Recording Your Travels

Traveling is fun and there's so much that happens when you travel. I've been on numerous trips around the world over the years and the worse thing is I can't remember details about these trips. Fortunately for a few of these trips I've gone with friends and family. They would remind me of certain things that we did and some of the memories would pop back up. What if I didn't travel with groups? I would remember big things out of the trip but small details would be lost.

Recently a friend of mine had mentioned that he had recorded some of his travels. I thought it was a bit absurd because I didn't think that you could enjoy your trip if you spent a portion of your time recording the trip. You'd have to plan it all out and then write or take a video of it. Also, who wants to bring all that video equipment with you on a trip? I didn't want to look more like a tourist with a camera with me at all times.

He then explained to me the benefits of recording. It didn't have to be in video format. I could also write a journal as well. He went on to explain that there's a lot that you do in the day when you're traveling. Everything is fresh and exciting and you want to capture that moment so that you remember it forever. There's only a brief period of time that you can do it because it's still in your head.

As for the amount of time it would take to do this he reassured me you will have downtime in your trip. Everyone has downtime. You can't be constantly running around or else you'll get exhausted. In some cases some people have those types of trips and they don't totally enjoy them.

He told me to leave myself time to reflect. Really understand what you're doing there and you'll have a better experience.

So I decided to go out and do it. I bought a small camera and went out and recorded my trip. He was right, I did have downtime. I would be tired after a day of walking or hiking. During this downtime I was able to do some of the video editing.

The problem with video editing is that you want to either keep everything in the video. I realized I had to cut out a lot of stuff because I wouldn't watch through that slog of video years from now. I travelled light so I used YouTube as my personal hard drive. I tried to keep both the good experiences and the bad experiences in the videos.

Usually even bad things that happen will be funny later on in your life so don't be afraid to capture those moments. You'll thank yourself later.

The result was about 20 short little videos of my trip. I look back at some of the videos and I remember in detail some of the things that had happened. I can even smell aromas and taste foods because my memories were active.

In the end, I would highly suggest recording your travel experiences the next time you go somewhere. You'll really remember a lot more of the trip and it will feel a lot more fulfilling. You can do it by video or by writing a blog. You'll be able to capture your emotions at the time and you'll remember your mindset. As we get older our personalities may change and even our points of view. It's nice to go back to remember it all. Especially when you're going to pay thousands of dollars for each of these trips!