Get yourself a travel journal

Every traveler should have a journal. Maybe it is electronic, maybe paper, but this is a necessity. Unless you have an absolutely perfect memory, details will be lost.

This is my favorite. It is leather, with heavy paper that has a good tooth. I use it for sketching when I travel; my wife uses hers to write notes about where we have been. The paper is blank, unlined, and perfect for sketching.

I wish I had this back in 2013. We were staying in Parma, Italy, and went out for supper. We had the most amazing dinner. Our waiter spoke no English, and we spoke no Italian. I attempted to order a specific dish, but all the waiter kept saying back was “A and B? or A and B and C?” We wound up ordering “A and B”, thinking we would get one item from each group.

Turns out we got all of the items from A and B, served in big family style bowls. The meal was incredible! Most surprising of all, dinner for four, including a bottle of wine, was €80. Believe me, we had paid a lot more for a lot less. It was the best meal we had in Italy. Problem? Not one of us has a record of the restaurant name or location! Try and find a restaurant ‘near or in Parma’ based on a single photo of bread, and the above story.

This was a seriously good meal. 6 years later I am still talking about it!

So now we take notes. GPS tagging on photos can help, but it actually failed for this meal. Paper notes just work. And there is something immediate and satisfying about writing notes by hand, that pecking away on a smartphone doesn’t duplicate. Don’t get me wrong, I am definitely a technology guy. Me credit card statement proves that point. But picking up a well used journal like this and looking back on notes made in the moment - nothing beats that. Except maybe going back.