How Excel, other venues, and exhibition organizers can improve - and how I keep records

Excel asked for my 

Feedback and I was delighted to have the opportunity to make suggestions. 

1 Give listings of hotels and restaurants with guides to prices. 

2 Show which stations are nearest which events at Excel which is between two stations, one at each end. I wasted a lot of time getting off at Custom House and walking a long way when Prince Regent was nearer the other end.

 3 I also lost time going down to underground toilets down and up many stairs at the Custom House end. Give signs and distance to nearest ground level toilets for the disabled and those with heavy luggage.  

4 TFL announced change for Jubilee at Canada Water which wastes time because Canary Wharf is much quicker, just one escalator. Please warn people not to change at Canada Water which has three escalators, then at ground level, no signs, but a by stander in uniform told me  you cross the square, around the building ahead to another building. At this point I turned round and went back down the three escalators. I missed a meeting. 

5 Meetings should be listed at the front of the exhibition with arrows or maps to the stage. And make this printable map marking venues and time and dates available from the website. 

6 Event catalogues have numbers of stands too small to read. Have an online map which can be printed or printed in multiple sections and sellotaped together.

 7 Have a map with a tickbox on stands you have already visited so you can mark those to re-visit later or next day.  

8 Include exhibitors' websites so you can verify who you visited, phone numbers, emails etc. Many stands did not have address cards. Very confusing. I met the niece or cousin on the stand who spoke English.  The boss was somebody different. Their head office was not the same city or country as the producer of the product, where you could buy wine at a cellar door in Italy or visit their hotel or restaurant or shop which was yet another address. The distribution area such as the UK supermarket, eg Tesco, Majestic wines, was different again. It would have been useful to have a list of people on the stand and a list of products, with tick boxes. 

But what can I do differently?

At an exhibition at Expo in Singapore, I learned a system for saving business cards. The stand owners had one lined notebook, labelled with the event. You can do this using the event catalogue or a leaflet or flyer, or print the name and stick it on. 

Make An Address Card Notebook

An address card notebook keeps each address card with the notes made during or after the event.

One's instinct is to add the address details at the end. Instead, make your contact's company name and address the heading. The address card system makes the notes look like a webpage. Or a letter. Instead of the address as an afternote, to be forgotten, a footnote,  you have the business address at the top, so it is the first thing which grabs your attention.

If the notebook is shared by two or more people on the stand, they share the notebook which stays on a large colourful clipboard. Write at the top of the page, or underneath the address cards of the visitor,  the name and contact details of the person on the stand. 

Meeting Record Book Layout

Each page had a section at the top for business cards. You can create that by drawing a line across every page a few inches down. Or simply staple the business card of each person you meet at the top of a page. They stapled the business card at the top, then made notes, during the meeting, afterwards, and in the evening. They noted, ideally in three columns: 1 Facts. 2 Action to take. 3 Date deadlines.

Afterwards, the rest of the notebook can be used for the year's further events. The following year's annual event. 

Alternatively, tear out the blank pages from the end. Create a new, separate record of another exhibition. Staple them together for notes inside a folded piece of coloured card, with a label.

My latest systems include

Photo Record of Face & Name

1 Photograph the person I met holding their business card or ID lanyard. Photograph myself with the product and person I met.

Advantages of An Instant Blog

Write a blog online at the time. Read it back to them, correcting errors in spelling and location.

Ask and say on my blog whether the product is discontinued, current, or yet to be launched.

Notes on Business Cards

Write on the address card the date and name of the show where we met. Note who I met if they gave me somebody else's address card.

Useful Checklists for Conferences

People: 

Event team. Photographer. Caterer. Stand setup. Performers  Security. First Aid. Transport. Accommodation. Mailing list. Information on future event. Website. Media room. Organizers office.

Welcome desk. Feedback form. Out of hours team. Ads and booking for next year.

1 Posters. Signs. Stand signs. Direction signs. Information point.  Food signs. Drink signs Toilet signs. Way out signs. Fire exit signs.

Objects

Catalogues. Lanyards, colour coded for exhibitor, seller, buyer, distributor, media, visitor. Name budges.

Sound

Announcement system. Microphones. Amplifiers. Cable concealment. Technical team. Display sign of phone number for technical team.

Sound separation and time separation of loud events.

Fire alarm test, evacuation rehearsal.

Transport to outside events.

Offers of city guided tours. Discounts to local attractions. Discounts to local restaurants and bars.

Phone reminders for events.

Waiting lists.

Catering

Seating. Waste disposal. Ads for free food. Queue system for popular event. Set up time. Clear up time. Hygiene laws. Food and allergy labels

Queue direction signs. Plate and food disposal bins. Take away containers.

Useful Websites On Recording Meetings

https://info.ibabs.com/meeting-minutes-templates

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Breakages, Mould and More - What to watch for when travelling or leaving goods in storage

When travelling you have to guard against loss and breakage. Loss of goods. Loss of keys!

Keep photos and numbers of all keys. 

What could go wrong?

1 Books and papers deteriorate.

2 Clothes get holes from moths.

3 White clothes turn yellow.

4 Mould appears on walls.

5 Shoe heels disintegrate.

6 Handbags go mouldy. 

7 Fabric disintegrates. Handbag linings disintegrate. Cushions disintegrate.

Storage

Caveat Emptor. Buyer beware. Goods in storage can deteriorate. 

Tropics

So can goods in the tropics.

Mould

Move beds away from walls. Move bookshelves away from walls.

UK

 Or in cold countries and rainy countries like England, with condensation.

Remedies

Prevention is better than cure. Cheaper. Less time consuming. Less stress.

Prevention

1 You can take books back to temperate climates every 6 months and rotate them if you live part of the year in the tropics. 

Books can be restored but it is costly.

You can also buy photo albums with acid-free paper.

2 You can buy moth spray. Or bags of white pellets. Or wood discs with holes. Or bags of lavender to put in drawers and on hangers. They last about 3 months. If you have pets or babies crawling on the floor you might want to avoid the crumbly white pellets and opt for the wooden pieces instead.

3 Washing. Or dyeing.

4 Mould

First check no leaks from outside. No rising damp. If its condensation,you can paint with anti mould paint. Use tubs with sachets of water absorbent pellets. Or dehumidifying machines, which need to be emptied as they collect water. You may need one for each room but you can move them around with yourself. Open the windows! 

Vacuum clean carpets before they go into storage or before you leave a property empty. Ask the agent or relative checking on an empty house to spray moth repellent and carpet beetle killer.

Move boxes on floors to prevent termites. (We had termites under a box on the floor in the Beaumont in Singapore.)

Mould remover, Magiclean, sold in Singapore. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

5 Keep your receipt for possible exchange, but the shop won't take them back after 6 months or a year. Don't leave your shoes in the cupboard. Wear them and enjoy them. Second hand shoes have less life left in them.

6 You could have them professionally cleaned if expensive. If cheap, either throw them away or wash them off. 

7 Sometimes the lining goes but you can save the outside of a garment or accessory. Other times it is the other way around. At very least, you may be able to save the buckles or zips. Some companies offer you money for items in any condition.

Cure

If you cannot find moth balls and insect repellent in your supermarket, you can find them online on Amazon.

Useful Websites

https://www.8days.sg/seeanddo/whatsbuzzing/how-did-womans-16k-worth-luxury-bags-clothes-turn-so-mouldy-after-1-year-storage-facility-755326

Losing and Finding Photos On Your Phone or Laptop

Problems
1 I just took a photo. How do I share it?
2 I've lost yesterday's photo. Where is it?

Answers
The cause of your problem could be:
Too many photos. Your laptop or phone has reached its limit.

Photos on Phones
What you can do:
To make space
1 Delete your unwanted out of focus photos and pictures of your feet or thumbs. Easier to get rid of them now than have them cluttering up the place.

I have found that if I delete photos in the phone before loading up to the laptop, that saves time and space. Otherwise, I have to delete in both places, despite being asked if I want to delete on all devices, it just doesn't happen.

Having the originals stored for a month is handy if you delete by mistake or change your mind. But I keep deleting. Then next time when the laptop asks if I want to import all, all the deleted photos and duplicates are added and my laptop is overloaded.

I ignore warning. Sometimes eventually the photos storage is so full that it crashes. Then I can't delete photos to rectify the problem.

Backups
Before doing any major overhall of the photo system orgniaation, you should backup the lot of your photos library. That could mean backing up it overnight because it takes a long time. You don't want to interrupt it.

2 Learn how to use the two-storage systems on your phone. You should have a main disc. You may have bought supplementary storage at the start in the shop, or ordered it online later. When one system is full, you can switch to the other.

Find out how to do it, make the switch. When you are in the shop and buying it, ask.

Make a note of the intructions. Or find the instructions online and email them to yourself.

To Share Photos
Find the share a photo symbol under the photo on a phone or at the top of yourscreen on an ipad or laptop. It is usually an upward arrow. Select mail. You can share with another phone.

Alternatively, either email direct to the person whose photo you have taken if they are standing beside you. Or email it to yourself and then email it to them.

If you cannot connect your phone to your laptop via icloud, mail the photo to yourself and then drag it or save it to your iphoto or other photo storage system.

Lost Photo?
I hunted all over my photos and date hunts. Then I simply went into finder and found my missing photo.

Labelling and Saving
When I upload a photo, whether from my phone or the internet, I immedately label it with as many words as I can think of which I might use later in a search. For example, casa mia restaurant. I don't just label it Casa Mia, which is already labelled in the phto because I photographed the restaurant frontage. I lable it, casa Mia, Italian, restaurant, Hatch End, Pinner, London, England.

I might have several photos of the restaurant. To save time finding the right one, I add another description or two or three,  such as: wine bottle, glass of wine, dessert, manager, outside, inside, menu, decor. The date could also be useful.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Bottle Basics - how to store those bottles you bought on holiday - and the cheese

Bottle Cork.

Problem
My parents stored bottles of Champagne upright in the house for years for special occasions. One or two of them had gone off. What a disappointment. Also an embarrassment, when we opened them specialilly for our visitors from France.

What went wrong? Now I know. But we recently visited friends living in the same street and they also had bottles in the house stored upright. What's wrong?

Now that we know, we assume everybody else knows. But they don't. So here's a reminder for you, and to check your family firends, nieghbours and colleagues, to be sure they are not storing bottles wrongly. Who should you learn from? We learned from the French and the professionals.

Horizontal?
Which bottles should be kept horizontal? Unopened bottles with corks. That way the cork is kept moist. If the cork shrinks, the air gets in and out. The bubbles escape. The aroma escapes. Hot air gets in and the wine spoils and goes vinegary.

Metal and Cork?
Many wine producers are turning to metal cap bottles. However, some prestige wines are still made with corks because it looks traditional and prestigious. If you buy old wines, or inherit them, or buy them for prestige or an investment, they will probably date back to the days when corks were widely used.

Answers
If you buy Champagne, you have probably seen bottles stored in warehouses, shops and cellars in a horizontal position. They are also stored for years in cool cellars. This is not just to hide them. It is to keep them cool.

Are other bottles not stored horizontally? Why? Are they kept in a chilled cabinet and just brought out for an event?

Champagne. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

A bottle stored in your warm kitchen near the stove is in a hot place. On top of a cupboard is a bad pllace because heat rises. In summer the heat is even worse. As for the tropics - !

Bad places to store good wines
Upright on the top of your kitchen cupboard.
Next to the hot oven and stove.
A well heated house.
On the table in the tropics.
Upright in the rack in a wheeled trollery.
A little cheap freestanding rack in a warm kitchen.

Good places to store include
A cool cellar.
An unheated outbuilding.
An unheated pantry with a grill to the cool outdoors.
An old fridge - temperature adjusted to suit the wine.
A wine compartment in a fridge.
A horizontal bottle rack in the kitchen only for items you will use soon.
A garage.

I don't like bottles kept in garages or sheds unless they are in a dedicated wine cabinet with a list of contents on the inside of the door or inside wall or a book stored in the cabinet. When you find an odd bottle or two in a garage or shed, you can never be sure somebody has not filled an old bottle with cleaning fluid or other undrinkable products.

Warning About Garage Storage
(In one case, people in the UK cleared out the garage of a deceased relative and gave a bottle, still with the label, to a raffle. The results were disastrous. I recall one permanent injury. One fatality. )
A couple in England were lucky to not suffer long-term effects:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1318462/Couple-nearly-die-drinking-antifreeze-thought-vermouth.html

Anther accidents in Spain involved a wine bottle used for another product then placed in a fridge.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/man-dies-after-waiter-accidentally-serves-him-glass-of-detergent-instead-of-wine-10324018.html

Also check drinks which are not served from a bottle. In Indonesia I was served alcoholic drinks from a coconut. I was once in a group when everybody was served the same 'non-alcoholic' house special cocktail, at a time when alcohol was supposedly banned because of an election. I always ask to see the bottle.
http://www.abc.net.au/health/features/stories/2013/09/10/3845522.htm

A wine fridge can be expensive. The bigger and better ones have a lock. You can also store chocolates and medicines and photographic equipment. In the tropics you can use a wine fridge to store biscuits out of the way of rodents and insects without actually freezing the food. A white normal fridge suits a kitchen. A black wine fridge with a see-through door might be a decorative addition to a less used and cooler dining room or spare bedroom.

Blue cheddar. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Cheese
If you buy from a cheese shop, ask them how to store the cheese. A big cheese protected by a wax covering is protected from the atmosphere. As you cut it up and more of the cheese is exposed, it lasts less long. A cheese will have different shelf life if it is organic, soft, grated, wrapped in plastic, in a fridge, on a cheesboard under a glass cover which is sealed, or not a good fit. And so on.

Cheese Outdoors
We once had an au pair girl who kept her cheese on her bedroom windowsill in winter. The cheese bag handle or string was attached to the window handle so she coudl retrieve it from inside and so it could not fall off the ledge. (After that we were very careful about cleaning her outside windowsill regularly.)

Now we have cats and foxes and I don't like food stored outside unless it is protected. Restaruants have to aboide by regulations covering food, to prevent rats and other rodents, mice and so on, either eating the food or simply scampering across it and urinating into it.

I have given you a simplified version of what to check and why. I suggest you ask when buying wine. Most major supermarkets emply a master of wine as their buyer. You can ask to speak to staff or write to customer services. Also look for the manufacturer or importer and research the type of wine, wine bottle and closure.

Cheese
The same goes for cheese. Different cheeses, cut to different sizes, hard and soft cheese, protected by rind, or not, require different treatment. Some cheeses contain dried fruit, garlic, added salt. Labels may tell you. If not, ask.

Vineyard, Champagne And Wine Tours
You can take vineyard tour and go to wine tasting all over the world. When the guide asks 'any questions?', you can ask them how to store any wines you buy.

A good place to learn about wines is at the Denbies complex south of London in England. In summer you can buy tickets for either the outdoor tour, showing you differnet types of hillside, in sun or shade, from the hilltop. The other cellar tour shows you how the wine is made in barrels and stored - and you end up with a tasting. It's all in English, too, no struggling to understand a guide with a foreign accent.

Cheese tours are also fascinating. Again, ask about storage.

Travel websites
visitbritain.com
English wine. Scottish whisky.
visitwales.com (Welsh wineries and stays and tastings)

Wine tours and tasting UK
https://www.visitbritain.com/gb/en/food-and-drink/beer-cider-and-wine

Wine tours and tastings France
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attractions-g187070-Activities-c42-t205-France.html

Wine tours and tastings USA
https://uk.viator.com/USA-tours/Wine-Tasting-and-Winery-Tours/d77-g6-c21

Wine Tours, Tastings & Education
Several companies specialise in wine tours of Europe, South Africa, Australia, USA and worldwide.

You can also join wine tasting club in major cities and take a beginners' course with WSET (Wine and Spirits Education) in England and other countries. (I did level one. My husband did levels 2, 3 and 4 and has a diploma.

I go to several club dinners and tastings, and tastings, talks, dinners, at the Wine Society in Stevenage.  They hold events around Britain, London, and other cities, with talks by their own staff and/ or visiting winemakers from the UK and other countries.

Berry Brothers & Rudd, who have a big shop in London, England, also run more expensive wine tastings and dinners all year, good for a birthday or anniversary present or Valentine's Day gift.

Tips
To test whether your wines are still drinkable, buy or borrow a Coravin. This takes a tiny sample through what looks like a small Metal straw. Expensive to buy, but saves you money and embarrassment. See their website for pictures and demonstrations of how it works, as well as stockists.
www.coravin.co.uk

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
See my previous posts about wine tastings in the UK, England, Wales, Italy and worldwide. Please share links to your favourite posts.

Why and how to label your photos

Problem
How do you keep track of your photos?


Aps for phones and storage systems are getting more canny. (I tried to type cannier, or cannyer, which is what I would say if I spoke to you, but neither word looked right.)

In emails, I save photos in three places. First, by who sent me the photo. Second a copy in a file called photos. Then onto my laptop in iphoto or a storage system.

In many phones you cannot label photos with names or places or subject matter. On a laptop or big screen it is easier.

However, the first essential is to label photos the day you take them. Use your holiday brochures to check places and correct spellings. At a conference or club use the agenda before you file it or bin it to note names.

That's really handy if somebody you hardly know asks you for a photo you took of them. Saves hours of searching.

Remember to label yourself and family with at least your first name and any clothes or hats or uniforms, city and country. For example, Anne in wedding dress; Anne by Tower Bridge in London, England; Anne in London, Canada; Jane by taxi in Paris, France; Susan by horse in Paris, Texas;  Anne in suit for cv; Peter with golf clubs; John on elephant; Simon speaking on stage at conference in South Africa.

This will save hours of time when somebody asks for a photo.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please save and share links to your favourite posts.

How To Pack Fragile And Liquid Items: Where's the packaging?

Problems
1 You want to pack a fragile item (such as the mirror for a self-portrait mentioned in previous post).
2 You want to pack liquids such as a bottle of vodka for yourself or a present.
Where do you store packaging? How do you find it when you need it?
Why bother? Why not buy new?

Answers
First - why bother saving packaging?
1 If it's raining or snowing you'd rather fold, stack and store an item and its packaging than take a trip to the bin.
2 It takes time to visit the tip. Some councils charge for removing large items.
3 Have you seen the price of packaging!
4 Do your bit for recycling.

1 SAVE PACKAGING
Save the original packing for your fragile item.

2 CUT CLUTTER.
STORAGE
Keep packing boxes and bubble wrap from packages sent by Amazon stored out of the way.
Pick somewhere where nobody else more tidy-minded will find it and throw it away!

LOCATIONS FOR STORAGE
(In an old suitcase. High hat cupboard in hall. Your wardrobe. In America in a closet. Above a cupboard in kitchen, scullery, coat storage area. But if you are concerned about fire do not keep papers and plastics in the kitchen near the hob.

The attic. The basement. Consider all options.
If it's a high cupboard or attic up a ladder, will you or the person who needs it be able to retrieve it easily and safely?)

Always keep packaging in one place, the same place, such as a closet in the USA. (We had a walk in closet when we lived in Rockville Maryland.)

Later in a condo in Singapore we kept a small windowless box room for suitcases and packaging.  If everybody knows where the suitcases and packaging are kept, you all know where to look when packing for a trip. If you employ a maid of cleaner and run out of things to do, get the suitcases and boxes out and the cupboard cleaned from insects, everything stacked like a pyramid, or nested like Russian dolls with a large label with big felt tip writing on the front, or all sides.

SUITABLE STORAGE SITES AND PREVENTING WATER DAMAGE
In another condo we had what in the UK in the old days would be called a scullery and back balcony. Unfortunately the scullery area (containing a second sink and overhead pulley for hanging washing) was open to the elements on one side. The cardboard boxes for large speakers were left on the window side on and below a shelf. During the spring thunderstorms, rain came in.  Eventually the cardboard was waterlogged, mouldy, and warped.

The boxes had to be brought into the kitchen or front balcony in the sun, lifted off the floor, dried in the sun. Once dry, the sides were taped with duct tape for reinforcement. The boxes looked awful, but served the purpose for transporting damaged goods (old speakers overseas warped in humidity) for an estimate for repair or re-sale.

The morals are:
1 STORE Carefully.
Keep cardboard away from windows, leaking pipes, wash basins.

2 COVER Everything Including Covers!
Protect cardboard with protective plastic.

3 INSPECT regularly.
Check whether storage area is safe from damage by termites and mould. Remove insects. Change or start using plastic covering. Throw out packaging beyond repair. Dry out and repair items packaging needed for moving home or taking on trips.

3 MAKE A LABEL / SIGN.
It should be where you can find easily.
Make sure you know where packaging is kept. Write instructions in your diary for the date of your next pre-booked event or trip. For example, if you have gifts for Xmas, ski trips, summer camping, store in an obvious place. Put Xmas wrapping paper, or but Xmas advertisements from Xmas time magazines to use as labels or edging for labels or to wrap the box. Cut out seaside pictures for labels and tags, showing seaside scenes for a box or suitcase containing swimsuits, beach bags, electric fans for gifts.

For example, I buy a revolving magnifying mirror for only £1 from Tanna's chemist (called pharmacy and drug store for in America) in Hatch End, London, England. I save the box inside a suitcase. I have more than one suitcase.

STORAGE REMINDER LABEL
So I send myself an email called Where is it - magnifying mirror box - in small red suitcase labelled one of more of the following: 'For Xmas/Easter/Summer/ Ski trip/UK/USA/Canada/Russia/France/Spain/South Africa/Romania/Singapore/Hong Kong/Cambodia/camping/swimming/hiking/art holiday/'.

STORAGE REMINDER EMAIL MESSAGES
EMAIL
Email yourself a message.
CALENDAR
Mark your calendar with a packing and place where items are kept.
ALARM
Set a timer or alarm with the place to look. For example, for a week before your Xmas holiday trip.

DIARY
Note in a hand-written diary where items are kept and when to check them and retrieve them.

WARDROBE PACKING LIST
You can also keep a packing list on the back of the door of your wardrobe or closet.
A duplicate can be pasted inside your suitcase for packing to go on your holiday, and to check you have retrieved all items.
(Not left behind the skis on the balcony or behind the back door, nor swimsuits drying on a balcony, not clothes in the washing machine, baby items in the dishwasher, nor slippers under the bed, nor night clothes under the pillow, nor baby toys inside the borrowed cot, nor maps in the hire car.)

FRAGILE ITEMS
1 Cover with bubble wrap.
2 Double wrap all liquids with plastic or solid packaging.
3 Pack inside boots and shoes.
4 Pack against the reinforced edges of suitcases and boxes.
5 Keep liquids upright.
6 To avoid staining, store coloured goods in same colour wrapping. For example, water can be wrapped in a white towel or shirt or blanket. But brown rum needs to be wrapped in brown shoes, brown socks, and brown towels or blankets. Similarly, red juice or red nail varnish is better wrapped in red wrapping paper, red towels.

FOOD
Do not wrap items such as leftover vegetables inside a dark blue or black table napkin! Place immediately in a proper Tupperware brand or similar click shut box. For inexpensive and throw away at destination packaging, save Philadelphia cream cheese boxes.

Author

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Disintegrating shoes

Problem
Shoes stored for years in the tropics come out of shoe boxes, revealing a mountain of black fragments from disintegrating heels.

"Throw them away!" tuts Mr Tidy Minded.

"No, no," I protest. The box label reveals a good brand. The shoe base reveals the size. In better times I bought from expensive shoe shops in department stores in Singapore such as Ngee Ann City where we used to live. I could not afford to replace all these shoes now. The tops are fine. Such a waste. What will I do now?

Answers
1 Save the shoes and try to find a cobbler or buy shoe glue to marry shoe bases whose top part disintegrated with top parts whose soles and heels disintegrated.
2 Stick on soles.
3 Only buy one pair in the UK, this year's style (or last year's second hand). Wear them non-stop, daily for a season until they are worm out.

That way I get the wear. I get my moneys worth.

No long term storage. No finding the shoes are no longer my size.

Stick the receipt on the side of the shoe box. If shoes collapse, I still have a receipt, quick to find. I know if the price I paid meets the time and trouble to try to get a refund or replacement. I can take them back to the shop because I still have the receipt and the shoes have lasted less than six months.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.
Please share my posts.

Travel diary, notebook, pen, storage box. Possible gifts.

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.

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.