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It’s a question as old as the love of travel: How can you preserve the discoveries and lessons you’ve learned on your travels?
In this era of digital documents, the question is more urgent. Because even though the Internet is forever, a post on Instagram easily captures the feelings of real travel: how it feels to be somewhere new, the smell in the air, the taste of the food, the laughter in the cafe, the echoes in the canyon.
Perhaps it’s no surprise that travel magazines are making a comeback. If his account of his travels in the Eastern Mediterranean and Egypt had been sufficient for the journal of the Greek historian Herodotus (stories, 440 BC. approx.) has stood the test of time, then it’s good enough for your trip.
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With time-honored travel journal technology, capture intimate and authentic snapshots of your experiences and inform your life and future travels – while striking a balance between Instagramming expansive moments and filling your home with knick-knacks.
But there are some smart ways to keep a journal useful and inspiring. Interestingly, they don’t include posting about your trip online. There’s a reason: Our online profiles show our best side, and whether it’s intentional or not, we often tailor posts to what we think other people want to see. In a personal travel journal, you record a more accurate version of events without having to deal with an outside audience. Your target audience is one: yourself.
With a physical record, you keep much more than a photo and a few words. They record things that are important to you. When you flip through a magazine or printed photos, discussing what you thought and felt during your trip, you share a moment with your past self. With a little planning, pen and paper, all the most important parts of your next trip can be within your reach for years to come. It may seem scary, but the hardest part is starting.
Give yourself time
Before you hit the road or take to the skies, the first step to journalistic success is packing the right materials. Heda Hale Calland (@mochibujo on Instagram and YouTube) to share her Norwegian travels and journalism online.
“You take things with you everywhere that are easy to take out,” says Calland. “I try not to make things too elaborate and too big because then it’s not convenient, especially when you’re traveling.”
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Block out some time to sit in a cafe or bar, lie on the beach or in a park to make sure you have time to pause and reflect. Set a reminder on your phone to sit down and write down whatever comes to mind for five or ten minutes without judgment. On busy sightseeing trips, finding some time to rest your feet and really take in the beautiful and interesting things you see can be a godsend. It helps to choose a natural rest stop during activity, such as on a train ride or at the end of the night.
For periods of writer’s block, write some simple questions on the front of your notebook, such as: What did I do or see for the first time today? When did I notice strong emotions today? What can I hear or smell in this place now? What was the most difficult thing today and how did I cope? What did I see or do today that I wish I could incorporate into my daily life?
Tip: Add fun stationery to your kit to make newspaper time more fun. Try colored pens. Pack some stickers, stamps and washi tape to make your entries stand out. Let your destination inspire a color palette and make that the visual theme of your magazine.
Focus on the things that are important to you
Recording experience is always secondary to being present and mentally engaged on your journey. When you feel a sense of magic, wonder, or adrenaline or nerves, take time to experience that feeling.
You can’t capture every detail of your trip, so decide what to focus on by noticing the moments that resonate with you. Maybe it’s a meal, a museum exhibit, a conversation with a vendor or your travel partner. Take a photo to put in your diary, write some notes, collect receipts, sketches, ticket stubs or flowers. The lists you keep will help you remember and relive those experiences years later.
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Recording a few key pieces of information will make your notes and photos more useful to look back on. Experience knowing the date, time and location anywhere.
National Geographic staff photographer Mark Thieson uses his phone to record GPS data while on the job. It helps him identify images on the go, including one he did on an archaeological dig in Ethiopia.
“Before Covid hit, I was on an archaeological dig in the Ethiopian desert and I wanted to know where I was. Camp was in the middle of the desert, we had driven 45 minutes in the morning to get to another part of the desert, and everything looked the same. “Like turning a corner of a book to point to an interesting page, snapping a photo with a GPS-enabled smartphone and bookmarking that location as well as the date and time and what the location looks like. This is like leaving a digital footprint of your trip.
Thiesson notes that if you’re using a digital camera with GPS capabilities, that functionality can drain the battery. A simple solution is to take a smartphone photo to get the information you need.
When you get a chance to work on your analog journal, take the information from those digital conveniences to help your future self keep details in time and place. It can be as simple as leaving a date line (eg, 4:40 pm East Village, NYC) over the memory details, or turning the page to outline the shape of a city or country and making a rough plan. The points where special moments happened.
Tip: Don’t know what to write about? Start with the senses. Capturing how that Parisian cake tastes or how the grass near Mount Rushmore smells is one of the most evocative ways to relive experiences and recall memories.
Just select a few photos
The best record of your experience begins with images and notes that evoke what inspired or motivated you at the time. Your Eiffel Tower snapshot is unique to when you were there.
The journal keeper’s challenge is to transform vast experience into a focused narrative. You may not remember everything, but you can retain the emotion and immersion that is important to you.
After visiting Scotland with her husband, National Geographic staff photographer Becky Hale says she tries to choose one travel-inspired photograph to publish.
“Honestly, I could have spent the whole trip just taking pictures. When I got home I sat down to print out a simple drawing I had made while hiking in the Scottish Highlands. I printed it too big to try and try to figure out what it felt like to walk around that area.” says Hale. “For me, printing a single solid image of where we’ve been felt better than trying to print and capture every great moment from our trip. Every time I look at it, I think about our great afternoon hike, but also about the amazing landscapes I encountered while traveling.
Tip: Don’t be too expensive when editing your pictures. Print some photos, but not many; Each photo you choose should tell a different story instead of showing many of the same images. Set a limit for selected photos for each day of your trip. Choose one picture of the whole trip to hang on your wall.
Create your story
As powerful as visuals are, don’t stop at images. After collecting snapshots, random thoughts, and ephemera (tickets, brochures, postcards), how do you turn these into a cohesive story for your journal?
Think of your travel archive as a gift to yourself years from now. What can you include to include in the translation when you revisit it? Make it small to be accessible, not overwhelming. Categorize items in your archive by date and location to help pin moments in space and time. Pictures and journal entries can help you remember how you felt when you were there.
Don’t feel like you need to worry about every choice. Remember, your treat should be a fun reflection on your trip.
Don’t be afraid to ask for help or seek advice from professionals. With a photographic collection that includes images dating back to the 1870s, archivists at National Geographic have found notes, journals, letters and collectibles to be an invaluable resource.
“We have mostly photographic assets, although we also have artwork and additional materials such as photographer’s captions and travelogues,” said Rebecca DuPont, image archivist at National Geographic. “The captions and notes attached to these properties are often written by the photographers themselves, from their experiences, the people they spoke to, the things they saw, all of which can provide the basic story of the day and place.”
Any trip you take, whether near or far, full of new experiences or quiet and relaxing – can provide records from great explorers breaking new ground. Refreshing your memory can be easy by taking a little time and taking notes.
Tip: Limit the space you dedicate to archives for each trip. A notebook, a limited number of printed photos, and a small box should be enough space for your notes, notebooks, and photos.
National Geographic Travel Editor-in-Chief George Stone and Editor Ali Young contributed to this story.
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