Travel is a great opportunity for story-sharing. Whether staying close to home or heading somewhere far away, the awe and rest we discover on our journey can lead to self-reflection. There are also great opportunities for conversation on road trips or extended adventures. Here are my favorite ideas for bringing story-sharing into your travels and more tips for how to tuck away the travel tales so you discover them again later:
Plan Ahead
Before you leave on your adventure, think about how you might share stories. You might purchase a special journal or a game that invites conversation. You can also pack a small waterproof bag to collect ticket stubs, business cards, boarding passes, food and beverage labels, or other mementos.
These might be souvenirs worth keeping or remembrances of details (where you went and what you did). You can also keep pens, a glue stick, and scissors in the pouch if you see things you want to add to a journal later.
Use Travel Time to Tell Stories
Travel time can often be a good time for extra conversation. If you have a travel companion, use the opportunity to share personal stories. Use story-prompt cards on the road or in the hotel room to guide the conversation. Here’s a free set of conversation starters for the car or place you are staying.
Keep a Journal
Maybe the first page of your journal is a place to consider your expectations or set intentions about the trip. If your travel has a purpose, write about it. Then, as you travel, record the highlights of your daily itinerary. You don’t need to do this at a specific time or record every detail, but try to do it while you travel – perhaps daily. It’s easier to remember moments accurately when they are fresh in your brain.
Use your five senses to describe the details of your experiences. And don’t limit yourself to words only. If you see something interesting, draw a picture. You don’t have to be an expert artist. Line drawings and simple sketches are fine. If you don’t like writing, drawing, or typing, make short videos or audio recordings as your method of marking moments.
What kind of journal should you purchase? There are specific bound travel journals you can purchase online (so many!), or you can get a spiral notebook from your local grocery or general merchandise store. When shopping for a travel journal, consider size, weight, and number of pages. Kids might enjoy decorating the cover of a store-bought journal before they leave for the trip with free travel brochures, online images, stickers, or other art. Or go digital. Open your laptop or device each evening and type a few memories. Some apps also make journaling easy. And it’s easy to add in your favorite phone photos too.
If you have a print journal, you might choose to leave room to add photos later. The most important thing is to have fun with the process. Let your creativity lead you.
Your journal may come in handy if a friend wants tips and tricks about the place you visited, and you will enjoy reliving the memories and recounting small details. A journal helps you get even more value from your trip. Intentionality and reflection add value to our travels and to our lives.
Make Lists
If you’re not into traditional diary-keeping, use your journal to make lists.
- Things you purchased
- Things you ate.
- Highs and Lows of each day.
- Things that made you smile.
- Things that surprised you.
- People you met.
- Places you visited.
- Animals and plant life you discovered.
- Weather you experienced.
- Phrases you heard often or new words you’ve learned (especially in a place with a foreign language).
Buy a Souvenir that Tells a Story.
Instead of getting a T-shirt, buy something that has meaning for you. (Unless, of course, t-shirts are your favorite collector’s item.) Whatever you bring home can be used to recall or share a story later about your trip.
Not Sure Where to Go? Or No Funds to Make it Happen? Consider Your Heritage
If you want to travel but are unsure where to head next, you might plan an ancestry or genealogy trip. These types of travel excursions are growing in popularity as more and more people yearn to discover where their ancestors lived and worked. You can visit cemeteries, find museums or living history exhibits about previous generations, or visit a cultural festival to honor your family’s ethnic heritage. If you can’t leave home for whatever reason, head to your local library or favorite search engine. It’s easy to travel all around the world without leaving your home, and technology might even allow you to place yourself right on the very path where your loved ones once walked.
Make a list of towns or cities that you might like to visit. If you’re unsure how to begin, a genealogist or genealogical society might be able to help you find census and death records, obituaries, marriage records, death certificates, old yearbooks, and more.
Sharing stories while we travel is easy and inexpensive. Conversing with another person can be one of the highlights of any trip. Recording your memories can be a meaningful exercise or a treasured possession.
As French novelist Marcel Proust wrote, “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.”
Let your life stories enhance your next journey. And let your travel give you a fresh look at who you are and special memories to last a lifetime.