Keep track of your family vacation!

I always kept a diary or journal as a child. In the journal would be information like the date, what I did, who I met and if I had a good day or a bad day.

Well, guess what, as an adult, when I travel I also keep a journal. The journal contains information like the date we left for our vacation, the date we arrived at our destination, the people we met, whether or not we had a good time, what activities we did and what we saw while we were there. I also keep contact information on the people we meet, if they give it to me, so that I can keep in contact with them. Great way to make new friends. If we had a bad experience, it is noted and we know not to return there and why. It is so much fun and I can look back in the journal from year to year just to see what my experiences were while I was traveling on the road or at my destination visiting tourist sites. I have put menus in my journal from favorite restaurants, brochures from my favorite tourist sites etc.

The best thing about keeping a journal is that the whole family can contribute. Not everyone is going to enjoy the same things. You would have the information about what you enjoyed doing or experiencing as a family and know to do the same type of activity or vacation again knowing that your family enjoyed it, maybe going camping, going hiking, going on a cruise, or just relaxing in a hotel that had a pool or was located by a beach. If you stayed at the same location for a length of time you can enter into your journal whether or not there was enough activities for the whole family to enjoy. Maybe you had to travel around quite a bit to find activities for members of your family to enjoy. Sometimes, this can be costly and really not a lot of fun if you have to do a lot of driving. Not very relaxing, which is what a vacation is all about.

You can put anything you want into your travel journal. It is your reference, from personal experience, about everything that you did on a vacation, people you meet, restaurants, activities you enjoy, things you see. It is your own personal travel guide from first hand experience. It is also easy to take with you.