Jo Traveler: Keep track of your memories

For many years my mom has traveled all over the globe and she always manages to find the time to make an interesting and fun scrapbook detailing her adventures with both written notes and photographs of the trip.

I noticed she keeps a travel journal to preserve memories of each trip. Years later she can read her travel journal and enjoy the memories of her experiences. Many details that don't seem terribly important at the time you are writing a travel journal often turn out to be most interesting memories. I’ll never forget seeing the receipt for a piece of much loved china we bought at an antique shop in London or re-reading the itinerary we took while looking for "boot sales."

How to get started writing your travel diary or journal:

Buy a small blank paged notebook to use as your travel journal. Smaller books you can throw into your carry-on or purse. Look for a book with a lot of empty pages.

Next, start writing. I takes a while to get into the habit of writing in your travel journal every day. When you are ready to go to bed make sure you have said something so you do not get behind on your entries thus having to catch up. Take a few minutes every day and jot down your notes. It doesn't have to be long, just on a regular basis.

se any "down time" for your travel journal. There is a surprising amount of sitting around while your are in route to a destination You can always jot down a few lines in your travel journal when you are on trains, in cabs, waiting for planes, drying your laundry, waiting for a meal or waiting in line.

Date all your entries in your travel journal. At the top of each page place a heading, write down the day, where you are, who you are with, maybe even the weather and what you ate that day. These quick and fun details you can reflect on later, they are great triggers to help remember the day. The memories will come rushing back.

Feelings are also important. Focus on writing how you feel listing numbers and examples are fine but that isn't why you traveled. A long journey is a time for looking inward, thoughts to the future, thoughts of the past. Being in foreign lands increases your emotions and reactions. Writing about those experiences while the memories are fresh is important.

I always leave a spot at the back of my journal for a list. I like to make lists

places I want to go next

places I want to dine next

meals I want to try

unusual experiences on my travels

interesting people I have met

local words or phrases

Clothing I admire

Keep all your receipts and ticket stubs. Whenever you use a ticket for gallery or museum or transpiration, tape the stub into your journal. Also keep food wrappers, brochures, maps and receipts. They are pieces of history from your trip. These contain valuable information too. It will be fun to track your expenses, see how much the total trip was or how much the same item cost in each location of the trip.

Next as you print out your photos place them in the journal to keep the memories alive.

If you do an online photo album or put photos in a scrap book, either way be sure an include a few photos in your journal too. My mom used to combine the two when she got home, using the pages of her journal in the scrapbook style photo book. That really told the story and the adventure.

Finally, my favorite thing my mom did was scribble, she drew small pictures, sketched a diagram, made pointers to brochures and more. This was the thing that most personalized the journal.

Now go out today and pick up a notebook and start with your next weekend getaway to write down and savor the moments of your trip.

I suppose Richard would tell me to just use my iphone and