Try This! - Keep and Revisit a Travel Journal

From Sylvia Vardell:

I love to travel and always try to write down what I did, saw, ate, bought, tried, or thought at the end of each day. I also take a ton of photographs. I have my laptop and camera with me on every trip. 

When I get home, I print out a handful of my favorite photographs and put them in a small mini-album, then print out my trip journal and tuck that inside. Recently, I’ve also tried creating books (with Shutterfly, for example) which can print photos and text together in a hardbound book. Revisiting these words and images is almost like taking the trip all over again-- minus the heavy luggage, long flights, and other travel hassles. 

As memorable and inspiring as travel can be, you don’t remember all the details that you think you will. So, keeping a daily journal is my way of recording the journey and savoring the experience. 

If you take a trip - even a small trip - try writing down what you do, see, eat, buy, try, or think at the end of each day.  Take some photographs. Write more about these when you get home...and it will be like taking your trip twice!

Here’s an excerpt from one of my travel journals-- this was a cruise along the Baltic Sea with a stop in St. Petersburg, Russia. 

Me at Catherine’s Palace outside St. Petersburg

-- wearing my trademark colorful tights-- 

even on trips!

Click to Enlarge this Notebook Page

McDonald’s in Russia-- note the boy in a suit on the right. 

Eating out is still a big deal here. Even at McDonald’s!

Sylvia Vardell is Professor in the School of Library and Information Studies at Texas Woman’s University and has authored or co-authored more than 100 published articles, more than 25 book chapters and given more than 150 presentations at national and international conferences. She authored or co-edited POETRY ALOUD HERE!, THE POETRY TEACHER'S BOOK OF LISTS, THE POETRY FRIDAY ANTHOLOGY series (Pomelo Books with Janet Wong) and maintains the PoetryForChildren blog and poetry column for Book Links magazine.