palette

I always have good intentions but can't seem to find the energy at the end of the day to do a full journal. What I do keep is a personally designed daily calendar page for each day of the trip with columns for that day's "plan (times, phone numbers, etc.)," money spent, places visited, etc. I keep all receipts and fill in the gaps when I get home. And my camera is attached to my hand at all times so I can keep a visual journal. I fill in the informational details when I return home and edit the photos.

Bird

I used to keep a journal when I traveled. Now I find it much easier to have my personal assistant keep my journal for me. She is also good with Swedish massage.

lollylo25

Viajero
I don't keep a journal, but always regret that I don't. I am usually too busy enjoying the moment, so all my memories are in my mind. Unfortunately, memories fade.

However, in the 80's I went to Europe for 5 1/2 months and kept a journal every day...I was young and footloose. I still have it and it is so preciosu to me. I also just got reunited with a friend who I traveled with in Athens back then...he lives in Spain...and he loved when I sent him the copies of the pages from my journal that brought back our good times 25 years ago. I remember writing at night, after the day, when memories were fresh.

Viajero2

lollylo25-- you just summed up what journaling is all about...it will bring you right back.

The daily calendar pages thingy is genius!!

rickmav

I'm really enjoying the different responses, although don't agree that you have to choose between 'enjoying the moment' and journaling. I never journal as I'm walking through a museum, watching a play, having a special dinner, etc. - that would just be weird.

irishface

For me a little 4x6 spiral notebook works the best. I try to make an entry each day--all sorts of odds and ends of observations, snippets of conversations, sayings, poetry (sometimes mine and sometimes from a real poet), people I've met, weather. Also keep a running tally of expenses and miles driven (if renting a car), train or bus trip times, etc.

When I get home, I type these into a coherent report for public (family and friends) consumption. I then put this into the front of my photo album of the trip. The little notebooks go into a drawer of my desk at home.

Every once in a while I pull them out and reread them and it is as if I am on the trip again. With the digital age, I now have a picure record with times and dates which is a great help, when I have forgotten a detail. As others have mentioned, I don't print every photo, just those which really tell part of the story.

fairfax

A number of years ago, my parents treated my entire family to a summer in the Cotswolds. Their only requirement was that we all, from the youngest at 3 to the oldest at 75, keep journals. After dinner, we would all sit in the lounge at the houses we rented and write. The little ones would have help and the older ones would just write.

When I go to London next month, I am going to blog about it. I write a design blog (www.pigtown-design.blogspot.com/) and will be introducing my readers to shops, museums and other things in London and Cardiff. I lived in London for a while and have a perspective that many of my readers might not have.

So, this trip, the blog will be the journal.

jlaughs

irishface, I do almost exactly the same thing as you, except I use a 3x5 notebook and I take pictures of EVERYTHING.

I don't write down details about restaurants or meals in my notebook because I document it all by taking pictures of the restaurant, menu and food. In my notebook, besides making notes of times, locations & expenses, I try to include comments that will jog my memory of specific events, places or people, so that I can remember them when I am home and writing up my trip in a more coherent, detailed narrative.

I don't find that my note taking detracts from my enjoyment of the "moment" as they're just quick notes. I do try to add more details each night before going to bed and sometimes I've supplemented "details" after I get home by doing actual research online. For instance, while in Ayutthaya in Thailand, I had jotted a note about the queen who fought to protect her husband at the Three Pagodas Pass. I found it very interesting. What actually went into my travel book was "During an invasion by the Burmese through the Three Pagodas Pass, Queen Suriyothai (wife of King Chakrapat of Ayutthaya) fought to protect her husband who was fighting with the Burmese King Tabinshweti. She was mortally wounded protecting her husband and defending her nation."

I have had people often tell me how impressed they are with my books and that I should be a travel writer. They say that they wish they would/could do the same. But, like StCirq, I think my photo albums and travel narratives are actually too detailed for most (kinda boring) and everyone's just being nice. Bottom line though, they certainly bring back vivid memories for me, so that's why I do it.

Apres_Londee

>>>what is a Moleskin City Notebook-Paris?<<<

You can check them out here:

http://tinyurl.com/y6h78y

and here:

http://tinyurl.com/3fqw3q

I spelt it wrong btw- it's Moleskine. They are city-specific little notebooks where you can more or less prepare your own travel guide. They're about the size of my hand and weigh next to nothing (seriously, they are featherlight)

I have a new London City Notebook with me right now. Inside it's got: a tube map; several pages worth of London neighbourhood maps with a street index; a page with the phone numbers and website addresses for all London area airports, national rail, and tfl (and some cab companies and other transportation numbers); a simple itinerary planning chart (blank); lists of measurements and conversions; a page with ruler-like measurements along the edge (so you can use it like a small ruler to measure something); several blank note pages (good for journal writing); several lined pages that are tabbed (only about 5 lines per page to break it into chunks); a small sheet of blank stickers to tab your own pages with your own headings; a few pages that are divided into perforated squares that you can tear out to make little notes (like to give someone your phone number); and a few pages of tracing paper to use with the maps.

Hard but flexible plain black cover, and an elastic to keep the notebook closed and everything tucked in.

They're brilliant and I love them. I made good use of my Paris Notebook, and I've got one for London and one for Rome to take with me on my next couple of trips.

gracie04

I bought a journal before I took my first trip to Paris in 2000. I've taken three more trips since then, mostly to Italy, and the journal goes with me each trip. It's the first thing I pack.

I either write at the end of the day, or find a favorite place in each city (usually a cafe) and write while having a glass of wine. This last trip, I wrote down notes at the end of the day, and wrote my journal on the plane ride home. A good way to pass 10 hours!

I love going back and reading about each trip. It brings back memories so vividly.

Johanna

bettyk

Viajero2, here's a page from Amazon showing some different types of recorders.

We bought ours at Office Depot on sale. We actually have a couple of them. The newest one can be plugged into our computer and the voice recording downloaded. DH likes this feature for his doctor visits that he records and saves.

http://www.amazon.com/Digital-Voice-...mp;node=227758

I use to handwrite notes in a little memo book at the end of the day or even during the day, but it just seemed to take so long, especially when I was tired. The voice recorder just works better for me but it may not be for everyone.

travel2live2

Always. Each and every day. As well as descriptions on scenery, sites, restaurants, culture, etc. I include details on weather, prices, etc. I have referred back to them many times. We also take exterior pics of each and every place we stay (always B&B's/sobes/pensions) as well as good restaurants (both exterior and of the plates).

I keep the little journal (just a small 3x5 spiral notebook) in my small travel bag so it is always available for me to jot down notes. However, I do normally journal just before going to bed or while on a train. It does not detract from the moment at all - I am so eager to record. I have many differently coloured notebooks for our many trips. I also have a photo journal - on some trips we see 20+ castles, for example, and at the time we remember them all but our memory fades at times! They've come in handy to prove my husband wrong a few times!

I am pretty anal and find little details extremely important to remember. I want to keep memories fresh!

julie_Colorado

I try to journal each day.. and with mixed success. I am less inclined to journal the big things (Paris.. I probably went to the Louvre) and am more inclined to journal the little things. A person I met who interested me, a silly sidewalk scene, a funny story.

My son is 28. We just read the journal of our US trip. I forgot that he wouldn't get out of the car in Oklahoma because of news reports of the plague within the rodent population. He was always very afraid of germs... So we all got a chuckle out of that story.

I find if I do not journal the day something happens, it is gone.

Another thought. I took my niece and daughter on a month long European boondoggle. Since we had a ton of folks back home to share with, we each wrote a lengthy postcard each night at dinner. It was detailed as a journal would be. I buy stamps at the shop where I buy the postcards - otherwise, they never get mailed. We mail each card after dinner, so it had a postmark from the place/time of the event.

I periodically look thru these - and all our friends and family got to keep track of us (they kept the postcards and gave them to us when we returned!).

SB_Travlr

I've been travel journalling for more than 20 years now. It started back in the day when we would drive from CT to south Florida, and I wanted to make a note of good places to eat or stay over, and what we did on those vacations(our kids were young at the time). Now I see you can buy a book with all that info!

But I do go back sometimes and reread some of our trips. We have been to some pretty amazing places, and those journals take me right back there. I try to do it most evenings before I go to bed as we are travelling -- if I can't keep up or am too tired, I just make highlight notes and fill in later. It's a habit I enjoy, and it fuels/informs my future travel plans, too.

caroltis

The digital recorder I purchased was around $30 at Office Depot and it's a Sony. I've been using it in my car, recording things I see or hear that I want to remember when I get home. This way I've become well acquainted with how it works and it's simple. I can't wait to use it on our trip.

I'm always impressed with some of the travel reports on this forum - ones where individuals have been so detailed about restaurants and where they were and what they ate and how much it cost...etc. I'm never going to journal that as I go so I'm hoping this little device will help me preserve more details of my experiences until I can journal.

Viajero2

Apres-- brilliant suggestion on the Moleskine City Notebooks!! Christmas List!!!!

bettyk-- great recs on recorders! I will look into a model; the SONY rec for 150 recording hours sounds amazing!

bachslunch

I almost always keep a journal when I travel. In all but one instance, I wrote about the day's activities in detail as the last thing before going to bed, no matter how tired I was.

The one time I couldn't was on a couple weeks bus tour. I get motion sickness if I read or write in a car, bus, or train, so I wrote things up whenever we got chances to stop during the course of the day.

For me, it's a great way to relive a trip, and I've never regretted keeping journals of vacations.

ileen

This has been a fun thread to read.Wanted to share our family's experience, a little bit different, yet fun for all and we love it.
My husband has always traveled for business all over US and abroad. Even with a very busy schedule, he has always taken time to send a postcard home with some tiny details of some sight or food or experience. After we had two infants, he started sending each one of them a card too with some details etc, always kind of educational as well as sentimental. So, I made a shoebox with names of cities/states/countries etc. and made the kids collect them very methodically. They even used to take their postcard for "Show and Tell" while in elementary school.
Fast forward, the kids have grown up, have lives of their own and luckily also are traveling a lot for their own jobs, yet even now when my husband and I travel, we send a postcard from every place we go with details.
Both our kids have an envious collection of picture postcards and loads of mini details. I guess it is another form of travel journaling!!
Hope some other young parents will use this idea. It has been wonderful for us.
Another tip: since time is always short when traveling, we purchase stamps where we buy the postcard and write it immediately so it gets the post mark of the right town. If In US, we carry stamps from home. In addition we also carry address labels, so everthing is much easier to do.

flygirl

bookmarking for later...

I tend to send emails from the road every day or so giving the highlights of the trip - funny anecdotes, things I've noticed, things we've done, places we've eaten. If I have time to sort photos I send a few of them, too.

nancysfancy

What a great topic! This past Spring my husband and I were fortunate enought to be able to take our two grown daughters (30's) to London and Paris. Their husbands were so sweet to babysit the children (ages 4 to 10)for 12 days! They had never been to Europe, so really wanted them to be able to get the most out of this special trip. Before we left for the trip I gave them each a small journal and a travel book for each city so they could tell us what they wanted to see in each city. One was in charge of London and the other planned Paris.
We really tried to write in our journals each nite or in the morning when we were all getting ready. It was so much fun talking about what we had done during our day. The girls really got into it, and will be able to share their travels with their spouses and children and hopefully one day take them to visit these places.
I wish I would have known about those moleskin books beforehand. I'll have to look for those for another trip. This was my 4th trip to Europe and I have jounaled each trip, and have re-read them ever so often.They especially come in handy when I put the photo albmus together. It enables me to add comments of a particular place when I'm scrapbooking. I try to keep track of sights, restaurants and purchases. It's sad to see how much the US dollar has declined since 2001 when we made our first France trip. Consequently, don't seem to be able to do as much shopping. That's what makes the journals and the digital pictures so much more memorable.