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	Travel Journals

	by Doreene Clement

Are you off to a vacation adventure this summer? Have you ever kept a travel JOURNAL?

WHAT IS A TRAVEL JOURNAL?

A travel journal is where you WRITE about your personal, family, or business travels. It normally is a separate journal where you record your experiences, details, and even your FEELINGS about your travels, creating a written record of each trip. Many people keep an individual journal for each trip -- a living record of their journeys.

IF YOU ALREADY JOURNAL

If you already keep a journal, you can also record your travels in your EXISTING journal. Just indicate that this is a record of your travels -- maybe by starting a separate section or putting in a header for that page so it stands out. This can also be accomplished by using a separate COLOR of pen.

WHAT TO WRITE DOWN

Make note of anything that matters to you about your trip. You can record:

your FEELINGS and experiences
all the LOCATIONS you visited (include or draw a map)
the miles and time to travel from location to location
who you were with and who you MET
what you wore
where you STAYED (address, phone numbers, names, etc.)
what you ATE (restaurant address so you can find it again)
what you saw
daily travel experiences, and expenses
FAVORITES -- hotels, campgrounds, restaurants, locations, etc.
would you go back? why? what do you want to see?
the FUNNIEST thing that happened
the most DIFFICULT thing that happened

EMBELLISHING YOUR JOURNAL

In your travel journal you can add lots of items that will really bring the experience back home for you -- photos, receipts, memorabilia, maps, menus, etc. Many people use their travel journals for SKETCHING -- drawing pictures of where the were and what thye saw. You can also include small SOUVENIRS from your trip -- any items that you want to add, and that fit the space you have.

TRAVEL JOURNALS FOR CHILDREN

A great tool to involve the whole family is to create a travel journal for the children. They can use a notebook and record the same items that you did, writing what their experiences were. They can also write a STORY telling what they experienced each day. You can create a GAME for them where they count the cows they see, other children they met, or towns, etc., keeping that information in their journal.

ANOTHER WAY TO REMEMBER

Use the idea of a travel journal to keep a written record of all your travels, as a great way to remember and share all those once in a lifetime ADVENTURES.

Doreene Clement, a cancer victor and author of The 5 Year Journal, is currently writing a new book, Blessed, about her life and her cancer experience. For more information visit her website at www.the5yearjournal.com.

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