TRAVEL DIARY AND NOTEBOOK
One of the things I pack for any travel trip is a notebook and pen and pencil and rubber.
If I have a long trip or side trips, I pack at least two notebooks, to be sure not to lose the entire trip by leaving my jacket on the plane on the way home. I photograph highlights, business cards and addresses. If I have a base in one country and a weekend away, I take a fresh notebook just for that weekend.
An alternative would be to have a Filofax.
I like a notebook with an elastic band around it and a pencil attached. Another aid to travellers is a pocket in the back cover. You can buy a diary or 'travel notebook'. A friend bought me a travel notebook as a gift.
If a hardback notebook is too big and heavy, leave it behind and write up your scrappy notes in neat handwriting on a dull or rainy day when you are stuck at home.
Notebook Storage
Where to store all these vital records? A shoe box will do. Label it with dates. keep all diaries and travel diaries together.
(Something to leave the children, be sure your diaries are kept and not chucked out in a garage sale of books. Keep notebooks near photo box to be sure you take them with you have a quick clear out when moving house, downsizing or moving to a retirement home.)
Cover your storage box. With what? How about all those luggage tags and boarding passes, which will make a quick record if you want to check where you went and when.
An idea for a Christmas present for a traveller or items for a Christmas stocking (or Hanukah stocking - they come in blue)? A travel notebook, diary, photo box, pen, photo key ring, a box covered in travel tags you have rescued from the waste bin and taken off old suitcases.
Speaking of key rings and photos, Staples in London, UK, has 3D key rings and photo cubes and pendants. I've seen the same in Singapore shopping malls. I'm sure the same are in America and Australia and all over the world. You'll see them in stationery shops and kiosks in shopping malls.
An Italic pen and calligraphy set? If you already have a calligraphy set, time to use it to make a DIY Xmas card or New Year card including photos of the year and your hand-written message.
And if you are home alone whilst the others are away travelling at Xmas, lots of free time to organise you travel photos and diaries.
(See previous post on stationery week next April.)
(Something to leave the children, be sure your diaries are kept and not chucked out in a garage sale of books. Keep notebooks near photo box to be sure you take them with you have a quick clear out when moving house, downsizing or moving to a retirement home.)
Cover your storage box. With what? How about all those luggage tags and boarding passes, which will make a quick record if you want to check where you went and when.
An idea for a Christmas present for a traveller or items for a Christmas stocking (or Hanukah stocking - they come in blue)? A travel notebook, diary, photo box, pen, photo key ring, a box covered in travel tags you have rescued from the waste bin and taken off old suitcases.
Speaking of key rings and photos, Staples in London, UK, has 3D key rings and photo cubes and pendants. I've seen the same in Singapore shopping malls. I'm sure the same are in America and Australia and all over the world. You'll see them in stationery shops and kiosks in shopping malls.
Staples, Watford, Herts, England. Copyaprint. 3D laser photo in glass.
If you are willing to splash the cash, dash to an outlet and order your notebooks and pens. If you are looking for a bargain, try the Pound shops.
DIY Travel Diary or Notebook
1 If you are artsy and crafty (in both senses), or a parent or teacher, you could make a gift or get the children or grandchildren to make a travel notebook, diary, or travel diary. You could make a whole travel notebook, making the paper, the cover, binding the book, or using thick card for the front and back, making a collage on the front, cutting two holes with a hole punch, tying the pages through the two holes with ribbon etc.
2 You may be able to buy a diary with attached notebook or ribbon or a cheap notebook with an elastic closure. Check your options then add what is easiest for you to add.
3 For DIY, add a piece of elastic as a marker, attached at both ends, top and bottom of back cover on a hardback book.
4 Stick a photo on the front.
5 Add a loop of elastic around the middle of a pen and stick the elastic to the inside of the notebook or diary back cover.
6 Make a pocket on the inside back cover. You need not just a thee quarters page of thicker than the pages card. it needs a concertina at the top and bottom, one fold inwards.
An Italic pen and calligraphy set? If you already have a calligraphy set, time to use it to make a DIY Xmas card or New Year card including photos of the year and your hand-written message.
And if you are home alone whilst the others are away travelling at Xmas, lots of free time to organise you travel photos and diaries.
(See previous post on stationery week next April.)
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
No comments:
Post a Comment