It’s a lot of fun to travel. It’s a rewarding and exhilarating experience that many people find to be the best. Some people feel the whole experience is so intimate they prefer to travel alone, without the need for a companion. To meet this demand, many group tour agencies have begun hosting solo travelers.
If you’re one of these people, you will have felt the need to start a travel journal at least once in your lifetime. This can be just as exciting and enjoyable as the actual trip. It’s not as difficult as you might think. These tips will make it easy for you to get started. These tips are important to know before you get started.
Write wherever you are
It is not a difficult task, and it’s not an academic one. Instead of reading through endless guides about how to do it, grab a piece paper and a pen. You don’t need an introduction or a conclusion. It’s supposed be fun. Many people find sticky notes useful when starting travel journals. They can use them to note their thoughts, observations, feelings and impressions. Vladimir Nabokov, a renowned Russian author, used index cards as a method for non-linear writing. To stimulate his imagination and find new plot lines, he would either keep them in alphabetical order or shuffle them every once in a while. You can play Nabokov! Try it and see what you can come up with. It’s possible to discover hidden talents within yourself.
Write often
Write every day. Write all day. Set aside 20-30 minutes in the afternoon for summarizing or combining your notes. Write every other day if the worst happens (e.g., if your trip is boring or uneventful). You’ll make progress in your observational and
writing skills with practice.
You may still feel that you need guidance or great examples, visit Writing Universe for more information on how professional writers approach writing to create high-quality pieces covering a wide range of topics.
Photos
Add lots of photos to make it real. Even if your skills are not the best, you can still improve. Also, pictures can bring back happy memories more vividly. Sometimes you don’t need words to tell a story. Sometimes a simple picture is enough to tell a story. If you want to take a photo of someone you do not know, be sure to get permission. It is considered rude, if not dangerous, to take photos of strangers in some cultures. Normal people will be okay with it, but you should ask permission to be safe.
Keep watching
It is important to observe. You can train your ears, eyes, and mind to notice everything. As you write, don’t leave any stone unturned. Success is only possible if you observe. Expect to not be able to comprehend everything you hear or see. Expect to encounter a lot of strange and new things when you travel to foreign places. Write about cultural shocks and take notes on diversity. Even if you don’t speak the language, observation skills are vital. These skills help you to observe the body language, mimicry, mannerisms, and behavior of others in order to gather information for your journal.
Keep a list of Dos and Don’ts
It should be fun, but also practical. Every trip is an opportunity to learn. You will make mistakes, be out of context remarks or take inappropriate actions no matter how prepared you are for a trip. Keep a list of the things you did and didn’t do. A separate section can be created in your journal to summarize each trip.
Add human-interest stories
Write about more than buildings and museums. All of this is meaningless without people. Write about people you meet, their stories and their behavior. You can dig deep into local communities to learn more about how they interact with each other. Human-interest stories can be used as a bridge to local customs and traditions. These stories can be used to help you understand culturally sensitive nuances.
Scrapbook
You can make a scrapbook out of some pages. Everything will be useful. Get paper clippings, photos, receipts, tickets, etc. You can concoct pages by combining various components. Your stream of visual consciousness can be expressed through scrapbooks. If your final result doesn’t make sense, don’t be discouraged. It doesn’t have to. It’s a labor-of-love, not an onus.
