ldoone

What tools are must haves for you if you keep a travel journal or log?

saps

pen and notebook

pavfec

Yup, a pen and a notebook, that's it. If you have a laptop with you, that could be handy as well, but a notebook is so much easier. You can sit at a café watching the action and catching up on your journal.

It's a great way to record your trip!

ellenem

I like to choose a notebook that has a built-in pocket--great for saving receipts, ticket stubs, and other realia.

bettyk

We bought one of those digital voice recorders and it works great. We've had ours for several years and my husband also uses it for meeting notes, etc. We recently bought one for our nephew that has a capacity of 16 hrs (that's alot) on sale for under $30.

annhig

The first trip we took abraod with kids, about 5 years ago when they were 13 & 10, we started a family diary - at breakfast each day, we each had to write a page about what we had done the day before. This was aimed at the 10 year old who had problems with writing [he still does, but that's another story] but turned into good fun for all of us, comparing what each of us enjoyed[ and not] and giving us a record of what we'd done - it's amazing how quickly we forgot stuff.
We only write on one side of the page, then when we are making our album of the trip, we can incorporate the diary in it.
Thanks for staring this thread - it's fun finding out what others do to record their travels.

AnselmAdorne

I make the notes during the day on whatever comes to hand, such as my wife's shopping list or the blank pages in the back of the guidebook. (I just looked in my Green Guide for Paris and see that I wrote "Viollet-le-Duc restored the crypt and chappells du chevet dans un aspect plus proche de celui du XIIe siècle." Two languages in one sentence, LOL. I think I was at Saint-Denis. And there is another one that is even odder: "Louis XVI--huge hands and small head." I have no idea what that was about.)

In the evenings, I write the journal on a laptop. It is a wonderful way to recollect what I saw and felt.

Anselm

kswl

We do sketch logs. It's a good way to really see something, trying to draw it. Not especially good when you're rushed, I have many half-finished sketches of . . . what is that?

Carrybean

I don't take a laptop - I email myself. There's an internet place near where I rent a flat where I buy blocks of time so I use that.

suze

ballpoint pen and 3x5 spiral notebook. sandwich size ziplock to store receipts, tickets stubs, business cards. supplement w/ purchased postcards.

Pausanias

Bring along a writer to do the actual writing. Writers will work for dirt, mostly, and provide a professional product while you spend your time on the experience, not fussing with nouns and verbs.

If this is beyond your budget, you can select from pre-written journals at any library or bookstore. These can be custom fitted. Feeling refined and perceptive in Italy -- How about *Italian Hours*? Into partying? How about *On the Road*?

If you absolutely must do it yourself, the previous posters' advice is invaluable.

Gardyloo

Laptop so you can share it with Fodoristas as you go.

noe847

Suze, mine is similar. The ziploc bag for receipts and a pocket sized 3 ring binder (approx. 3"x5&quot for the journal. I write on one side only. If I need to add anything later, it can go on the facing page or I can add a page.

My girls keep journals also, and have used everything from notebooks to laptop (when we have it with us) to sketchbooks, to dictating on a small tape player (I later helped transcribe).

It's also nice to keep track of the newsy emails we sometimes send to relatives back home.

I made a book of our 2003 trip to Central Europe using www.shutterfly.com, and it turned out so well that I hope to do one for each of our major trips (will have to do some scanning, as it is only this year that I have gone to all digital on our trips - and I still miss film).

suze

Mailing postcards to yourself at home is another fun option.

ronin

Moleskin - not the blister stuff... the writing stuff! http://www.moleskine.com/eng/
Available at most art stores world-wide and pretty heavy archival paper. I used a pilot razor point and it didn't bleed through to the other side of page.

I also love the water-proof products put out by this company, and I think you can write on this stuff with just about any pen/pencil types:
http://www.riteintherain.com/notebooks.html

Anciana

Two and a half years ago, when I took an early retirement and moved back to Europe to be a vagabond for a while (as long as I still can) I started a Retirement Travelogue (travelling through retirement kind of thing - a special kind of travel) and I made notes about my impressions of areas, things, people, memories. I noticed that I tended to switch the language I wrote in the longer I was domiciled in one place, so now it is a volapueck of my particular brand of English, Swedish, German, Polish with some Spanish, Italian and french threw in for good (or bad) measure. As such not useful to share with anybody on toto, though fun for me to review it once a year or so, when it is raining and life takes an occassional slower turn ...
But I can sometimes share parts of it

Anciana

aah, forgot to mention: I use my laptop.

tower

Idodone:
I've kept an individual journal for every journey since 1946. They fill a significant shelf on my book cases. I use small notebooks (usually up to 100 pages, but a typical three or four week trip fills a good portion of the book).

Since I'm a published writer, I do not labor over grammar, spelling, etc...none of my former editors ever see these journals,thank godness!

I find that writing in the journal, religiously, every day, preferably prepapring to hit the bed after a long, meaningful day. Every few days, I read the contents to my wife, and she will rmin me what I've missed, overstated, understated, etc.

The greatest joy I have is reading the journals from time to time, many times several years after the trip. Whenever, friends or relatives are heading for any of these places, I let them read the journals but insist on getting them back before they leave on the trip. haven't lost one yet.

Stu T.

lazuliangel

I keep a daily journal, anyway, so I usually just use the notebook or blank book that is that period's journal to record what I saw/did/experienced. I find that, since I write every day (like Stu T. had mentioned), I am that much more disciplined when it comes to writing up what happened on any particular day of my travels. One tip: make sure, if you're going to write it longhand, that you have a pen that is comfortable <i>to you</i>. And one with plenty of ink. I say this because I once bought a packet of gel pens in assorted colours for a long road trip, intending on doing every day in a different colour. About half of the pack were dried up when I tried to use them, and those that weren't did not feel comfortable after the first ten minutes. Since my entries were very long (sometimes upwards of ten or twelve written pages front and back), my wrist would cramp and I would not look forward to having to do the next day's entry the following night. Test a LOT of pens before you begin your travel journal, and buy multiples of the best one.

A previous poster listed a digital voice recorder; I took a micro-cassette recorder (voice-activated) with me on my first trip to Europe, and without it, I would've never known what I'd taken pictures of. Often I would point and shoot, then whip out the ol' cassette recorder, speak into it what information I could ('This is L'Hotel des Invalides, picture number 27), and continue on. I also found that, quite often, I'd get background noises and just general 'signs of life' on these tapes, so they're invaluable to me.

One last thing: get into the habit of picking up a business card from every place you stop into that has them. Loads of people keep receipts or ticket stubs or even Coke bottles in a foreign language, but few remember to take business cards. They're invaluable, too, when preparing your journal, because inevitably you'll say 'What was the name of that purple restaurant that was beside that cheese shop in Paris?' With the business card, you're more likely to remember it.

noe847

Lots of times I take digital pictures of historical markers or explanatory signs of things that we see. Later I have this &quot;write up&quot; as I prepare a journal or a photo caption.

I even shoot the sign on the door of an establishment - often has name, hours, address and even phone number/email. Then it's right with my photos when I'm trying to id something. This works especially if it's somewhere that was closed or if we did not go inside.

When I was in Vienna over New Years, I took a photo at a church of the posted Mass times for the upcoming January 1 holy day. I was able to go back and check my picture (and do some necessary translation with my dictionary) and return for the services.