My sister and me in Colorado Springs 1973
I’m over 40 now and much to my dismay, many of my childhood vacation memories have faded away. I can remember the sense of happiness that I associate with different places that we went, but many of the details are buried deep or gone completely. What’s really interesting is that the memories that I do have, are often having to do with something that was captured in a photo. So probably having seen those photos in the years following the trip kept those memories fresh. So make sure you take a few pictures of the things you want to remember on your trip. Usually the best ones are not just the scenery, but have your family and you in them as well. Don’t hesitate to ask a stranger to snap a shot of the whole group.
As for the journal… Well, my father who is the master of vacation planning, always kept a little spiral bound notebook with a few details of every trip. The dates, locations, hotel names and I think restaurants. So this summer my family has started a new game. Once a week, my father will e-mail everyone in the family a question about a long-ago vacation and we will all respond with our memories of the trip. Then we help each other fill in some of the blanks of our partial memories. What fun we are having!
That’s why I am recommending that you add a journal to your vacation packing checklist. You don’t have to write much, but you could ask everyone in the family for a highlight each day or even at the end of the trip, have each person share a few highlights. I promise, years later they will be fun to read.
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