So my question is this: How do you go about preparing to write a Trip Report? I see some pretty detailed ones here, down to the details of dinners or breakfasts. How do you do this? Do you keep Travel Diaries? Use pictures?
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WrongJungle |
Trip Reports: Tips for writing them? |
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Posts: 1034 (06/18/07 12:22:27) Destination Moderator |
Everytime I start planning a trip I tell myself I will come back here and post a Report. But somewhere between paying for the ticket and getting back home, I
completely forget to keep track of information that could go into a Trip Report. It happens every single time.
So my question is this: How do you go about preparing to write a Trip Report? I see some pretty detailed ones here, down to the details of dinners or breakfasts. How do you do this? Do you keep Travel Diaries? Use pictures?
Last Edited By: WrongJungle 06/27/08 07:30:30.
Edited 2 times.
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simone1a |
Re: Trip Reports: Tips for writing them? | ||
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Posts: 5257 (06/18/07 12:44:02) Destination Moderator |
I have never written a trip report, pretty much for the same reasons you stated.
I keep some information, tickets and receipts, I mean to write one but little at a time I forget specifics. I started writing a report for my last two vacations but I thought about it and figured, this story is old, everyone has already been there and done that. I am going it to give it another try at the end of the year. Who knows, I may actually get one done! |
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Kavey F |
Re: Trip Reports: Tips for writing them? | ||
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Posts: 1476 (06/18/07 13:06:36) Member |
I keep a travel diary and try and write it at least once a day, sometimes more... though occasionally I fall a day or two behind but I try not to do that as details slip away so quickly.
As I happen to be very interested in food I do make detailed notes of restaurants, dishes and prices for those. But this is because these things interest me rather than thinking ahead about writing a trip report. For example, visiting tourist sites, I seldom note down opening hours, though I'll occasionally note down entrance price, though not always. I sometimes scribble little sketches in and note down fragments of conversation with DH or with people we meet. All kinds of little observations. And of course the things we do and in what order... Edit: Like Elaine, I also already have details of all accommodations on my PC at home. I also take photos of our rooms (coz I like to remember them) and notes of any details of interest to me. And I keep restaurant and shop receipts and any tickets too... |
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elainesl |
Re: Trip Reports: Tips for writing them? | ||
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Posts: 13012 (06/18/07 14:03:35) Board Moderator |
I think trip reports are like most things a matter of personal style--just because some reports are very detailed, and others aren't, doesn't mean that both kinds can't be useful.
Like Kavey, I usually have a lot of my details in advance--name and address of hotels, and often of restaurants. I've usually got the urls of museums and other attractions because I want to know when they are open, what the exhibits are. During the trip I usually save receipts because they will have names and addresses on them,and sometimes restaurant receipts even record what I had for dinner and what the prices of the dishes are. I collect brochures along the way for my photo album/scrapbook, so am likely to gain some information that way too, and some brochures will have travel information on them for the metro or the train. But, all of that said, it's nice to just read narrative sometimes that a person liked or disliked Hotel X because Y happened, or that they recommend walking to the Eiffel Tower by way of XXX because you'll pass a great place to get ice cream, or you found that you wished you'd taken a larger camera memory card because the views of the garden that you had from the top of building Z were just lovely. And I love reading about the little surprises or disappointments that are personal. |
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marieclaude560 |
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Posts: 14111 (06/18/07 15:29:37) EZop Administrator |
To be honest I never did trip reports before I started TTG.
In the past I would do a trip website and then I shifted to putting everything on Virtual Tourist. [I'm still the #1 Paris page And yes, I know several are still incomplete |
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ChiChi Carbonado |
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Posts: 7520 (06/18/07 15:35:57) Administrator |
If the road to hell is paved with good intentions, then my personal road to hell is paved with unfinished travel journals.
I have finally learned that even if I don't write down what actually happened on a particular day, I need to at least jot down where we went, where we ate (if it was worth noting), and a few words on anything significant that occurred. I am blessed with a good memory, so that usually suffices for me to reconstruct the day, and it only takes me 5 minutes. I've also gotten better about this since I've been traveling with my tiny Vaio computer. It's quicker for me to type than to write longhand, and I'm more inclined to catch up on my journal while waiting in an airport or traveling on a train. As for the actual report, I like to read reports that are organized in some fashion. I like it when the hotels and restaurants are broken out somehow so I don't have to read about them if I'm not interested. I like a lot of personal details that make me feel like a friend is telling me stories, not like I'm reading a guidebook. I like some photos to illustrate it. |
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ncgrrl |
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Posts: 2744 (06/18/07 15:59:17) Member |
I'm not a writer, but I try. I tend to have links in my trip reports because I used them for the trip. So you then can find out the current prices after I return. I'm a math person so I do remember prices, but I'm not a big fan of adjectives which can make a trip report a problem.
but no one here will ever say: "ncgrrl, that was a horrible trip report. It wasted my time, energy, and bandwith." because we have better manners than that. Don't worry what others think and once you put something down, it does get easier. |
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OleSouthernBelle |
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Posts: 3063 (06/18/07 16:02:53) Member |
I don't travel often, plan it for a long time, making notes & and itinerary on wordpad. I print this out and take it with me, leaving a bit of space between days.
Along the way, I cross out the things we didn't do and add the things we did in the margins & spaces. This only requires a few notes. I jot during otherwise 'wait' times. Also, I've gotten a 1G photo card, and snap away with the photos, which helps me with my human memory when I return from the trip, as they are dated. Lastly, I throw all my receipts and business cards I am given into a pocket on my suitcase and later, into a zip lock bag. If not organized, it's at least retrievable info. I include detail, sometimes for others, sometimes for myself. Often when I return, someone will ask me the price of something or some other detail, and I usually can come up with it given a little time due to my notes. |
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CassAgain |
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Posts: 866 (06/18/07 18:53:41) |
I try to think in terms of how/what I would want to know if I were another person looking up info on the place I'd been, which means I try to organize it in terms of getting there, hotel, food, sights, and misc.
I try not to mention stuff pretty much everyone else who's ever been there would mention, especially if I have nothing particularly new to say about it ("then we went to the Pantheon, then we went to the Piazza Navona, then...."). I try to stick to things that others might find helpful to know ("the ferry turned out to leave from the OTHER dock") or perhaps special experiences ("this turned out to be the best place to see an absolutely breathtaking sunset over the water"). Sometimes I can't resist personal anecdotes that I find funny and -- with no humility -- think others might find funny, or maybe irritating but familiar, or entertainingly ironic. But mainly it's a matter not of providing a diary for your own archives but rather giving us fellow-TTG'ers good info and maybe some entertainment. So I can recover the info I need by looking at our original itinerary and maybe at some photos, but if it isn't memorable enough to spring to mind when I write "Restaurants--Sorrento," it's probably not worth writing about. You'll remember the high and low points, so don't try to clutter up the report with all the other middle-ground stuff. |
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y2000k |
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Posts: 1197 (06/18/07 20:26:02) Member |
Like others have mentioned, I save the websites of sites I planned on visiting.
I carry a small notebook with me and I jot down things as the day goes on. When I sit down for meals, I have time to write down stuff that happened earlier in the day. I also try to write down what exactly I ate. My trip reports tend to be quite detailed for 2 reasons: 1) I keep a copy of it, and having it in detail really helps to preserve the memory of the trip. Each detail brings up a specific image of the trip and I just enjoy reliving it. 2) When I research for my trip, I read others' trip reports. I find the detailed reports really help me plan my trip - esp to a place I've never been. So I want to do the same for others who may find my reports helpful in the future for their trip-planning. |
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Gardenridge |
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Posts: 2817 (06/19/07 08:37:42) |
We research heavily before any trip, so we have those details to start with before stepping out the door. From then on, I'm in the moment. Love every second!
Dave is a writer, he spends his free moments writing, reflecting and including photos. We've learned that to keep him happy, he needs his laptop to keep the photos enhanced and the details polished. My travel notes are from emails I send home to keep our mothers up to date, or to help friends remember our names and phone number so they'll invite us to dinner when we get back. |
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marieclaude560 |
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Posts: 14111 (06/19/07 09:04:57) EZop Administrator |
Thanks for jogging my memory folks -- now that I have you all to care about I have been trying to post from the road and then when I get back to convert those postings into a trip report.
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WrongJungle |
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Posts: 1034 (06/19/07 09:25:18) Destination Moderator |
Thanks for all the ideas. I don't have a good memory at all. My father often tells me that he doesn't understand how I function.
So I guess for me I'd have to make notes or keep a journal of sorts. I'm also gathering that this really all comes down to discipline! |
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SkywalkerBeth |
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Posts: 1224 (06/19/07 09:27:12) |
I have gotten progressively worse at writing trip reports. My life is on spin cycle a lot... and when it slows down I just want to relax. My trip reports can sometimes be MONTHS after the actual trip (and after a few other trips were thrown in) and sometimes I just don't write anything.
One thing I did last year which really helped... I made the time to email friends from the road - gave them my impressions du jour - not always the whole enchilada but the highlights. when I got home, I cobbled them together and filled in some details and found something to post. I tried to keep a journal this year and did a decent job until we left Venice. So I do have almost half the trip in a journal, anyway. Not a narrative so much as jotted notes. |
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Dwooddon |
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Posts: 425 (06/19/07 10:47:02) |
I always travel with a reporter's notebook (Staples Office stores). On long trips, I take two. These are similar to steno books but the width is smaller (4"x8" with cardboard covers and held together with circular wire rings at the top).
In the front of it, I make trip notes, starting each day with a fresh page. Because it is small enough to slip into a back pocket or the side pocket of my small camera bag, I can make quick notes while sitting at a cafe, riding a bus or plane, or whenever I just have a spare minute or two. In addition to the details of what I did, saw, or thought, I also note the weather conditions through the day. I've found that very useful when setting an atmosphere or tone for an article or comment. In the back of it, I keep a log of each photo taken which includes the date, the main subject of the photo, any notes on the background, location, and any other details I think pertinent. Since I now use digital cameras exclusively, this is less tedious than it used to be when I was shooting film. Now, all I have to do when I have a spare moment is go back and review the photos and make my notes. I try to do that several times a day, especially if I'm shooting a lot, but sometimes I only do it in the evening when I have returned to my room for the night. One trick I have found essential is to record each photo using the image number the camera assigns. Once I get the images off the camera and onto the computer, I never use that number again but it works very well to identify similar images of different subjects. Once I return home, I transcribe those notes into a travel journal which can then be converted to an article, a trip report, or a family letter. I know there are writers who travel with a laptop computer and transcribe their notes each day but I refuse to burden myself schlepping a computer around with me. If I have used the bulk of the notebook, I file the book so I always have my original notes to refer to. If, not, I tear out the pages containing the details of that trip and the photo descriptions, put them in an envelope labeled with the destination(s) and dates, and file them. At times, reviewing my original notes will remind me of details that did not make it into my journal. |
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SkywalkerBeth |
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Posts: 1224 (06/19/07 12:06:51) |
Dwooddon, I could never log all my photos!
However, you reminded me of something I do occasionally (and should do all the time). I take a photo of the name of what I am taking the photo of. (hahah). If I remember, I will take a throwaway photo of the sign in front of the church... maybe a street sign near it, etc. I don't do this all the time but when I do it's quite helpful. |
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ChiChi Carbonado |
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Posts: 7520 (06/19/07 12:24:32) Administrator |
Quote: You got it. |
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Nikki in Massachusetts |
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Posts: 984 (06/19/07 13:04:07) |
For me the crucial thing is not discipline but quickness. Do it as soon as possible after I get home, while everything is still fresh in my mind. Thinking about the trip report while I'm away, writing it when I get home, and reading it again and again have greatly enhanced my total travel experience.
This is probably a function of the way my mind works- nothing is real until I have put it into words. An observation I made years ago when walking on the beach with my husband. We both looked back at our stuff to see where to find it when we came back. I had to say to myself, "we're next to the blue umbrella." My husband just saw the umbrella in his mind. Left brain, right brain, or something like that. |
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gardkarlsen |
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Posts: 410 (06/20/07 00:16:28) |
Hi
I take lots of pictures to keep track of what I have been doing. A picture can make you remember where you went, what you ate, people you met etc. I also keep a journal that I update each night. I just scribble down what I did during the day, what dinner cost me etc. Regards Gard |
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DianeWoodard |
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Posts: 2404 (06/20/07 17:05:42) Destination Moderator |
I get my pictures up as soon as possible and try to make notes which will jog a memory for me. I do keep a journal, but it is usually well kept for the first part of the trip and the last couple of days...well I am usually just having fun and forget to write things down.
If the flight home is long, I'll often update the journal at that time. Somehow when I try to write for "online" I'll sit with the journal in my lap and barely look at it. |
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HomSchLeeA |
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Posts: 464 (06/21/07 00:51:32) |
Since we travel on a lower budget than many who post here and at TOP, I figure it's worth my while to write a trip report for others who would like to travel but aren't sure they can afford to.
We bring a journal and try to keep fairly detailed notes on our activities, our thoughts about what we've done, unusual or funny things that happen, etc. I'm partway through writing our England/Wales report, and still have a ways to go on the photo part. |
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