Do you know that feeling when you’ve gotten home from a trip and you go over your experiences to your friends and family? Reminiscing all the wonderful things you did and saw while away can take you back for at least a moment. But, especially for those of us who like to travel a lot, the dates and events of each trip can easily get a little blurry over time. At some point you’ll probably start forgetting some of the minor incidents from your travels and only remember the stories you frequently tell at dinner parties. It’s a known fact that memories of feelings last longer than those of details, but even those don’t usually last forever. Photos are a great way to capture special moments in time, but there is also another way of preserving your travel experiences that works even better: keeping a travel journal. Travel journals take a bit more effort than just updating your Instagram or Snapchat stories, but the gains are definitely worth it!
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Capturing those tiny moments
When writing a travel journal, you can take the approach that best suits you: some people like writing down every single detail of what they did and what they saw, and others just like writing down a few words that will instantly trigger memories. The problem with the latter method is that you might forget the meaning of those words over time. The idea of keeping a travel journal is to help you remember things you would otherwise forget, so it’s a good idea to keep that in mind while writing. Nothing is too big or too small to be written down. It’s also good to remember that the more you have on paper the more fun it will be to read decades later!
2. Meditate on your experiences
Writing on your journal will help you go over everything you’ve already experienced while still on the road. Take some time while sitting in a train or a bus, or before you go to bed, and think about what you did that day and how you felt. Was there something in your destination that surprised you, intrigued you or perhaps even let you down? Going over negative feelings or incidents and writing them down can make things easier to let go.
3. It’s fun!
A travel journal doesn’t necessarily have to be a plain notebook that you carry in your backpack. In this day and age the easiest way to keep track of your travels is to start a blog. Travel blogs don’t have to be full of breathtaking pictures or sponsored luxury trips — for each trip you can start a new blog and share it only to family and friends. Blogs are just an easy way to compile all your stories and pictures into one place, and after getting home you can even make all your blog posts into a book! For a traditional travel journal it is fun to draw silly pictures of things that would otherwise be hard to explain, or even glue train tickets and other similar keepsakes onto. If you’re traveling in a group or with a partner, take turns in writing — this way you get multiple different angles on things and you all get to contribute!
Even though keeping a travel journal does take a bit of effort, it is still fun and useful. Years and years later, maybe even decades, it’ll all be worth it when you find all your old travels journals at the back of your closet and sit down to read and laugh at all the crazy things you did on your travels.