When traveling abroad, and at times, even within our own country, we will hear different terms for familiar items.  Take for example the word pop versus soda.  Where you live in the United States, determines the usage.  When you are writing, you can give a more authentic flare to your journal by incorporating some of these terms and expressions into the piece.  Below is an excerpt from my travel journal while on a trip to Wales.   Remember, make sure to include enough context clues to assist the reader with deciphering the new vocabulary terms.

Sept. 23, 2015                                                                                       Today we are in the Welsh village of Llangollen.  It is the last day of our three day-mini vacation. My poor legs are grateful for the cafe we have found, alongside the old steam trains.  I am knackered from all of our running around and ready to sit down for our meal! The weather has been cold today.  I am thankful I have brought my jumper.  With all the rain, wellies would have been good too, had I known it would be so wet!   With three full meals and several breaks for tea and/or snacks daily, we always seem to be eating when we are in England! I suppose it is one way to dodge the persistent rain, which falls often in the autumn.  Today is no exception.  Once again, we find ourselves standing in a queue, waiting to be served.  Alan is excited, as he has found a place that offers one of his favorite childhood meals, chip butties!  This is basically a french fry sandwich.  Slathered in tomato ketchup, Alan is in his glory.  A unique English custom, if ever there was one!   It is lovely to quietly sit in this station, where Queen Elizabeth once visited. Watching the trains move in and out of the depot, we are all thinking of Dad, and imagining how much he would have enjoyed being here.  We toast him over a pot of tea.  Soon we are warmed both inside and out, our souls and stomachs are both satisfied.

Every day there is something happening in the world.  Sometimes, it is the kind of thing that may have a long term effect on history. Other times it may be shocking. Sometimes it seems insignificant, until many years later.  News is like a long thread that intertwines into the fabric of our lives, perhaps it is more visible in certain parts of the pattern, but it is forever being woven.  Vacation doesn’t move us away from the news.  We may be less or more aware of the events unfolding, depending upon our location at the time.  News and current events can be a great piece of information to include in a travel journal, or in any kind of journal really.  Perhaps future generations will be able to look at your writing, and make those all important connections to history, all because you chose to detail a little about the world at the time.

                       Volkswagen

For as long as I can remember, I have had a love affair with the German manufactured, Volkswagen.  The first family car that I can remember, was a blue “beetle”, affectionately referred to as a “bug”. As of 2012, Volkswagen was considered the second largest car manufacturer worldwide.  The first car rolled off the assembly line in 1937 and they have had a strong worldwide presence ever since.  I fondly remember my own children playing “slug bug”, a game in which they would strive to be the first to punch  their sibling or friends, if they saw a beetle on the road.  While the beetle was the first of the cars that Volkswagen produced, there were many others which followed.  Each new model strove to better the mileage and emission output.  Eventually our little bug was sold, in exchange for an orange Datsun.  I hadn’t really considered that many of my family would continue to connect strongly to this manufacturer.  However, just recently, while traveling to Denver, my brother and I were watching a car show, where the now classic beetle was being proudly displayed.  The fact that it also happened to be blue, brought back good memories for both of us as we remembered our old car.  I then shared a ride, in my brother’s Volkswagen Jetta.   He educated me on the affiliation that the company also had with Audi, a brand owned by both my mother and her husband.  It was one of those conversations that was casual, a bit of trivia to learn at the time.  Just a couple of weeks later,  on September 21, 2015, I would be traveling in England when the news about Volkswagen broke worldwide.  They were embroiled in a scandal which would cost them billions.   It appears that they had knowingly falsified their emission results, claiming much better efficiency than their cars were actually getting.  Consumer trust was broken.  This wasn’t the first time that this company had seen massive controversy.  In 1998, they had admitted that 15,000 slaves were brought from concentration camps during World War II, to keep the production line moving.  I am sure that Volkswagen will recover.  I am sure that I will continue to enjoy seeing the classic little bugs, which grow fewer each year.  Like many stories that are heard these days, I am sad for the lack of integrity that seems to prevail with society today.  Perhaps the media just allows this to be more obvious now.  Perhaps, as Volkswagen has already demonstrated through history, a lack of integrity has always existed.

Sometimes I find myself using the same descriptive terminology in my journals.  If you have followed my blog for any length of time, you will know I often use the alphabet to set a new goal when I am stumped. Adjectives are words that describe.  Like a comfortable pair of sweatpants, we all favor certain words.  As we try to paint a verbal image for our readers, our writing can become bogged down by the use of the same terminology over and over again.  For this technique, try using the ABC’s to create an ever expanding list of descriptive terminology.  Sometimes I choose a group of words before the trip.  Other times, I may look at my photos and compare them to my list, looking to see if I can use a unique adjective.  By keeping an ever expanding list of adjectives, it may inspire the way you take a photo, write a sentence or otherwise develop your journal entries.  It may help you to seek out interesting people, or document conversations.  Words are powerful triggers.  Here is a list of adjectives, one for each letter.  In the following examples, the photos were taken prior to choosing the adjective.

A-Amazing

B-Barren

As we climbed toward the peak of the mountain, the  brown grass emerged in tufts among the jagged rocks.  I would have considered this land barren, had I not noted the grazing sheep alongside the tracks.

C-Cheerful

D-Delightful

E-Exclusive

F-Famous

G-Gusty

The provided windbreakers were no match for the gusty conditions we found at the base of Niagara Falls.  As we neared the falls, the disposable plastic coats flew up around our ears, offering a veiled view through the thin, red plastic. Our hands were busy, the choice being to save the camera from the misty conditions or get soaked ourselves.  I wonder if this was somehow humorous planning on the part of the boat operators.

H-Happy

I-Insightful

J-Jovial

K-Knowledgeable

L-Loving

M-Magnificent

N-Nature

O-Original

P-Popular

Q-Quiet

R-Remarkable

S-Stunning

T-Thoughtful

U-Unique

V-Vivacious

W-Welcoming

X-

Y-Youthful

Z-Zany

You’ve just returned from your trip, responsibilities call.  The laundry is piled high, dinner needs to be prepared.  You long for those leisurely moments, which you spent with your journal at that wonderful cafe’ along the river.  You know the journal isn’t complete.  There are still details missing.  You may have pages of hastily scrolled facts, but no substance.   So how do you complete the task?

1.  Every time you journal, reward yourself with a favorite cup of coffee, tea, ice cream, listening to music, a walk, or some other treat.  You’ll soon look forward to picking up your pen!

2.  Find someplace fun to write.  Sit by a river, sip coffee in a cafe’ or wherever inspires you.  You can return to this same spot daily, or make a new adventure by finding a different location to write each day.

3.  Connect writing to routine.  Do you sit down to watch tv each night?  Perhaps try to write for 10 minutes before allowing yourself to turn on the television.

4.  Make an appointment with yourself.  Block out a period of time to write, on the calendar.  Treat this appointment as you would any other and make sure to follow through.

5.  Post to a blog.  Your readers are generally curious about what you are up to, which in turn may provide some incentive for regular posting.

6.  Find a writing buddy.  We all have friends who are working on something…getting in better shape, eating better etc.  Partner with these people.  You write at the same time they are fulfilling a goal.  Check in and praise each other as you complete your goals for the day.

7.  Try not to think of writing as a chore.  Let yourself relive those travel memories for some part of the day, it will be like taking a mini vacation!

One of my biggest frustrations with writing is that I am never done.  I often edit and re-edit, expand or constrict the piece. I am a perfectionist.  If I allow it, every entry, would remain in constant motion.  I am not a natural writer, it is just something that I love to do.  Over the years, I have grown into my writing.  I am more accepting of it now, worrying less about perfection and choosing to grow with each new piece instead.  However, there are benefits to re-writing* certain pieces.  First, you may have just been too busy to get the specifics down while you were traveling.  Perhaps you did some speed journaling, or made a list of the things you want to remember.  This is a perfect time to rewrite the piece.  Second, as my writing style has evolved, I will often read an older entry and consider the details that are lacking.  Hopefully, the more observant traveler that I have become, the more this will be reflected in my journals and the less I will have to rewrite. Third, another great reason to rewrite, is that our perspectives change over time.  In my current middle years,  I am far more outgoing and likely to interact with people.  I am more adventurous.  My experiences tend to be richer as I seek to learn more from them.   So if you are stuck for something to say today, find an old piece and rewrite it!  Below you can find an example of one of my very early diary entries and how I would choose to rewrite the piece today .

*If you choose to re-write an original piece, please don’t discard it.  Instead, allow a comparison of the two pieces to reflect your personal growth.

Thursday-April 2, 1996

St. Thomas Virgin Islands                                                                                                                                                This morning we are slightly disappointed when they cancel our bike tour.  Then it starts raining.  No longer disappointed, we decide to make it a great shopping day.  We head out with the goal of  finding a Tanzenite tennis bracelet and a new wedding band for Alan.  We return to the ship with a Christmas ornament!

EDITED and RE-JOURNALED (Oct 13, 2015)

St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands                                                                                                                                         I have fallen in love with the semi precious stone of tanzanite.    Like the ocean that we are currently sailing upon, the color is ever changing.  These stones can be lavender and change to azure, or they might be a deep purple, similar to an amethyst, perhaps changing to dark blue like a sapphire. It all depends on the light it is viewed under.  There is only one place where tanzanite has been found, and that is in Tanzania.  St. Thomas seems to have a massive collection of stones, in all ranges of colors.  The highly coveted darker stones are plentiful here, whereas the lavender stones are more common near our home.  Perhaps this is because they are getting closer to the bottom of the mine and St. Thomas is a haven for jewelry so receives the best that is available at the time.  Landing at this port is like stepping into nearly a hundred jewelry stores. from around the world, all at the same time!  They line both sides of the street and extend down every alley.  We have been warned while on our ship, to only shop at the certified jewelers, since there is also a lot of corruption here.  We hadn’t planned on spending our day shopping, but rain had cancelled our bike tour scheduled for the morning.  Since this island is known for its discounts on jewelry, we decided to look for a tanzenite tennis bracelet for me and a new wedding band for Alan.  Several hours later, we returned to the ship, with only a new Christmas ornament to show for our efforts.  I had finally had enough of people.  Walking through the streets of Charlotte Amalie felt like a battleground.  Thousands of passengers had unloaded from one of the four ships currently in port.  They all seemed to be on the same mission. as they descended on the tiny capital city.  The air quickly filled with a cacaphone of foreign accents, as each store owner stood at the entrance of his shop, beckoning us to enter, instead of shopping at his rival.  Alan is claustrophobic, so we tend to avoid crowds like this.  Even though I know the women will be showing off their new prizes at dinner tonight, for me, there is no piece of jewelry that rivals the peace found on a balcony, a cold drink in hand while watching the colors of the sea as it changes throughout the day.  Maybe next time.

So you’re busy getting ready for that much anticipated trip.  There is still so much to do, the last thing you are thinking about is journaling.  The clothes need to be washed, ironed and packed, the kids have three more events to attend and you are leaving tomorrow.  You begin to hyperventilate, wondering how you will fit everything in.  This look into everyday life helps others connect with you, on a more personal level.  Our journals tend to reflect the positive news reels, the highlights if you will.  When you finally begin your journey, why not let a little day- to- day activity fill your pages?  Tell us what was happening before you finally started your adventure!

Sept. 18, 2015

I am finally seated on the plane.  It has been a whirlwind of an adventure getting here.  This whole week was filled with hard labor.  We are currently working on renovating a house, with the intention of selling it in the next month or so.  This means there are deadlines to keep.  After hearing the kitchen countertops will take 4-6 weeks, from the measure date, we are in a panic to get the kitchen prepared.  Between Sunday and Wednesday of this week, we have worked late into the night, to completed the painting on the main floor,  lay the bamboo flooring in the kitchen and dining room and install all of the kitchen cabinets!  Thursday, the day of our departure, we nervously waited for the counters to be measured.  There couldn’t be more than 1/8 of an inch difference in the level across all of the cabinets.  We were due to leave Traverse City at lunchtime.  Measuring was taking place around 10am.  There would be no time for corrections or adjustments.  If this didn’t work the first time, we would be waiting 6-8 weeks for our installation, as we would need to reschedule our measuring for after we returned from our trip.  We needlessly worried.  Still, we didn’t depart on our road trip, a seven hour journey to Niagra Falls, Ontario until 3 p.m.  Somehow I managed to find house cleaning to do until then!  After finally getting going, we enjoyed a lovely roadside picnic dinner and pulled into Niagra at 11pm.  A midnight walk to the falls, a romantic sunrise, and a day of sightseeing, was followed by crazy drivers, extensive construction, another 1 1/2 hour long car ride to Toronto.  Then, we had trouble locating where we planned to drop the car off for the week, followed by long lines at the security point.   We had allowed nearly five hours for our short trip from the falls into Toronto.  As we sat wolfing hot dogs and fries down for dinner, the minutes to boarding passed quickly and we ended up throwing half of our meal away!  Surprisingly, it seems the remainder of the night passed uneventfully and we woke, following a peaceful night of sleep, just as the plane began to descend into Manchester airport.  We are now ready to “officially” begin our vacation!

Have you ever considered the experiences, of a child living in Alaska, versus those living in the center of the United States.  While traveling along the inside passage of Alaska , I realized that children of this area would not be as familiar with cows, sheep and horses.  This was something that I brought to question with one of the tour directors. Since this area is too cold for regular farming,  he explained that these animals are kept for show.  Much like one would go to a zoo to see exotic animal, the area children are taken to a farm like setting to expose them to these animals, they are rarely free ranging. In contrast, children of this area grow up seeing whales, bear, eagles and salmon every day.  I realized I take the “normal” animals that I see daily for granted.  This was when I began adding photos and details of unique animals to my travel journals.  Imagine a child seeing a new animal for the first time.  Imagine that he is with you when you journey.  What makes this animal exotic? What would you want this child to know about this animal?  How is it different from those that you see at home?  Think of yourself as this child as you travel.  Explore the unusual, the unique and the unfamiliar and if you are anything like me, the first time you see a shaggy or horned cow, you might just shout out, “look, wildlife” and begin frantically clicking away on your camera to preserve the moment! Be warned, your husband might find you more than a little amusing, since he knows that this is really just a cow, in a new disguise.  What he doesn’t know is that as soon as you return from this trip, you will be scouring the internet to understand why some cows keep their horns and others are born without them all together.  He doesn’t know that you will learn that a cow may lead her herd with just a toss of that majestic headpiece.  He also doesn’t know that keeping these horns may allow for less anxiety among the herd and actually aid in digestion.  So the next time you see a crazy lady taking 50 pictures of an animal that you think of as common, just know that it is for a good cause.  That woman may be seeking a higher understanding of all that exists around her.

We meet so many people when we travel.  There are things about these people that you might want to remember.  How did they impact your vacation?  How did they change you?  How do you feel when you are around them?  Just a few descriptive sentences can often keep these people memorialized among your pages.

Mysteries in the Mist

His brow was deeply furrowed, as he stepped into our compartment of the train. Like his gloomy mood, he was dressed in a black leather jacket, black trousers and a dirty white t-shirt.  His hair was a similar dark color, but greasy, as if he hadn’t showered in a number of days. There was a faint odor of cheap cologne. The stubble of his beard and red rimmed eyes, gave an impression that perhaps he hadn’t slept in a while either.  Knowing that all the seats in this compartment were assigned for our return journey down the mountain, I began to think that I should say something to this man.  Perhaps I could encourage him to move to an unoccupied seat.  His mood bordered on angry.  Nothing about this person indicated that he wanted to communicate.  His clothes seemed to hang loose around him, as he retreated inside of himself.  Something about him frightened me, so I remained silent.  The carriage finally filled with all of its passengers, the extra traveler now making it a very uncomfortable journey for the next hour.  Even as I perched upon my husbands knees, to give the other elderly travelers a little more room, this man did not attempt to move to one of the vacant seats, in another car.  We began our decent down the mountain, at about the same time, a brown paper bag appeared with what was likely a bottle of alcohol.  As most of the passengers were trying to view the scenery out of the far side of the car, I kept my eye on the mysterious man as he swigged from his bottle.  His forehead was pressed tight against his own window, twisting his body away from the other passengers, perhaps in an attempt to hide his addiction.  As the alcohol began to work, an evil grin crept across his face.  In that moment, I knew he was not fully present with the rest of us.  I wondered if he was perhaps mentally ill, like my own father.  Unpredictable was the thought that kept swirling through my mind as my body screamed caution.  The train finally came to its destination, at the bottom of Mt. Snowden.  As my husband went to retrieve the car from a nearby parking lot, I watched the mysterious man for a moment longer. The alcohol now fully working, he stumbled across the road, seemingly searching for a bus or someone meant to pick him up.  I will never know his story.  Had he just lost his job?  Had he pulled a long shift on the mountain?  What drove him to drink?  Was he married, a father?  He might be easily forgotten to many, but to me, he is part of a collection of interesting people that I come across as I travel, many of whom are just trying to get through another day, most of whom I will never know anything about.  We are all connected in this big world of ours, so among my stories, he will live on.

Food brings people together, so why not let it be the subject of one of your next entries.  Consider the traditions that form around the food.  Who are the characters?  Is there a recipe that has been handed down? What stories get told around the food?  Does food trigger a memory from childhood?  These are all great things to include in your journal.  The next time you dig into your favorite food, try writing a bit about it.

                                                Lemon Meringue Pie

As a new wife, I had toiled the entire day to make a lemon meringue pie for my husband, Alan.  I knew it was his favorite and I couldn’t wait for him to return form work to try it.  I had made the crust by hand, whipped the eggs into frothy peaks and even grated the lemon rind, to add a bit of decoration. It had taken the better part of a day to make, so when Alan bit into the pie and expressed that he preferred his mother’s recipe, I was initially disappointed.  However, we had promised honesty in our relationship, so I set out to make sure I added this recipe to my growing collection.  I knew that all 4 of Josie’s children loved her lemon meringue, it must be very special.  I anticipated a long discussion about the unique ingredients it would take to perfect this treat, on my second attempt.  We laughed together when she revealed that the coveted favorite, had come from a package! For the past 32 years, this has remained a humorous story for our family, retold every time the dessert is served. Needless to say, my husband has never again had the benefit of a lemon meringue pie made from scratch.  This sweet treat is now mostly enjoyed, when we get together with my mother-in-law, it is her specialty.  Upon arrival at her home, my husband stealthily searches the kitchen, looking for the pie.  He tries very hard not to be too obvious about his anticipation.  No matter how early our arrival,  he is never disappointed, to find the pie already baked and steadfastly waiting in the aging aluminum pan, on her counter.  During the years that she would travel to our home, Josie would always carry a box or two in her suitcase, ready to make the treat, once she arrived.  As a mother of three son’s myself, I understand when Alan is served a bigger piece, or at times maybe even a second helping, without requesting it. This man is blessed by two women who love him deeply.  Knowing this time and these memories are precious, I am happy to stand aside and let this Mama spoil her son during our visits.  When the time comes to hand down the recipe, this time, I’ll know right where to find it and I’ll be sure to teach my future daughter-in-laws the magic ingredients to add!