Aug

Quick! Trap a Travel Memory

by Joyce McGreevy on August 6, 2019

Travel journals are also travel keespakes that evoke your precious travel memories—the joys of the journey. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Travel memories speak volumes. But you needn’t compile volumes to keep them.
© Joyce McGreevy

How to Keep on Keeping Travel Keepsakes—and Still Enjoy the Trip

Keeping a travel journal is something that some people enjoy doing and some people wish they enjoyed doing. If you’re in the latter group, you probably own one or more beautifully bound journals, the sight of which filled you with travel inspiration—initially.

Then came the journey, and despite your best intentions to create a travel keepsake, your journal sputtered to a stop. Why? It’s often about how we view the travel journal—that most non-stationary of stationery objects—before and during a journey.

In the anticipatory period before departure, the blank pages of a journal are an invitation to adventure and a promise of keen observations. There will be aha moments! There will be rich descriptions!

A toy dog, a travel mascot, “writes” in his travel journals to create travel keepsakes that evoke the joys of the journey. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Even the most dogged travel journalist needs time to savor the joys of the journey.
© Joyce McGreevy

But during the journey, something shifts, and you can’t keep up with keeping a journal:

The little book that seemed so charming has become a chore master. It silently berates you from the hotel nightstand for “failing” to provide a daily, in-depth account of your travels.
Or you really, truly want to record a specific travel experience—only to discover that you’re contending with clichés, grappling with grammar, or hating your handwriting. In short, you had more fun filing your taxes.

Are there easier options?

Yes, thanks to quick ‘n easy travel keepsakes that “journal” the journey as you go. Yes, you can capture a sense of place without mastering plein air painting, and you can bring home meaningful souvenirs without impacting your FICO score.

Oh, I see: The ideal travel keepsake is one that happens on the go and adds to the joy of the journey. Here are some ideas:

1. Scale back.

Did sketching the view from the Eiffel Tower prove a tad challenging? Consider making “postage stamp” art instead. In that journal you’re carrying around, divide a page for the day into small squares about an inch wide. Draw a quick sketch or trap a word that reminds you of the place or person or the feeling you had in the travel moment. These one-inch square sketches focus on a single set of the details of the day as you live them. Add the date and your location, and you have a travel keepsake that didn’t keep you from your travels.

Tiny quick-sketches in a travel journal reflect a quick and easy way to capture travel memories. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Don’t love every quick-sketch? Make a “patchwork” page of your favorites.
© Joyce McGreevy

2. Make audio postcards.

In one of the most poetic scenes of the Academy Award-winning film “Il Postino,” a postman records sounds of his village that inspire him. A quick tap of your cellphone’s voice recorder is all it takes to collect audio “postcards” of your own: a muezzin’s call to prayer in Istanbul, street music in Berlin, a lion’s roar in Botswana. Voice-recorder apps automatically tag the date and location, so just add a personal note, and send or save your audio postcard.

A bell tower in Bruges and a river in the Tongariro Forest, New Zealand suggest how audio recordings can capture travel memories. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

From bells in Bruges to a river in Tongariro, sounds enhance travel memories.
© Joyce McGreevy

3. Save what you savor.

When you’re enjoying a travel moment, squirrel away a reminder. Maybe it’s a menu from a restaurant with a few tasting notes in the margins. It could also be a map section, a business card, a shopping bag, or a food label. Back at home, remember the tastes of your trip as you make a culinary collage for your kitchen. Or, along the way, spill out your treasures onto a flat surface, arrange them in an interesting way, and create a digital collage (no glue stick required!). Then:

Snap a photo of your collage.
Re-use or recycle the paper.
Voila!—a portable keepsake minus the baggage.

A digital travel collage is a clever way to trap memories and create travel keepsakes that evoke the joys of the journey. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

The digital-only collage lets you “keep” items that won’t fit in your suitcase.
© Joyce McGreevy

4. Love it? List it.

Those moments at the end of a travel day are the perfect time to sum up the day in less than 3 minutes. Keep it light and breezy. Invite your travel companions to join in, if you’d like, and collect:

an “Oh, I see” moment: Sunflowers turn their faces away from the sun!
people you’re glad you met and why: Annamieke translated the Flemish menu.
a phrase that sums up the day’s adventures or mishaps: Good thing we took the “wrong” train!
new foods you ate: brunost (Norwegian brown cheese); simit (Turkish bagel)
new words you learned: Blagodarya! (“Thank you!” Bulgaria); Comme c’est beau! (“How beautiful!” France)

Norwegian waffles with cheese, noted in a list of travel memories, become a travel keepsake that evokes the joys of the journey. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

At home, use your list to recall details: Norwegian vafler med brunost were
surprisingly nydelig (delicious). The cheese reminded me of caramel!
© Joyce McGreevy

Keep Keepsakes Simple, for Keep’s Sake!

You don’t have to be crafty or write volumes to create travel keepsakes. Just let your observations and experiences be your guide. Each time you write, draw, list, or photograph to collect a travel keepsake, you’re preserving a precious travel memory that evokes the joys of the journey.

Find out more! Consult our curated and creative list of easy-to-use apps that help you gather audio, photographic, and print keepsakes in one place and build on them from there. Also find our round-up of the best online sites, books, and classes for creating, organizing, and displaying your travel keepsakes after you’re home. Download the free PDF:

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Art of Travel/Clever Ideas/Worldwide Sites

Feb

First-Class Economy Travel

by Joyce McGreevy on February 18, 2019

Dublin International Airport, Ireland prompts a favorite travel tip: You can clear U.S. Customs before you board. (Image © Carolyn McGreevy)

Fly home via Dublin Airport (above) to clear U.S. Customs before you board.
Your jet lagged brain will thank you!
© Carolyn McGreevy

Travel Tips to Upgrade the Experience

Overseas travel is enriching, and you don’t have to be rich to travel well. When people say it’s all about managing resources, they usually mean money. But another resource is our mindset.

If we’re fixated on how things “should be,” it won’t take much to discourage us from our travel goals, and any little thing could “ruin the trip.” If we’re adaptable, we’ll “find a way” and savor both the journey we anticipate and the journey as it actually unfolds.

Oh, I see: The attitudes we invest in can enrich our travel even more than the money we spend. Here are travel tips for “First-Class Economy” to help with both resources.

This is an airport? You don’t need to be a VIP to enjoy the Departures-area garden
at Aarhus International in Denmark.
© Joyce McGreevy

Prepare for takeoff.

List “Travel” as a monthly expense. Then use an app to automate saving. You can set a specific amount or round up each transaction to the nearest dollar and save the rest.

Mindful travel tip: Discovering how easily you can save, even on a tight budget, also sheds light on “unconscious” spending.

An array of old currency suggests a favorite budget travel tip about saving. (Image © Carolyn McGreevy)

Simplify expenses and save steadily—the keys to affording world travel.
© Carolyn McGreevy

Preview travel costs.

BudgetYourTrip.com lets you view average travel costs by country, region, and city. Categories include food, accommodation, and transportation. Simply convert local-currency prices into your own currency.

Budget Travel Tip: Use the figures as guidelines, not gospel. The “typical” monthly costs displayed skew much higher than I spend, even with lovely apartments. In fact, extended stays usually come with discounts.

Mindful travel tip: Donate, don’t accumulate, foreign coins. Many international airlines collect change for UNICEF. You can donate miles, too.

A toy dog in different hats accompanies a budget travel tip about saving by not overpacking. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Briefly tempted by a souvenir hat at Heathrow Airport, a savvy saver decides
to stick with his easy-to-pack beret.
© Joyce McGreevy

Weatherize, don’t “excess”-orize.

Whether you dress informally (hiking in New Zealand) or more formally (exploring the arts in Italy), you need only one small suitcase. Pack light, based on Climate, Culture, and Comfort. Why waste money on airline fees for overweight or multiple suitcases? Managing cumbersome bags just makes you vulnerable to theft.

Mindful travel tip: Are perfect selfies worth lugging around a closet? Use Instagram to capture insights, not “I” sights.

A model inspired by Lord of the Rings at Wellington Airport, New Zealand, inspire travel tips about mindful travel. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Not just another airport: In Wellington, New Zealand, art installations
celebrate The Lord of the Rings.
© Joyce McGreevy

Don’t wing it.

Read reviews of Economy flights. Does traveling long-haul in Coach sound miserable? It needn’t be. My favorite airlines treat you well whether you’re seated in 1A or 38F. This includes Air New Zealand, Turkish Airlines, and Ireland’s Aer Lingus.

A DIY travel amenity kit accompanies budget travel tips for mindful travel. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

The budget-friendly way to score an amenity kit—DIY!
© Joyce McGreevy

Budget Travel tip: Some airlines offer Premium Economy upgrades—from your meal to your seat. In this regard, international airlines offer better quality and value than U.S. airlines.

An airline meal accompanies budget travel tips for First-Class Economy travel . (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Smoked salmon, delicious entrée, fine wine—this is Economy?
© Carolyn McGreevy

Mindful travel tip: Boarding a crowded flight is a stressor that can ratchet up the territorial instinct—which only creates more stress. My solution? Committing to flexibility and remembering that those around me are my neighbors. Empathy works wonders.

Don’t wait for jet-lag to find out what Arrivals is like. Some airports, like Schipol in Amsterdam, expertly guide passengers from plane to ground transportation. But some airports . . . good luck finding the secret location of the taxi rank.

Do a dry run online. Check airport websites for basic previews. For detailed tips, visit online travel forums like Lonely Planet Community.

Budget Travel tip: Save big on public transportation by paying for fares like a local: Buy before you board. Ask about discounts. Book online, or buy a smartcard.

A toy dog on a train in Austria accompanies budget travel tips about saving on First-Class Economy travel. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Being public-transport savvy will reduce your fares and speed you on your way!
© Joyce McGreevy

Mindful travel tip: Arriving in one city, heading to another? Consider building in a breather overnight. Then resume the journey refreshed. Many airlines allow free stopovers. It’s also a nice transition to heading home, especially if your flight departs early.

Save and savor

Budget travel tip: Seeking affordable, authentic cuisine? Skip reviews by tourists. Search these terms: [your destination] + for locals + food. Or get a “taste orientation” with a 2-hour food tour. One of my favorites is free!

Mindful travel tip: Some great local dining costs little and includes free extras—from park-bench picnics to cafés in libraries, churches, and museums.

A man and woman dining in Ireland embody the concept of mindful travel and First-Class travel on a budget. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Which matters more—the cost of the meal or the pleasure of the company?
© Joyce McGreevy

What’s your favorite “First-Class Economy” travel tip? How does it enrich your travel experience?

Comment on the post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here.

Joyce McGreevy Comments

Art of Travel/Clever Ideas/Worldwide Sites

Apr

The Dogs on the Bus

by Joyce McGreevy on April 24, 2018

Meg Vogt, creative thinker and owner of Dogs Rule! welcomes canines on her dog bus in Portland, Oregon. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Dog’s Rule! is a (p)awesome bus service based in Sullivan’s Gulch, Portland, Oregon.
© Joyce McGreevy

Creative Thinking for Canines
in Portland, Oregon

Driving with a 12-pack isn’t usually the smartest idea. But when the “12-pack” is a dozen adorable dogs, it’s genius.

Meet creative thinker Meg Vogt, affectionately known as the Dog Bus Lady of Sullivan’s Gulch. When Meg launched Dogs Rule, a bus service for dogs in Portland, Oregon, the locals really got on board.

Creative thinker Meg Vogt and dogs on the bus pose for a “pack portrait” in Portland, Oregon. (Image © Ryan LaBriere)

The dogs on the bus go woof-woof-woof all around the town—en route to leash-free parks.
© Ryan LaBriere @LabrierePhoto

Dogged Devotion

Throughout her life, Meg has solved canine challenges that would overwhelm most people.

Consider Mr. Diego.

Viciously attacked as a puppy, Mr. Diego was soon making his mark on the world—specifically on its inhabitants. But Meg, who was then a dog walker, spent years working through his issues, gradually enabling him to socialize peaceably.

Mr. Diego the white Scottie went from troubled pup to poster dog thanks to Meg Vogt’s creative thinking. (Image © Meg Vogt)

By 2015, Mr. Diego had become the poster pooch for the local humane society.
© Meg Vogt

Chelsea, a retired police dog, had degenerative myelopathy. Every morning, said Meg, she’d “ease the dog’s rear end into a special wheelchair and drive to a park where Chelsea could chase after squirrels.”

“We totally bonded. Still, I told myself that when Mr. Diego and Chelsea passed, I would move on to a real job. But there was no way. I had all these soul connections with dogs.”

After a series of remarkable careers—paginator at USA Today, audio engineer, video producer, camp counselor, radio show host, and concierge, Meg had found her real job.

Creative thinker Meg Vogt, Max the poodle, and Grendel the Irish wolfhound howl for fun on the dog bus in Portland, Oregon. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Meg, Max, and Grendel practice howlistic therapy.
© Joyce McGreevy

How Much Is That School Bus in the Window?

In 2008, Meg bought an old school bus and figured out how to operate it on the drive home. She parked it beside the house that she shares with her very supportive wife, Deb (“Not a Dog Person”) Bridges. Then she invited the neighborhood over.

Families, children, and other creative thinkers paint the Dog Bus in Sullivan’s Gulch, Portland, Oregon. (Image © Meg Vogt)

Sullivan’s Gulch neighbors gather for a paint-and-pizza party.
© Meg Vogt

The dog bus was born. And wow, did it ever bus a move. Who let the dogs out? Oh, I see: In Portland, Oregon this is not a rhetorical question.

Blue Rover, Blue Rover

Recently, I joined Meg on her rounds. Our destination? Thousand Acres—open land, berry bushes, and a delta. It’s off-leash paradise.

Because her passengers lack opposable thumbs, Meg uses house keys that clients entrust to her. Eagerly anticipating their day out, the dogs trot to the bus door, race up the steps, and take their usual seats.

Dogs of several kinds board the dog bus, a product of Meg Vogt’s creative thinking in Portland, Oregon. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Why chase your tail when you can catch a bus?
© Joyce McGreevy

It’s Spring Break. Several dogs are on vacation, taking their humans with them, so we’re down to a six-pack and a bonus pup. Our seven riders range from petite Moe to a pony-sized Irish wolfhound named Grendel. (Which technically makes Grendel a Beowulf-hound.)

Now add Meg’s “god dog” Piper the Scottie, Ida the yellow Lab, Max the French poodle, Porter the black Lab, and Finn the fantastic medley. It could be a recipe for chaos. Instead, it’s like the best buddy movie ever.

Grendel leans his massive head out the window, breezing. Moe snuggles. Porter seems pensive, as if composing a bestselling bark-all. Max, Ida, and Piper look out the windows. Finn reclines but casts a supervisory look over the pack.

Several dogs gaze out the windows of the dog bus, a product of Meg Vogt’s creative thinking in Portland, Oregon. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Go, Dog, Go!

The dogs somehow contain themselves as Meg parks. Once out the door, they run merrily down the path, splitting off occasionally to run in broad, looping arcs.

Meg Vogt and dogs enjoy a run at a leash-free dog park in Portland, Oregon. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

There is no happiness like that of dogs roaming free.

“Ida Idaho” spots a puddle and knows just what to do.

Dogs enjoy a puddle at a leash-free dog park in Portland, Oregon, thanks to creative thinker Meg Vogt and her dog bus. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Dogs frolic at a leash-free dog park in Portland, Oregon, thanks to creative thinker Meg Vogt and her dog bus. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Porter, the quiet one, turns daring explorer, scouting the perimeter. Piper and Moe hold court with adoring fans.

Finn wades into the water. There is no branch so big, no stick tossed so far, that he cannot retrieve it.

A dog carrying a branch frolics at a leash-free dog park in Portland, Oregon, thanks to creative thinker Meg Vogt and her dog bus. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

The Leader of the Pack

When it’s time to go, how do you gather a pack of dogs from 1400 acres? The secret is to be Meg Vogt. At her call, all seven come running. Together, they lope along as one big family and board the bus.

Creative thinker Meg Vogt and her dogs stroll through a leash-free dog park in Portland, Oregon. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Anyone who thinks the dog bus is a trendy business is barking up the wrong tree.
The only high end in this labor of love is Grendel’s.
© Joyce McGreevy

To be tuckered out after a day of fun is the best kind of tired in the world. While the dogs rest, Meg shares her story.

Incredible Journey

“I was that white kid on the Rez,” she says. “It was a beautiful experience, growing up in Lac du Flambeau, Wisconsin.”

Most nights, Meg would take her bedding out to the screened-in porch. There she’d sleep with her dog Carly, whom her mom had rescued as a puppy.

“It was sweet waking up to the sound of an Evinrude motor on the lake. I’d get in the canoe with Carly in front. Then I’d take off across the lake, go hiking in the National Forest. That was my childhood.”

Lassie (and Buddies), Come Home

One by one, the dogs are returned home. I feel like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, sad to bid farewell to my new friends.

Neighbors and dog visit with creative thinker Meg Vogt on a porch in Sullivan Gulch, Portland, Oregon. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

It’s the community, says Meg, who helps keep her bus running. When the dog bus needed a new transmission, folks pitched in. “Sullivan’s Gulch is a good community that way. We all take care of each other.”

Meg Vogt and Štĕpán Šimek are creative thinkers and Sullivan Gulch neighbors in Portland, Oregon. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

A passerby, Monique, chats with Meg Vogt, whose creative thinking led to the dog bus in Portland, Oregon. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Dog Tales and Winding Trails

Now Meg hopes to fund a multi-purpose space for dogs and humans called Rawhide Ranch. So she’s writing books. There’s no shortage of material:

Her richly lived life has doglegged around the world. (Although we’ve only just met, Meg and I discover that our paths had crossed years earlier. We’d both been volunteer radio hosts at KAZU in Pacific Grove, California.)

There’s true love conquering all as Meg’s wife faced down metastatic colon cancer. Deb played soccer between rounds of chemo and went from having a 6% chance of survival to becoming a world-class race walker.

A little dog named Moe rides the dog bus, a product of Meg Vogt’s creative thinking in Portland, Oregon. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Then there are Meg’s “myku,” her version of haiku. Doggerel? Hardly! But the dogs clearly are muses:

Shut down your keyboard.

Come! Take in the morning light.

Can you smell the rain?

Creative thinking at its off-leash best.

That night, I make a wish on the Dog Star: May Meg’s dog tales and other writing find a loving home. And may the dog bus and the dog pack always roam free.

A license plate from the dog bus in Portland, Oregon reflects Meg Vogt’s creative thinking. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Comment on this post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here.

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Quick! Trap a Travel Memory