A spectacular view of Mount Hood as we paddled the Columbia River.
How clear would you like your memories to be? How clearly would you like to recall the wonderful and exciting memories of your summer vacation hiking weekends, or your road trip back to your home town, and so much more?
There are lots of research studies out there now that demonstrate just how much better and clearer your memories will be if you write them down - and that’s just one of the many benefits of keeping a Travel Journal.
We all take lots of photos when we’re travelling, don’t we. When the journey’s over, however, I’m betting that you don’t do much with them, do you? What we’re left with is dozens of images that don’t really hang together, and they almost certainly don’t tell the whole story of your epic travels or relaxing vacation, or exciting road trips etc.
This photo of paddling through The Ramparts on the MacKenzie River in Canada’s Arctic brings back lots of memories…..but those memories are so much clearer because I have them recorded in my Travel Journal.
My enduring proposition is that keeping a Travel Journal this summer will make a world of difference in just how rich your memories remain. You can add photos to those Travel Journals, certainly. The trick, however, is to give yourself the generosity to pause and add a brief description of why it was important to add that particular photo.
Perhaps even more fun - and, yes, a bit brave - is to add small pencil sketches and little watercolour vignettes to those pages. The brief time you take to record those little scenes or found objects will ‘embed’ the memories in such a rich way. Then……add a brief description to the sketch in paragraph form or even in point-form.
A quick small watercolour sketch of our campsite brings back so many memories.
Who was with you on that hike where you took the photo or did that sketch? What did it really feel like to be caught in that squall as you headed to shore in your small fishing boat? Describe the scent of that warm evening breeze as you sat with friends and family around that campfire.
There are countless memories that will come welling back in detail when you have these cues and clues to your memories tucked into your very own Travel Journal.
Ask yourself what special memory you recall from that wonderful beach walk you did? Who was with you? What time of day was it? What did you see?
Just over 20 years ago an important book was written by Henriette Anne Klausen titled, Write It Down, Make It Happen. In your business life and working life, you know the premise of this book is absolutely true. With written goals - they will be achieved.
The very same thing is true for your wonderful travel memories - if you want them to remain rich and vibrant for years to come….then start to write them down in your very own Travel Journal.
I spent my career in the Museum and Archives field, and I can guarantee, after talking with so many seniors over all those years, you will be so thankful to your younger self if you honour your time a little more closely by writing down those travel memories. They will enrich your life in so many ways.
Beautiful views looking west from a hike around the top of Black Mountain in Kelowna, BC.
I’ll be starting an online course on keeping a Travel Journal, so watch for more news coming soon.
Finally, remember that keeping a Travel Journal isn’t supposed to be a job….so relax and I think you’ll quickly find that you get better and better with every single Travel Journal you keep.
To help with the challenge of ‘what to include’ in your Travel Journal, I’ve attached a link to a PDF that I’ve put together to help you build that framework and get you going. Years from now, you’ll never regret having kept a Travel Journal, and your descriptions will be so much richer if you pay attention to your 5 (and 6th) senses.
Email me to let me know how I can help you get going on setting up your very own Travel Journal. Tell me what your biggest barriers are, and I’ll help you overcome them.
Go ahead and click this link to download you framework on Travel Journal ‘content’!
https://www.newtraveljournal.com/50-best-Travel-Journal-Prompts
Brought to you by www.newtraveljournal.com
