Travel writing or travel videos are some of the most popular themes to read and follow online. If you love to travel, then chances are you also enjoy reading about all the possible trips you could take. Certainly you can imagine yourself in a chic Parisien cafe, hiking to Angkor Wat, or sailing in the Aegean sea as you read about others’ adventures. And if you also enjoy writing, perhaps you’ve considered packing your laptop and documenting your journeys. Whether it’s just for the pleasure of recording your memories, or you’re hoping to encourage others to travel, figuring out how to write while you travel can be tricky.
Photo by Mohamed Hassan, via Pixabay
Writing and creating art about the trips you take will inspire wanderlust. It’s one thing to remember what you’ve enjoyed about a trip, but when you re-read your account, it’s the next best thing to going back! As you capture the details and get them down on “paper”, they reinforce what you love about your travels and help you retain the memories. So are there any downsides to taking the time to write while you travel? What are the challenges you face if you want to write “on the road”? Here are a few things to consider and some great ideas to inspire you…
What should you pack for writing while you travel?
It’s already a chore to think of everything you need for a trip and not forget anything! If you want to document your trip as well, you’ll need to bring along a few extra things:
- Good supply of pens for jotting down notes as you go
- Travel journal (I like the kind that will lie flat for writing)
- Laptop for transferring hand-written notes into readable information
- Camera to document the sights you see and details you might forget
- You might even want a voice recorder to help you record thoughts quickly
- Extra power banks and batteries to power your phone, camera, recorder, etc.
- Microphone and additional lighting if you are creating videos
- Shoulder bag or tote to carry along many of these items with you
- Drone, if you want aerial footage
- Selfie stick for catching yourself in action
Travel journals
What about electricity?
Depending on where you are in the world, it’s generally not too hard to bring your laptop with you and dash off a few paragraphs of text in a cafe, but you need to make sure you’re prepared for anything. Your local sandwich shop may have facilities for plugging in a charger, but if you’re halfway across the world in a remote village, you might have fewer options. As a minimum, any travel writer should take an appropriate adaptor for electrical outlets wherever you’ll be visiting. Your travel journal or notebook come in handy for documenting when you can’t be plugged in. And this is also where a voice recorder can be helpful, as long as you have a source of power. You can even download a voice recorder app to your phone so you’re ready for impromptu situations.
How much Internet do you need?
One side effect of the pace of technological advancement is that we’re a lot less impressed by that which would have been astounding twenty years ago. At one time, you’d have been awestruck at the ability to stream video in your living room. Now, people are horrified if they can’t get the speeds they want in a remote Laotian village. Bear in mind that internet infrastructure differs massively across countries, even ones which neighbor one another.
Photo by Free-Stocks photos, via Pixabay
You’ll need to ask around for restaurants or tourist attractions that may offer WiFi. Sometimes, you’ll happen upon internet cafes. Or plan your day to only need internet in the evenings when you are at your hotel or hostel. Also consider how your use of multiple apps can slow down your laptop or phone, as explained here, and make adjustments to get the most out of your devices. Delete unneeded files and photos, too, to make more room for efficient use. If you’re going to write while you travel, you want to plan and prepare accordingly before you depart.
Are you up-to-date on local laws?
Particularly if you are planning a video travelog, it is crucial to know what the laws are where you are visiting. For example, while you may be free to film more or less anywhere in your home town, there are strict laws about what you can depict in the Philippines. Ignorance of the law is never a defense, so it’s worth reading up on whether there are limitations on what you can photograph or film in a country you’re about to visit. There are probably even more restrictions for the use of a drone. For example, drones are banned in most national parks. Few things spoil a vacation more than being arrested or having your devices confiscated.
What’s the story you’re trying to tell?
While you’re vacationing, pay attention to the things that become the most meaningful to you. If you write when you travel, what is the “story” you want to tell?
- Will you write a travelogue with dates, schedules, and lists of what you did?
- Will you share the emotions you feel as you see specific sights or experience different events?
- You can look for and share both pros and cons of visiting each location.
- Will you try to persuade others to repeat your adventure?
- Will you write about relationships you develop or cultural tips you learn?
- Perhaps you will focus on dining experiences and different cuisines you sample.
- Will you interview the people you meet and make them part of your story?
Whatever you choose to write about, having a theme in mind, like one of the above, will help you know what to write as you travel and keep you focused.
Photo by Yan Krukov via Pexels
Do you need a quiet place to write?
Not everyone can write on the run, with noise and activity going on around them. And maybe you don’t want to interfere with your travel activities by always trying to document them. You might want to live in the moment and leave the writing for later. Possible solutions include:
- Plan for some downtime at your hotel in the evening when you can catch up on journaling the day’s events.
- Perhaps the local library or park will provide just the right setting.
- Pass around a journal when you’re gathered with friends or family and let everyone be a part of writing.
Excerpts from my Spain travels
More ideas for documenting your travels
- I know it may sound a little old-fashioned, but purchasing and writing details on postcards is an easy way to keep track of the details of a trip. Plus it comes with the bonus of having a beautiful photo to help trigger memories too. And if you like to collect foreign stamps, too, mail them home to yourself!
- Another way to keep track of your travel details is to write a daily email. You can send it to friends and family back home, or just mail it to your own inbox.
- Post daily photos on Instagram or other social media with brief captions about your travels.
- Start a travel blog, so you can write directly to a website others can view right away.
- While you’re traveling, you never think you’ll forget the names of the locations you visit. But months or years down the road, it’s very possible. As you’re traveling, take photos of entrance signs or information plaques, so you don’t have to stop and write those things down. If you’re consistent and take a photo of the name of a location before you start snapping photos of it, you’ll always know where the photos are taken. I even take photos of restaurant menus and attraction admission prices. It’s surprising how helpful that can be.
- Keep mementoes that will help you remember what you did — a receipt, a ticket stub, boarding pass, brochure, etc.
- Use an online photo book service to download your photos and create travel photo albums. You can add simple captions or longer dialogues to tell your travel story. Like they say, “A picture is often worth a thousand words”!
Conclusion
Traveling the world may well be one of the most amazing experiences you will ever have. Why not write while you travel? You’ll be able to preserve memories, share with others, and tell the most wonderful stories.
Great tips. I have been writing a travel diary for the last 16 years. It is not only useful for blog articles but also for writing for magazines and newspapers. I just did a peace about a cycling trip that I did three years ago. Reading the journal brought back all the memories and anecdotes.
You have given some good tips to keep your travel memories alive. As a journalist, I have a habit of making notes and do the same for my travels. I find this helpful in putting together my articles. I guess, I should progress to a diary or daily reminders and make a journal too. There’s something beautiful about journals with pictures.
I must admit I find it hard to do real writing while we are travelling. We take a lot of pictures and try to sort and file them while we travel. This ensures we capture the path and names. I have offline blog software and I at least try to jot point form notes as we go to capture key details I know I will forget when I write the blog later. That means we don’t need as much internet capability as we travel. Some great tips for people to be more organised to help with writing on the road.
I have my travel journals going back decades. When I go now I use my camera and my itinerary to track the places I go and things to remember. I often take pictures of street signs to remember, or town signs so not all places blend into each other. Great tips you shared for those that do write while travelling.
Very inspiring post on how to write when you travel. Collecting postcards is a wonderful way to preserve your memories and information on your travels.Maintaining a journal of your travels is also a good idea as it helps you to transfer details into your blog especially when your phone or laptop is without charge. Also very useful is to gather information on local laws to photograph or film.
Thanks for sharing these tips and insights. Combining the two passions and we have the perfect recipe for a creative outlet that can take us anywhere in the world. It’s just that we need to be a little strategic about doing both.
It’s challenging to be on the go, to document, and also to live in that very moment. I agree with the tools you listed. I find voice recording and sending emails to myself to be effective. Lots of pens, too!
These are some really useful and practical tips as it effects me directly. Writing while on the road can be challenging sometimes especially for spontaneous travellers like me but with proper time management, it can be possible.
I use a combination of these to capture notes on my travel. However, I still cannot write when I am out traveling. I rather absorb the experience and get back home to write. That tip about clicking photos of important boards get a huge endorsement from me, especially since I have found it so so useful