, just try another format.

Recording your travels is a very personal thing, and therefore there are no rules about what or how you should do it… it really doesn’t matter. I urge you to find a way that works for you.

Here are a few ideas to help you with what to include when recording your travels.

1) Itinerary

This seems sort of obvious, but whether you just record the main destination, details of towns and cities or a complete count of every place you visited. It’s up to you.

Details of a trip can fade from your mind in time. How many times have you struggled to remember the name of a place you’ve been or location of a restaurant or hotel you went to? Just the act of writing about a place, commits it to your memory more firmly and makes it easier to recall later.

Most of my trips get their own spreadsheet. That’s the accountant in me I guess as it also allows me to cost up spending. It also allows me to work through booking transportation, accommodation and anything else, sometimes right down to each and every day. Most importantly, if I’m organised, I can update it afterwards – although this often doesn’t really happen in as much detail as I would like.

Other ways I record my itinerary, is more simply: a list of destinations, route map from a leaflet or postcard, or even a hand drawn sketch – mostly used for sticking in my Smashbook.

2) First impressions

It’s always interesting to look back at your first impressions of a place after having spent some time there. Often when you have spent a lot of time there, you start to forget how you felt when you first arrived.

Those first thoughts and feelings can include being overwhelmed by differences compared to back home and may sometimes be quite extreme.  Writing about those feelings as you are experiencing them can make for some interesting reading later on.

Being shell shocked, feeling out of your comfort zone, or just being simply in awe can sometimes be difficult to put into words. I tend to try to find comparison destinations or moments where I’ve felt similar to describe those places.

Returning to a place, makes first impressions even more interesting. Even first impressions of somewhere you have been before can tell a story and bring a memory back.

3) Bring it to life

It isn’t just words and descriptions that can bring a journal to life.

I find stories are great to read back over some time in the future. Not just what you ticked off, but what happened. If you record notes or bullet points daily, you will soon realise just how many stories you have to tell.

I am a little bit clouded with bad luck, generally and of course this happens on my travels too. However, despite this, I try not to always be negative about a bad experience. In fact, whilst something bad is happening to me, I’m probably secretly thinking what a great travel story or blog post it will make later on!

Photos of course will bring a journal to life, but these can often be forgotten until after a trip, so add bits and pieces as you go, such as ticket stubs, postcards, maps and anything you pick up along the way.

More things are becoming electronic these days, so there will be less and less paper tickets. You will be looking back at your journal in a few years, when these little things no longer exist, and fewer people even know what they looked like when they did.

How fascinating is it to see what old tickets looked like in your grand parents’ day? In a few decades time, seeing the tickets and things we use today will feel like that as well, so keep it all.

4) Keep it fresh

I find that writing things down whilst they are still fresh in my mind is a sure way to ensure the little details are not forgotten.

If you’re short on time, taking notes that remind you of key memories and feelings really helps later on when you have time to write in more detail.

There is almost always something that you don’t have time to do, so I always try to make sure I record these as well, in case of a future visit or in order to justify another visit.

5) Tips and recommendations

You may not specifically be considering sharing suggestions with future travellers to you latest destination, but there may be a conversation at some point in the future, where you will be glad that you scribbled down a few tips and recommendations to share.

I really do encourage you to start recording your travels. Maybe for your next trip, or record something from your most recent trip if you haven’t done already.

This post originally appeared in 2015, and has been refreshed with further recommendations for recording your travels. I just feel everyone should be doing it, so please share some of my ideas.