Travel journals can be wonderful ways to share not only your travel stories and memories with loved ones and strangers alike, but also serves as a powerful way to get in touch with the spirit and soul searching side of travel. As tempting as it is to ramble on and on about that cute little monkey that rifled your sandwich while you were laughing about the Greek painting of Odysseus that you visited hours earlier, keep it short. And sweet. Sure, you were there and that's great, but you're probably not Milton and you probably, although adept, aren't going to paint a perfect literary picture. Here are a few more tips to add some flavor, panache and good practice to your travel journal.
In the opening, do your best to paint that picture. Think before you write. Really remember the one word that could sum up what the environment tasted like. Did the air have a slightly metallic feel around you close to the monkey spray? Make the scene compelling. Add drama, conflict, even if there wasn't any. (Don't do this the whole way through mind you, just the opening.) Immediately focus the reader on a character and then place that character firmly within the situation. Don't just talk about guidebook points: remember back to the finer points and subtle differences that made this new place unique and special to you.
Recognize your feelings within the transcript. How did it make you feel, from day to day and moment to moment. Don't just list your favorite things or activities but tell the reader why they were your favorite and in which order.
The experience was new to you; keep it new to the reader. Once you describe an event or place, don't return to it unless it figured importantly in your travels. In other words don't tell the reader over and over about the hallway in the hotel with then noisy icemaker unless you found a kilo of gold within the ice on day 6.
Vary your sentences, and your language. Mix it up. Write with one voice for one entry, then try out another. Tell about the monkey incident through the monkey's point of view. Not only will you inject humor but you may see the situation you were in from outside of it and thus gain perspective.
Soul search. Find the meaning in your travel. Even if it's as mundane as don't go back to Istanbul without shaving cream. Treat your journal with a live beginning, middle and end. Make sure you wrap up loose ends. You don't want your audience to not know how it en
In the opening, do your best to paint that picture. Think before you write. Really remember the one word that could sum up what the environment tasted like. Did the air have a slightly metallic feel around you close to the monkey spray? Make the scene compelling. Add drama, conflict, even if there wasn't any. (Don't do this the whole way through mind you, just the opening.) Immediately focus the reader on a character and then place that character firmly within the situation. Don't just talk about guidebook points: remember back to the finer points and subtle differences that made this new place unique and special to you.
Recognize your feelings within the transcript. How did it make you feel, from day to day and moment to moment. Don't just list your favorite things or activities but tell the reader why they were your favorite and in which order.
The experience was new to you; keep it new to the reader. Once you describe an event or place, don't return to it unless it figured importantly in your travels. In other words don't tell the reader over and over about the hallway in the hotel with then noisy icemaker unless you found a kilo of gold within the ice on day 6.
Vary your sentences, and your language. Mix it up. Write with one voice for one entry, then try out another. Tell about the monkey incident through the monkey's point of view. Not only will you inject humor but you may see the situation you were in from outside of it and thus gain perspective.
Soul search. Find the meaning in your travel. Even if it's as mundane as don't go back to Istanbul without shaving cream. Treat your journal with a live beginning, middle and end. Make sure you wrap up loose ends. You don't want your audience to not know how it en
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