by Paris Lawrence
Travelling can be an amazing experience. But it isn’t so amazing five or ten years down the track when you can hardly remember where you went.
There are two things I love about travelling: Experiencing a trip in the moment, and recording it for a lifetime, pen to paper.
“Okay, so, you know how I said it was cold last night? That was an understatement. Everything outside is frozen, SOLID. There is a mini ice path, where yesterday, there was a flowing stream. I may as well have pulled out my ice-skates then and there.” — India, Himalayas, 2011.
It was my Dad who encouraged me to write while we were travelling, whether it was in Asia, Europe or just around Australia. As a result eight diaries stand tall on my shelf at home, just waiting to be re-explored.
The first trip I remember taking was in 2004 
when I was 9 years old, and I guess my writing style developed there, in the many times Dad and I would sit down at the table before dinner or long into the hours of the night writing down the adventures of the day. My sisters were both encouraged to keep diaries too, but they found it more of a chore than any thing else, and claimed that “Mum wasn’t keeping one, so they shouldn’t either”. In the end it was just dad and I.
As the years have gone on, I have seen my writing develop, and also lengthen – quite dramatically – but in a way that brings the jokes out of everything (often the things my mum would say and do, or some cultural learning experience), making it entertaining not only to write, but also to read over years later.
“After breaky, we headed down to where we would meet our taxi to take us down from the highlands. Actually, that was quite the scam in itself. There was no talk about a bus on the itinerary… let alone a public Indian bus! None the less it was quite an experience. We walked down to the bus and hopped on; dad and I sat up the front, facing sideways on this hardly-two-person seat and got fumigated with incense that was so thick I could hardly breathe. And the freaking windows wouldn’t open!
Soon after we left with about 10 people on the bus. Within one or two kilometres down the windy road the bus was full. Another kilometre, and we stopped and collected more. And then more! – Until mum had to come squeeze in our tiny seat, and practically have a lady sitting in her lap. The conductor was hanging out the door over the passing cliffs because he couldn’t even fit! It was really quite unbelievable, unless you’ve actually experienced the Indian ways. No joke – it was crazy. I think there was at least 65+ people on a bus that only seated 30.”
Writing down experiences can be
hard, and time consuming. It’s about taking advantage of the ‘dead times’ in travel, which could be waiting for a table at a restaurant… Or waiting for the food after you’ve order (which can be quite a lengthy time – thank you Asia), or maybe whilst on a train or bus to your next destination. You just need to ignore the people who think you are anti-social – it’s for posterity after all!
I can’t recommend journal writing highly enough so I’m just going to assume you are now hooked and give you my tips for some different styles of writing you could adopt for your first time. Pick one that suits your level of skill, concentration and dedication to the task.
- Novel-to-be – I adopted this quite lengthy process of writing: 37,000 words for a month in India plus I left spaces for photos later on. This is great to look back on, but can sometimes be an effort to stay up-to-date. Another negative: you can sometimes spend more time journaling than making the adventures. (Jokes, that’s just me. Do as I say – not as I do!)
- Dot point, notebook style – I couldn’t do this; I was far too engaged in writing my lengthy diaries that dot points just didn’t seem adequate enough. Sadly though, if I got behind, I would end up just giving up on my diary rather than keeping anything. My recommendation: If you aren’t some hectic novel-writer, just keep some dot points of the day, or if you get behind on your novel-to-be, just write dot points down when you start getting behind! (You can expand later if you have the chance anyway.)
- Scrapbook away! – Now this is something my grandma would be quite keen on: a brief diary entry of highlights with cut outs from magazines and brochures. My recommendation: Keep it casual and artistic by using an art diary without lines, and don’t forget the essentials: scissors and lots of glue!
- Digi-savvy – Try writing down points on your iphone or a full diary entry on a ipad – really handy to edit mistakes and keep up-to-date by skipping days and adding them in later. Another positive: no lugging around of hefty diaries! If you’re anything like me, only the heavy-paged, thick diaries will do and kudos must go to my dad who copped carrying my 1-2 kilogram diaries around in his backpack day after day. An iphone is far less effort and takes pictures for you as well.
- Auteur – Recently on a trip to Cambodia my friend and I documented the exciting or significant parts of our trip, by filming ourselves with our iphones and providing somewhat corny commentary of the day’s happenings. Positive: it was much, much faster than writing, and when you get back you have the obligation to make a mini movie of the holiday – sure to capture some good laughs.
These are just some of the cool ways
you can experiment in documenting your work. As much as we swear we will never forget… we do… and writing a journal is a brilliant way to capture the emotions, stories and feelings of the defining moments of our travel experiences.
So what are you waiting for? Get out that pen and paper, or phone and start recording your memories for a lifetime!
Author’s Bio: Paris Lawrence is an avid traveller, and always up for an adventure; she enjoys eating 6-foot dosas and is extremely terrified of heights. She continually drives her car on empty because even in the small things you should be ‘living life on the edge.’
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