Documenting my travels is one of my favourite things of all times. It is the reason I started my blog in the first place! There are so many ways to document and record your trips. It is a good way to remind yourself of your precious memories and to share it with others to keep your family up to date if you are travelling for a long while. This post will give you a little insight on how I personally document my travels from writing to using other types of technology! I mainly use four ways to document my travel: writing, photography, videography and social media. Although I find the documenting and sharing a little overwhelming, it is really fun! Let tell me tell you more about each method.
Travel Documentation: Writing Travel Notes
Let's start with the oldest way of documentation: writing! Travel writing is about details and valuable infromation. You can write about your trip after it is over, or you can write an entry every night of your trip. I prefer the latter otherwise I wouldn't remember a lot of the small precious things that happened. You can list the activities you have done chronologically from the moment you woke up or you can start with your least favourite activities. I usually have a lot to say about my least favourite things and writing helps me blow out steam especially if I was angry about spending half a day in a museum I hated. When you are writing, it is not only about the information of the activity, it is about fully describing the situation to create a vibrant mental image. I often enjoy reading novels because I can imagine things with rich details the way I want. Unlike movies, where they just give you all the visuals on a platter.
After every place I visit, I make a few quick notes on my phone or notepad of highlights and add sentences that would remind me of full stories. I usually don't have time to write fully at night because I am likely exhausted from my full day out. So, I write it all with the help of my notes on the plane on my way back home. I love three hour plane journeys. I get so much done during that time! I type it all up on my little keyboard that I connect to my iPad because I don't love packing my laptop with me. Often, my written travel notes make it into a blog post, where I can refer my friends and family to my experience and advice if they want to find out more.
Travel Documentation: Taking photos
The most obvious thing to do when travelling is taking photos and it is a great fun. You know what is not fun? Editing over 5000 photos after a two-week trip. I have learnt my lesson after taking million photos in Iran. Yes I loved looking at everything, but that doesn't mean I had to take that many photos. I am much more selective with the photos I take right now. I usually like to take one photo showing the whole thing, a photo of small details I really liked and a photo of me with that monument. I got really upset after realising I had hardly any photos of me in those 5000 Iranian pictures. I love having a light camera with me on my travels that has a wifi connection within it, so I can share the photos instantly like the canon cameras below:
Read: How to take pictures of yourself when travelling solo
Travel Documentation: Making Travel Films
I was not always big on video. I actually refused to even take short clips of any of my trips until 2015! All my videos of that year either had dust marks in them or just a shaky unusable clips, but now that I got the hang of it. I love taking videos. I try to enjoy my trip as well, so I don't take a video of everything. I like to take an establishing shot of the place from the outside showing the scale and the surroundings then I take detail shots and close ups of what I feel is important. Editing video is even harder than photos and having over 200 clips from one day only is a complete pain to put together. It also helps to think of how you attend to put the video together that usually determines the amount I film. For example, if I only want to do a highlight video, like the one I did in Morocco, I would film much less than a daily travel vlog style like the ones I did in Sri Lanka. I put both below to give you some ideas:
Travel Documentation: Sharing it on social media
A great way to document travels is to share it on social media and that actually helped me remember locations that I forgot to make a note of. When I am on a trip with a good wifi, I share two photos a day, one in the morning and another one in the evening. That way I can either share thoughts I am having about the destination or some useful facts. I like numbering the photos as well. Like Day 1 in Morocco etc. Ps. Don't share the hotel's location where you are staying until after you leave!
Read: How to stay safe when travelling
Sharing doesn't have to be only during the trip time, it can be after like Throw Back Thursday and Flashback Friday or even referred to a Lategram. It's your life and photos and you are free to do whatever you please really!
Over to you: how do you document your travels?
Some Travel Inspiration for your Instagram:
