What do you remember most about your holidays?

Is it the grand palaces, beautiful gardens or spine-tingling vistas? The museum or art gallery with the big queue to see the most famous exhibit? The quirky souvenir shop, the café with a perfect cosy sofa for people watching or the mural you spotted leaving the train station? The river where you skimmed stones or the beach where you went snorkelling? The conversation with a fellow traveller about something completely unrelated to your location? The book you read whilst sitting on the balcony as the sun set over the sea? Or seeing a koala asleep in a tree?

For as long as I can remember, I’ve loved to document my travels. I loved a Spotters Guide as a child; I’m sure my “what you did in the holidays” stories were incredibly long when I went back to school each September.

For my first solo travel adventure in 1999, exploring Malaysia for two months when I should have been finishing my these thesis, I kept a journal (in three volumes) and wrote about my experiences in detail – this was definitely my “dear diary” phase. I’ve created a scrapbook or photobook of all my big trips. I’ve got a journal from the year I turned 30 (many years ago) and another with a record of all the places we visited in our first year of marriage.

Now, every trip starts with the joy of choosing a new notebook; sometimes it’s a last minute purchase at the airport or even after we’ve arrived. Quite a few have been gifts from family just before each trip. But there is something special about choosing one.

Then as the trip progresses, the notebook is filled with memories as we make them…

There’s the scorecard from the crazy golf course where Jon took twenty three shots (and got quite annoyed). There’s a list of all the places we stayed, cuttings from magazines, a bus ticket and the receipt from a restaurant meal. I write notes about the weather, the places we visited, the name of the wine I tried. I’ve got maps, where I’ve marked the locations of favourite cafes or good places to watch the sunset. I add ticket stubs from trips to the cinema or sporting events. There are leaflets from places we visited and sometimes from ones we didn’t – ideas for next time (see liquorice panna cotta). I keep a record of all the books I read and all the sweet treats I try. I copy quotes from books, galleries, posters and sculptures. Sometimes, I get creative and write a poem or a short story. I save menus from favourite restaurants (and terrible ones).I stick in pictures of houses I’d like to live in one day – nearly all of them with a magical sea view. Sometimes, there are more pictures than writing. Sometime, I write and write and write.

In creating this website, I’ve spent time looking back at all of them. Places, people and events I had long forgotten all brought back to life – I’ve started to compile some of my favourites into some special posts for the blog and will be publishing a new one every couple of weeks. You can’t beat a bit of nostalgia.