Many travelers like to keep a travel journal or diary to record memories of their trip.
While it is easy to use a pen and paper, technology can provide other options from simple to complex.
Record Words & Thoughts
'Memo' apps
There are usually simple apps provided on mobile devices that can be used to type in notes.
They have been called memo here only to differentiate them from the very sophisticated note-taking apps.
These are easy to use and often will work without an internet connection, with the notes stored on your device.
You can send selected notes to cloud storage if desired.
Usually these apps will only record what you type in a single text type without any enhancements like headings.
Because plain text takes little space a lot of typing can be stored in a modest mobile device.
Note Taking apps
These are quite sophisticated applications that are designed for very flexible note-taking, often with the facility to share notes between people located across the world and so are often used in business teams. They can be restricted to a single person if required.
These apps usually store notes in the cloud and will synchronise across multiple devices meaning that they can be edited on a computer and read on a mobile phone. Examples are Evernote (click here) and One Note (Microsoft) (click here). While these apps are very powerful they are not really suitable for sharing your trip with others as the formatting of the information is rather personal.
Voice Recording
Most mobile devices have sound recording apps installed or available on the app store. This means that, for example, a mobile phone could be used as a convenient voice recording note-taker. Voice will take up more storage space than typed text but can be a lot more immediate than trying to type. Voice comments can be taken through each day. It may be necessary to arrange for transcription to text either during or after the trip so that the record can be read conveniently. Some note taking apps will do a voice to text conversion as you speak thus being convenient and saving space.
Blog
A blog (or weB log ) is a way of recording words online.
Blogs are often used for topical purposes with each new entry (called a post) automatically dated and placed at the top of the page.
Blogging software is freely available for example, see Google Blogger (click here), which is free with a Google account.
There is something of a learning curve with blogging but it does provide an online record that can be read by friends and family as you travel.
More sophisticated blogging often uses sites like Wordpress (click here)
Record Words, Thoughts and Images
Diary
Diary apps are available of varying styles and sophistication.
These can provide an electronic diary which can be saved and referred to after the trip.
Many of these apps are private so can only be shared on return after a trip.
See, for example, Journey (Android), Momento (iOS)
Blog with image and video
As mentioned above, blogs are online records. It is possible to add images and video to a blog.
This means that it can become a quite sophisticated diary if desired.
It may also use a lot of time on a holiday if you wish to add much image and video as there can be some editing time involved.
VLog
Where a Blog is mostly words with image and video if desired a Vlog is a 'Video Log' where the diary is presented as video.
Usually the video is shot using a camera or mobile phone and then uploaded to a site like YouTube.
This can make for some engaging material for your holiday but also may take some time to prepare and edit the video and then time taken to upload to YouTube.
There are many VLoggers on YouTube but they usually use a good quality camera and microphone for the video.
A mobile phone can work at a basic level on a selfie stick but sound quality may be compromised, especially if it is windy or lots of background noise.
There is usually some considerable time editing video which may take away from holiday time unless the video is just uploaded raw (without editing)
A VLog may also cause issues if you are using free WiFi at your hotel for the upload - the hotel may restrict or charge for the amount of internet you are using
Social Media
While not specifically designed for travel, social media accepts text, images and video so can make it easy to add content on the go.
As it is social media it will necessarily mean that friends and family will add comments along the way. This may make it difficult later to extract just your own memories for a diary or photobook if desired. Social Media is discussed separately (click here)
"Instant" Travel Book
There are apps available that will combine images, maps and text into a photobook online.
The app structures the material provided and can be viewed by friends and family as the book builds during travel.
When a trip is complete the photobook created can be sent for printing.
For example see Bonjournal, a travel app for Android.
Pre-Travel Documentation
When planning travel it is likely that there will be a lot of information that has been collected and may be valuable as reference material.
There will also be ticketing, accommodation information, contact details and so on.
This information can be assembled into one of the note taking apps like Evernote or OneNote and then be available when travelling.
Because these apps synchronise changes the content, once transferred, will not change unless it is edited. This means that the information is stored on each device and can be accessed without any internet connection. This means that while ever your device has power you will be able to refer to your notes, on top of a mountain, underground, in an airplane - the information is continuously live.
OneNote Organising Travel Information
This display can be on computer, tablet or phone
Post Travel Documentation
On your return you may wish to assemble your trip notes and photos into a Photobook.
These are books that allow a mix of text and images in a quite free combination to suit your own imagination.
More information on photobooks is available in a separate section click here.