As you may have guessed from the blog post we put up a few days ago about travelling memories, we’re big fans of taking the time to capture the magic of your weeks or months away. Last time we discussed the art of taking a good photograph that will help you remember the good times rather than spending your time attempting to take the sort of pics that appear on postcards or in travel brochures (ie., all places and no personality).

But getting your photos right is by far from the only thing you can do to capture your travelling experience for posterity. In fact, no matter how good your photos are the chances are that without some other record the experiences that go with the pictures will become increasingly hazy over time. To keep your memories as vivid as when they happened, you’re going to need to get writing.

Writing about your travel experience

Now, you may be thinking that writing about your travels while they’re on them is either a waste of time or something you’d feel awkward about. But neither of these things has to be true. The trick is to find a writing format that you’re comfortable with, both in terms of the time that you put into it and who your audience is.

The more extroverted among you and those who maybe harbour ambitions of one day writing professionally will immediately be drawn to keeping a blog. These folks love the challenge of broadcasting to friends, family and even strangers what is so great about what they’re doing, and trying to put a unique and personalized spin on everything. But they may not realise that in doing this they’re not just creating something for the present, but also a great collection of vivid memories that they can keep forever.

A travel blog doesn’t just have to be for the outgoing, either. You can restrict access to your blog so that as many or as few people as you like can see it. And while you may self-consciously think that no one is interested in what you’re up to, the fact is that your family and close friends would love a way of finding out what you’re up to, especially if what you’re writing puts everything across from a perspective that is authentically yours.

Blogging is far from the only option for writing down your travel memories, however. For those who like the idea of a bit more privacy, there’s nothing stopping you from keeping a diary, whether in hard copy or in a private online journal. Knowing that it’s only you who’s going to read your words will allow you to be completely honest about everything you see, do and feel, meaning that this form of memory collecting will probably provide you in the future with a much more intimate representation of what your travels were like.

The final writing suggestion we’d make is something that you’ll probably end up doing while you’re away anyway, namely writing emails to friends and family about what you’re up to. Now, you might see these emails as things that disappear into the ether when you hit the send button, but by the magic of your Sent folder they’ll in fact be accessible to you forever. So make sure you fill your missives to your loved ones with lots of anecdotes told with warmth and humour, as in doing so you’ll also be writing something that you’ll be able to read years from now that reminds you of those fun travelling times.