A journal.

One thing I’ve found to be invaluable while travelling is a good journal. Some little number, preferably with a sturdy cover, that I can throw in my purse or day bag when I’m on the road. I find that a journal serves many purposes. It’s a great place to collect my thoughts at the end of the day. Jotting down what I did, how I felt, who I met and whatever I want to remember when I’m old and forgetful (as opposed to young and forgetful, which I am right now). If I were more artistic, I’d also use it for doodles and drawings depicting what I’d done that day, but frankly my stick figures would add little artistic value to the journal.

However, since I started blogging, my journal has moved away from being a grown up version of the Junior High School diary, and has become more of a place to jot down quick notes and factual information about a place. Information like basic costs for food or transportation, average temperatures, phonetic pronunciations of foreign words that may come in handy and directions to that out of the way museum I want to visit. I find that having visited more than 40 countries makes me a regular consultant to friends and family who want help planning their trip. Is it expensive to do a safari in Kenya? What should I pack for spring in Tokyo? What should I see/do while I’m in Rio de Janeiro? For this reason, I like having a journal to make quick notes and observations I think will later be helpful to others. These notes and ideas are also the seedlings which eventually turn into my blog posts.

Earlier this year I bought an iPad 2 and people tend to wonder why I still bother with the old fashioned journal at all. You can certainly use the iPad to make notes and having a portable keyboard makes it fairly easy to do so, but nothing is quite so simple as pulling out a notebook and pen to capture a thought. One of the drawbacks of an iPad is that it is expensive and delicate. For me, it is important to have a journal you don’t mind beating up a bit. I like having something that I can rip pages out of to pass along my contact info (if I’m out of business cards) or use to mark a book I may have picked up at the airport…or occasionally to kill a little creepy crawly bug that may have gotten a little too close for comfort (only the very little ones, though).

I recently learned about Live Scribe which combines the benefits of a paper notebook and the capabilities of a computer. Live Scribe comes with a special notebook where I can take down ideas, but you write with a SmartPen which allows you to upload your written notes to a computer. It also can be used to record audio data so you don’t miss a single detail of a conversation. Sounds like an excellent gift idea for your favorite travel blog writer (hint, hint)!