Part of the journey is not just experiencing adventures, but documenting them. Writing things down or taking photos will remind future-me of everything that happened, and will also provide updates for my friends and family.
It’s been years since I’ve journaled regularly, and I’m looking forward to the opportunity to write again. I love leuchtturm1917 notebooks and have used them the past few years for keeping track of to-dos, or organizing notes from grad school courses. It seemed an obvious choice for my travel journal.
In addition, I bought a smaller notebook to act as an actual travelog, recording dates of travel, miles driven, times of breaks, gas prices, etc. Part of this is the fun of maintaining a register (we’ll see how that changes along the way!) and part is reporting expenses; since I’ll be traveling to a conference, work is sponsoring that part of the trip.
The minutiae of travel fascinates me, especially over time as roads have been improved and cars have advanced technology. I have a copy of Across the Continent by the Lincoln Highway, a 1914 account of the cross-country road by Effie Price Gladding. I’m waiting until the trip starts to read it!
I further hope to document what it will be like to travel during a pandemic. Although the worst of it is over, covid-19 is still a thing, and I’m taking as many safety measures as I can. There is risk involved, for sure, and I’ll do my best to mitigate that.
If there are things you’d like to read on the blog, let me know! Find me on Twitter or send an email. I can’t wait for October to come.