How do you preserve your travel experiences? With photos? Sure! But beyond that? For example, have you ever thought about writing a travel journal?

On my longer trips to South Africa and New Zealand, I always wrote travel journals. For each trip, I got my own notebook beforehand, so my memories are recorded in a separate book each time. But aside from flipping through it every once in a while and reading passages, the travel journal was a wonderful thing to have during the trip.

Three reasons why you should write a travel journal.

1. The travel diary invites you at the end of an exciting day to review your experiences. After a week at the latest, you won’t be able to remember everything you saw and did on day 1. So when you later compile your photo book, your travel diary can be a valuable aid to your thoughts.
2. Especially when you are traveling in countries that are not part of your culture and that may have a lot of social problems, your travel journal can be the place where you can write down and reflect on your thoughts and feelings. Not only will this help you cope better with the sight of poverty, it will also make you think more carefully about your own privileged situation.
3. You take time for yourself. Whether it’s five minutes to scribble down a few bullet points, or half an hour or an hour to dive deep into your thoughts, that time is yours. When we travel, we tend to rush from one sight to the next attraction. In the evening, we fall into bed dead tired and get up early in the morning to rush off again. So it’s a good idea to stop every now and then and write down a few sentences.

By the way: You don’t have to write a novel. Key words are enough. Maybe you dictate notes to your cell phone? Or you make little drawings? Or you film yourself and narrate your day into the camera of your phone.

Just try it out 🙂