On Keeping a Travel Journal

Capture Memories With a Travel Journal

By Kristen Burgess


There is one beach vacation I will never forget. It wasn't really that unusual as far as beach vacations go. The only big difference between this one and all the others we went on is a gift my mom bought me before our vacation even started - a small plastic box with a journal inside.


The journal was designed for a kid recording a beach vacation experience. I was thrilled to get it and had a lot of fun writing in it as we vacationed. The best part, however, was the happy memories it brought up for years after the vacation (my favorite being the fact that my brother and I slept in the huge walk-in closet of one of the rooms in our beach house - just because we thought it was fun!)

On Keeping a Journal - Where to Begin

The keeping of a personal journal has been a pursuit of human society for many hundreds of years. In times past men and women of learning, studiously kept a record of their days, their achievements and their dreams. We owe a great debt of gratitude to each one of them as we have gleaned much insight into the lives of those in times past from many of those journal entries.

For some people, the keeping of a journal is a natural extension of their everyday lives. How many of us have lifted the family Bible to discover small snippets cut from the newspaper, flowers pressed between the pages, envelopes with letters or pictures tucked away safely for future generations to discover? I certainly have found such treasures in the most 'ordinary' of books on the shelves of secondhand book shops and at garage sales. It always comes as a surprise and delight to discover them and then I feel a certain sadness that somehow these treasures have ended up in the hands of a stranger.

The unexpected gift of these objects has been a richer understanding of our desire to record and keep important memories and items and while tucking these treasures into the pages of a book isn't exactly journaling, it is a component of this amazingly creative and satisfying pass-time.

There are a few basic skills when learning how to journal, some of them are: