Travel Advice - Taking travel notes: books or electronic notes?

We have written on the value of keeping a travel journal (see our article titled “Take travel notes”) but have left open the topic of media. Many travelers prefer to use a journal style notebook, writing their thoughts in pen and ink. Others prefer to keep their notes using a Personal Digital Assistant like those manufactured by Palm, Sony, and HP. In the article that follows, we provide an analysis of each method.

Written travel journals.

Many people find that they can best express themselves using the written word. There is something creative and focusing about using a pen to commit your thoughts to paper. Preparing to write notes takes little effort. Just open the book, click your pen, and start writing. You do not have to warm anything up, learn a special way of scribbling, or focus on anything other than finding the words to create your description of the day’s event. The very simplicity of pen and paper make it the most common method used for taking travel notes.

Keep your notes either in a notebook or a journal specially prepared for travel. Many of the  travel journal products feature breakouts to list restaurants, hotels, spas etc. 

• We recommend a  hard cover book filled with blank pages and sized somewhere around 5" x 7". 
  • We have a series of these books that chronicle our travels over the years and they have a position of importance in our library.

Many people we know find it difficult to keep up with the demands of a written journal. Usually the journal entry is delayed until late evening and the pen soon stops moving, as the writer to-be falls into a sound sleep. There is no way around the fact that writing demands discipline.

Electronic travel journals

Recently we have begun experimenting with keeping our notes on Personal Digital Assistants ( PDA’s). Pocket PC’s are another excellent choice for note taking.

• Using a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) to take notes makes sense if you already have one and if you have a PC at home for uploading and printing your trip files.
• (Note: Sony recently announced that they are exiting the PDA business except for Japan.  As a consequence, if you are interested in  a PDA, examine the Palm line of products.)

One of important advantages of having your travel notes in a digital file is that you can edit them later to clarify the points you have made. Sometimes the notes that we take while traveling don’t make a lot of sense; of course, we blame it on jet lag.

There are a host of advantages to using a computerized approach to note taking.

• After you have uploaded the travel note files to your computer, you can import them into a word processing program for further formatting.
• We especially enjoy using a computer’s search capability to find names and locations embedded in our travel notes in an instant.
•  Our travel notes have come into demand with our family, and we email them a copy of our notes for their reading pleasure.

There are other reasons for using a PDA on a trip.

• We keep our itineraries, flight details, reservation confirmation numbers, hotel names and addresses, and a host of other trip related information on our PDA’s (See our article on copying your itinerary).
• In addition, our Palms are equipped with various games, books, and news articles that help to pass the time while waiting for trains and planes.

Palm or other branded devices that use the Palm Operating System, feature a simple form of creating computer readable letters called Graffiti®. With a little practice, you will become proficient enough with Graffiti® to use it to create your trip journal. If you have a lot to write or just enjoy taking extensive notes, we urge you to consider adding a folding, portable keyboard. Palm  offer functional portable keyboards for Palm PDA’s.

Figure 1.  A SONY Clie and SONY Foldable Portable Keyboard.

One issue with the use of PDAs is that you might lose your notes if your device loses power.

• In general use, batteries for a Palm should be good for three weeks. You should take one pair of spare batteries with you on any trip.
• Newer devices feature rechargeable batteries and can be charged while on the road.
  • If you have a rechargeable model, you will need to take charger and, if traveling outside of the U.S., a power adapter (See our article on power adapter kits)
• Most recently manufactured PDA’s feature add-on, memory cards that allow you to save you documents to these storage devices, which do not require power to maintain the information stored on them.
•  We recommend that you back up any travel notes on an add-on memory card.

I am note taker and I find it easier to make a log of our travels, and the events of the day, if I do so using a PDA with a portable keyboard attached.

• The entire package (PDA and folded keyboard) is about the size of a pocket book.
• I find it faster to use the keyboard for longer notes than to attempt to use Graffiti using the keyboard is much quicker than trying to write my notes by hand on paper.
• I use Graffiti for quick notes and the names of places that we have visited during the day.
•  I carry, the PDA, folded keyboard, and charger in a small soft-sided bag that I pop out of my carry-on any time I have thoughts on our trip that I want to remember during the years ahead.

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