Kayb95

I used to keep a handwritten journal on my trips, but now that I take my laptop along with me, I type up the day's events and memories each night before bed.

It's great writing the memories down while they are still fresh in your mind. I've often re-read through my journals from previous trips and you are reminded of all the little details of your trip that you'd forgotten.

suze

I do not keep travel journals, never have. I've also cut back on the number of photos I take each trip. I remember each & every trip fondly with great joy. I consider a journal just one more darn thing to pack, and post-trip I really don't need more stuff (dozens of journals from previous trips) cluttering up my house. But that's a totally personal view, not meant to discourage your question.

I do keep nearly obsessive notes in one small 3x5 spiral flip notebook that I always carry with me. I record street addresses, collect cards from hotels and restaurants, jot down new words in French/Spanish that I pick up, tally expenses, make shopping lists... like that. I use this info for future trips and to post replies to questions on this BB!

I have read about all different kinds of journal keeping. Some people take along glue sticks, colored pencils, and one nice large hard cover journal and write daily adding the paper souveniers (ticket stubs, postcards, etc.).

Iregeo

I kept a journal for the first time on a Paris trip last year. Like others, I would write at "down" times, while resting in the room, or in the middle of the night when jet lag got the better of me! Some of my favorite journaling time was while sitting in parks, sun beating on my face, watching the world go by...wish I was there now!

The best tip I can give is BRING A GLUESTICK. It fits anywhere and allows you to instantly preserve a wealth of information.

suze

Not a journal but my other method of keeping useful information organized... I also take a plastic zippered pencil case (like meant to use in a 3-ring school binder) to stash all the little paperwork I collect. I use one for each city visited (they are clear on the front, different colored on the back). This way I end up with a neat little packet of brochures, single page maps, articles, business cards, ticket stubs, etc. that I file for future reference.

sandi

I too keep journals. Have them for just about every trip taken. I buy a small journal with a cover specifically themed for the destination - sunflowers = Provence; elephants = Africa; carpet designs = Turkey; Sphinx or Nefretiti = Egypt, and so on. I don't write in this until I return home, but during the trip I keep notes in a small pad. Entries are done whenever they occur, or during a meal or before retiring for the day. These can include money spent, names of restaurants, meals, sights, historical notes, people met - addresses, phone numbers, email addresses - unusual happenings - parade, celebration, wedding - and so on. And I have a #10 envelope in which I can place tickets, coupons, napkins, beer or wine labels... any item that will eventually go into the photo album.

When I return home, I drop off my photos (still a 35mm person) and when they're returned the next day, along with the notes taken, I can write my journal. Originally the journals were handwritten, but nowadays I type the information for output on half-sheets of 8-1/2 x 11 paper. Using a glue stick, these fit perfectly on the pages in the journal.

Even though I keep a large photo album, I intersperse the journal with photos duplicates, or those not chosen for the larger album.

The first page of the journal includes the itinerary; daily entries follow and can run on for pages; included is historical information obtained from guidebooks (the mind can't remember everthing); at the back of the journal is a list of my expenditures - airline tickets, Visas, insurance, inoculations/meds, hotels, car rental, meals, tours, tips, sourvenirs, etc. And finally, maybe a quirk... I record just how long it took for me to get to/and return from the destination - from the moment I left my home until I return. To date, the longest trip was a return from the Seychelles Islands, via Nairobi, thru Amsterdam, to NYC - 38-hrs (not including the hours I had been awake since rising at 6am that day). Needless to say, when I returned from this trip my own pillow felt real good when my head finally hit it.

Journals are wonderful to have and are such great memories. Family, friends and even strangers enjoy reading these if they're planning a trip to the same destination/s. They also serve one well for writing a trip report for your Fodorite buddies.

Patrick

I can't believe so many people talk about making a rough sketch or notes for a journal that they do (or plan to do) when they get home. I know I'd never accomplish that. But I start with a lined journal and do my page by page entry each night before bed, or more often the next morning while I have coffee and wait for my partner (the slower one) to get ready.

The posts have gotten less detailed and sometimes I do them just as notes:
"great dinner at Chez Whatcamakalit, superb rabbit dish and fantastic creme brulee, cost with wine 89 euro" or "saw museum of history of the tennis shoe -- boring and waste of time"
that sort of thing.

I find less and less that I describe the events of the day -- what museum or street we walked through -- but still keep a full list of all restaurants and hotels.

I keep a separate list of expenses. I used to throw those away, but did them to keep track on our longer trips of how much we were spending, for future planning as well as keeping up to date. But more recently, I've even been keeping those expense journals too. That's how I've been able to post here of exactly how much we spent at all the restaurants we ate in Rome or what we paid for a week's rent in a apartment, or even how much the three day Vaparetto pass was in Venice. I guess I'm really saving those to be of more help here than for any other reason.

Chele60

I started journaling when I took my trip to Israel in '98, because I knew I would see so many things that moved me. It is something I've kept up. Heck, I even journal my small getaways!

I usually buy a hardcover journal (used to get travel diaries, but they proved to be too small for me). The first few pages contain vital information: flight information, hotel information/reservations, car rental, restaurant recommendations, etc. I also include a listing of addresses from people who tell me they want postcards, and I also jot down potential gift ideas.

The last few pages of the journal are to record expenses. This comes in really handy if you travel with some one and are splitting expenses! It is also a good place to record any items I need to declare during customs.

As far as "how" to journal, I am not much of a night person, though I am a nightowl. (I'm just not into the whole party scene anymore) So, by the time I get back to my hotel room, I'm still wide awake and I love to write. I'll curl up in bed or in a comfy chair and just write out everything I did, how felt about things, funny/unusual events, and impressions. Anything that comes to mind. Some days the entries are relatively short, other days I can go for pages.

I also take along a gallon sized plastic baggie and collect "stuff" - ticket stubs, brochures, odd bits of paper, postcards, menus (if restaurants have them available), etc. I sort through these at the end of the day (they sort of get thrown into my purse during the day), and that helps with my entries. At the end of the trip, these little things go into my scrapbook, along with pictures (another 35mm fan here!) and notes from my journal.

I would strongly suggest to anyone to journal if at all possible. Even if it is only writing down what you did. It will grow from there! Sometimes I'll read back through my journals, and I'm transported back in time - it's like going on vacation all over again! Also, it helps me when others who are traveling to those places ask me questions about where I stayed, where I ate, and recommendations.

I don't think it "takes away" from my vacation. I really think it helps to enhance it!

kismetchimera

I never keep journals, although that I admire the people that feel the needs to record their everyday adventures in a foreign country.

Powell

Like many other posters I keep a travel journal each year. I share it with friends and for nostalgia.

Most evenings when I am away I make hanwritten notes that I type up when I get home. I believe a vacation has three basic components:

-Planning it
-Doing it
-Recording it.

A vacation, to me, is not merely the two weeks we spend in France, Italy or Ireland. It is all items above. I some times kid with my wife that as to vacations I am like the frugal person who runs the chicken through a boiling pot of water for five days' soup.

We have been taking European vacations for the last 15 years. It is great to re-read the earlier journals and learn of where we went and what we enjoyed.

Anthony

TravelsWithStDavid

I took my first trip to Europe when I finished college. I wrote long letters home to my parents almost every day. When I got married, my mother gave them to me, she had saved them all. I relived my trip many times while I was raising children and working. When the opportunity to go back arrived, I decided to keep a journal on every trip. Like Patrick, I am the faster of the two of us, so I write mostly morning and night, not so much where we ate, but interesting things that happened during the day, or something that we saw that touched us in a special way. I keep my small journals in toast racks which I collect. The penmanship and spelling are pretty bad, but even that does not deter me. They are mostly for my eyes, and I have fun rereading them, warts and all.

mv_rd

I usually write at night before going to bed. The only time I have kept a journal is when I went to Europe for 3 wks. back in 2001.
I also write & mail post cards to myself I read a book by Alice Steinbach "Without Reservations : The Travels of an Independent Woman" before I left to Europe and got the idea from her.
Once in a while, I read them and it takes me back to where I was at that very moment. I plan to do the same on our trip to Italy in May.

Patrick

Toast Racks, what a great idea, TravelswithStDavid. I keep all my journals by my computer and they never stand up on the shelf, always stacked and messed up. I'm going on a toast rack hunt immediately!

Robespierre

<b>iPAQ</b>

Takes up no space, weighs nothing, and is already in a text file to download to the PC when I get back.

Any PDA can be used in this way: simply use the appointment calendar in a &quot;present&quot; rather than &quot;future&quot; mode. So in the 11AM Friday slot, I would scribble &quot;posted about journalkeeping on fodors&quot;

indytravel

I kept my first, basic journal on my 40th birthday trip through Europe in 2001. I've kept one on every trip since then.

I regret now that I don't have journals to re-read of my trips to Germany, Spain, Italy and England in the 90's. The memories are fading. I have nothing to sharpen them but some photos.

LoveItaly

Patrick, toast racks indeed. The lightbulb went on for me too! Thanks TWSt.David. Interesting idea!

Well as I have mentioned before I did have tons of travel info that I finally got rid of. A few months later I discovered Fodors. Throw it away and you will need it, oh yes!

I actually do have some journals I have never used. They will be perfect for trips. So now I must get in the habit as so many of you are.

And I can see whether it is at a cafe or when winding down before going to bed it is just a matter of getting in the habit.

Velotrain

On virtually every trip I start keeping a journal, but find that I fall behind almost right away and then give up after a few days. I should mention that all of my trips are bicycle tours. I tend to ride late into the day and after dinner I just don't have the energy to write. I also find writing uncomfortable as I've gotten so used to a keyboard, which I also find much faster.

I did the Camino de Santiago last June and wrote short notes to remember things, but every few days found an internet cafe and wrote very long emails that were sent to friends and a few groups. The European (International?) keyboards took some getting used to (as I recall they also varied from one place to another), but I found that I was able to record (and distribute) much more info than I was ever able to in the past. My brief written notes triggered memories and detailed descriptions of the past few days events. I've considered PDA type gadgets, but I hate anything less than a full size keyboard.

Charles

SusanP

I've taken journal books along with the intention of writing each day, but somehow I never get around to it. However, I do take a 3x5 spiral notebook that I record all my expenses in by category and I also add restaurant names and addresses and what I had to eat along with the price.

I also do a detailed itnerary before going, mainly to avoid backtracking and/or missing something I really wanted to see, and this itinerary along with my notebook help me write a trip report. If I do it as soon as I get home, I find I remember most everything.

Robespierre

Velotrain -

The other thing I use my iPAQ for is as a voice recorder - for when I'm too busy or tired to write. Ever think about getting a micro-cassette recorder and just dictating your impressions on the go?

SeaUrchin

I use toast racks to separate my bills!

I write notes every night, I look forward to it as a way to wind down before sleeping. If I miss that I write them in the morning at breakfast. I really enjoy writing my ideas, people I have met, funny and other things that stood out.

I actually laugh when I read them years later or cry, whichever! I used to type them up when I get home but now I like to see my scribbling, it makes it more immediate no matter when I am reading it. I take just cheap little 3X5 spiral pads.

Once on a train I was fascinated watching two American women who were bent down over their notepads for most of our journey, missing all the beautiful scenery! I would not to that.

Velotrain

Robespierre -

I haven't used it for travel, but I did get one to record notes when I wasa researching a book. The one problem I find with it is that when I play it back I have to keep stopping it, as I cannot type as quickly as I speak on the tape.

Tell me about your iPAK - as I said, I might consider some sort of PDA device, but want something close to a full keyboard - I think some of these come with keyboards that fold open, or perhaps these are an accessory. If you record notes on one of these, can you transfer it to email at an internet cafe, or keep it for when you return home to process?

Based on my Camino experience last year, I think I prefer writing down quick notes to capture data and trigger my memory when writing a longer report later at an internet cafe. Unlike most others, I pretty much only describe the day and its sights and activities and don't worry about tracking money or logging restaurants. There are so many places to go that it's unlikely I'll return anywhere.

I have a tour report from an interesting Jamaica trip on my bike club's site at:
http://www.crw.org/tours/Jamaica/index.html

Charles