The pandemic has put my usual overseas travels to a halt. As a matter of fact, my sister and I were scheduled to travel to Singapore in April 2020 when the world turned upside down with the sudden turn of events — towns, cities and countries were in a standstill with circuit breaker lockdowns and restrictions. For me, working from home also became playing from home. It afforded me the time and opportunity to organize my photos and files I’ve had during my past travels.
Too bad, I had my two external drives where I kept all my photo files damaged in different occasions. The first one fell and it could no longer be opened, while the second one got close to a magnet and the contents were erased. I managed to recover majority of the photos, although not all. While skimming through my pictures, I realized that it’s important to document your trips.
1.) Take as many photos and videos as you can
And take them from different angles, too. Many travelers nowadays take pictures and videos for social media purposes, which is not a bad thing at all, but also don’t forget to take them for your own sake. I find joy reliving my travels through visuals and whenever I feel down, they help me find reason to smile about. There are times when you’d like to revisit a particular place and you’d regret when you weren’t able to document your adventures. Traveling gifts us not only with the actual experience but also the happy memories. Make those memories lasting through photos and videos. And if you like, you can have some of the photos printed out. I have several photo books of my past travels and I love to skim through them every now and then or show to relatives and friends when they visit our house.
2.) Note down important information
You don’t have to write a blog to preserve your experience. It’s nice to have a journal but you also don’t have to write lengthy proses. You can just jot down in bullet points the tourist destinations you visited, the restaurants where you ate, important contact numbers, how much you spent, names of people you met, and other data that you would find useful in your future travels. You can also do scribbles, if you like. Sometimes, these information can help friends who plan to travel to places I’ve been to. Yes, it’s nice to share information, and that’s why I have this blog where I share about my experiences.
3.) Budgeting vs actual expenses is necessary
When you travel, you should be able to forecast how much you’ll spend, how much you’re willing to shell out and the financial limitations you need to put in place to avoid problems or concerns while in a foreign place. With that, keep track of your expenses while you are on the road. It will also help you plan your future travels.
4.) Keep tickets, brochures and other keepsakes
Since I blog, I usually keep any paraphernalia that I may gather from my trip — brochures, tickets, free items, phone cards, etc. It’s because I refer to them when I write my stories. But I found while organizing my things that it’s nice to take a look at them and read them again after so many years. Some of them I get to use again when I go back to a place.
And while sorting through my photos, a few things dawned on me with regards to my travels:
- My 40th year was the year I travelled the most — The year 2017 brought me around the Kerala state of India. I also got to travel to visit Macau with my sister and found how different it was since I went there in 2005. I also went to Singapore and Indonesia with my fellow travel blogger, Jojo Vito. We met my Kerala Blog Express Season 4 batchmates in Singapore and Indonesia and his Kerala Blog Express Season 3 batchmate in Indonesia. After 15 years, I was back on Indonesian soil, which was like my second home for almost a year and I realized I could still speak the language. And in this trip, we traveled by air, train, bus, and barge/ship. Then, before the year closed, my sister and I visited our cousin in Malaysia and then went for the first time to Melaka.
- I did some important travels during or close to my birthday — In 2009, I celebrated my longest birthday when I crossed the Pacific Ocean to San Francisco, USA. My US trip was one of my most memorable travels ever as I had the opportunity to attend a conference with then US First Lady Michelle Obama as the guest speaker and I personally met Neil Bush and Michelle Nunn and other personalities. In 2010, a few weeks after my birthday, I traveled in 3 major cities in China. In 2013, I went to Singapore and Malaysia with my June co-celebrant and high school friend, Eisyl. And I never expected I’d win a free trip to New Zealand in 2016, which was a beautiful blessing and birthday gift to me.
- Thailand is the country that I have visited the most — I probably traveled to Thailand six times (and counting), but I personally spent for a trip only once, which was in 2019. The rest were either shouldered by my former company or were sponsored by the tourism office of Thailand.
Traveling is fun but it also brings a lot of learnings, lessons and wonderful experiences. Treasure those moments and memories. Document your adventures so that you can go back to them many years from now. You’ll never know what creative ideas you can think of based on the things you’ve seen or experienced in other places.