advice & stories for the globe-trotting diva
Why? Years from now you'll be glad you brought it along. In my room, I have a collection of journals from my trips, even including one from my recent trip to visit a friend in Los Angeles. Travel journals give you a place to put those collected papers from your trip. While visiting a place, take business cards and pamphlets, and save ticket stubs to add to your travelogue. You don't have to create the travel journal while traveling if you don't want to, but bring everything home and assemble it in the comfort of your own home (that way you won't be missing out on any of the fun by hiding inside your hotel room with a gluestick). It is a good idea to set a few minutes aside every night (or every other night) to jot down some of the day's activities. You don't want to forget about that night of salsa dancing near the Seine in Paris or the best cup of coffee you've ever had while in Mexico. It's amazing how quickly our memory lets us forget these events, but when you've recorded, they live on. An excerpt from my travelogue while in the Amazon Rainforest in Ecuador...
"We awoke for our extremely early breakfast and afterwards, we met on the large porch outside the kitchen for an orientation meeting. Then we left for our four hour jungle tour with our guide, Jorge. He demonstrated how to use rainforest materials to make string, reeds for making baskets, etc. and gave us fresh fruit to eat, including guava. One fruit was really awful- a cross between almonds and wood (texture). After the jungle tour, we had lunch and then our group was divided into two. The other group visited the witch doctor, who we will visit tomorrow, and ours visited the Yachana Lodge's health clinic and its chocolate factory. The clinic provides the local community with healthcare and there's a particular necessity for women's reproductive healthcare. For the first time, many women are discovering what periods are (that they are normal) and the clinic recently saved a teenager's life from second degree burns. The chocolate factory was pretty cool. We ate some chocolate (which Douglas, who's in charge, described as "good rat shit") and we were able to see cocao beans drying. They taste so bitter, not like the chocolate I'm used to eating in the United States with added sugars and other ingredients. The humidity of the rainforest is almost unbearable. I sweat even when I stand perfectly still and no matter how much deet bug spray (healthy, huh?) I apply, I still somehow manage to get devoured by blood-thirsty little flying menaces. Still, I can't complain... the rainforest is amazing!"
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Travel journal by ktnewyork.com
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