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Our Very First Day in Italy, in 1993, i think it was, our guide book on Rome, including other notes DH had handwritten was pick-pocketed. We knew what they were doing & laughed that they were mighty disappointed but it meant one day of winging it. I like the idea of a journal, too, for notes pre-, during-, and post-vacation. All in one book.
by Alias ReaderMaybe you could bring a blank journal book. This way the pages won't get lost. You can then add photos to the book upon your return.
I like the idea of writing as you see the sites as the memory is fresh and a first impression as opposed to writing up the trip on your return..."
These are great suggestions - the blank journal book, writing sites when they are fresh in your mind, and reading before the trip. I will do this next year (our first trip abroad). We just did our passports a couple weeks ago.
Lesley, what books are you planning to read? I've read a few books based in China, but would be interested in hearing about some particularly good ones.Your trip sounds great!
Another thing i've come to do while traveling is using our digital camera to "take notes". For instance, when in a museum that allows photos, i shoot the art work, then the display tag nearby. Neither are for art purposes, only a reminder of something i wanted to know more about...or wanted to research in some way. When in Egypt, our guide had a good idea. Our first photo at any outdoor site was of the ticket. From that point on, i knew where the following photos were taken. Usually the ones between sites were easy to figure out. Next site, repeat the process. Helped enormously.
Madrano wrote: "Another thing i've come to do while traveling is using our digital camera to "take notes". For instance, when in a museum that allows photos, i shoot the art work, then the display tag nearby. Neit..."-------------
Good ideas, Deb. I recall you did that when we saw Judy Chicago's The Dinner Party.
Yup. The photos were mostly blurry, thanks to the low lighting, but they served my purposes.
This China trip will be via overnight trains and small bus. I haven't booked it yet but intend to soon. I take notes which I jot down when I have a moment, then at the end of the day as a wind-down and reflective activity I write up the day in a journal. I do put a bit of effort into getting hold of the right travel journal. I like my travel journals to relate to the country I am visiting; my Japan journal has cherry blossoms on the cover as they were out when I travelled there. I think my China journal should probably have a silk cover as I will be travelling along the Silk Road. I have often thought about writing notes in just an ordinary notebook then buying a lovely journal when I arrive, but have not done that yet. That way the journal would be a souvenir as well.
I photocopy basic info about the area I am visiting, which I toss away when done with. It all helps I think but sometimes I get information overload! I really like that idea of photos for 'digital notes'.
I have enjoyed reading everyone's travel tips. Thanks.
I have yet to buy/borrow my China books. I have quite a few on my bookshelf so should organise them soon. I will also take some with me. I am hoping one of my sisters will come with me on this trip as she really enjoys her photography too, and I think she would absolutely love it. She has not been OS before so China may be a bit of a culture-shock. Deb, I hoped to go to Egypt this year, but that one is on hold for a while I think, in the current situation over there.
Lesley, i'll start with your final comment. We are glad we went to Egypt when we did. If tourism was slow this year, imagine how slow it will be for the next few years. As it was, the guides we had were hurting financially.China would be a massive culture shock. My in-laws tried it twice. The first time they hated it. First of all, my FIL abhors food from China, not American Chinese food (although that is NOT a favorite, either) but food they serve there. And they found the air too filthy for good breathing.
The second time they went was on a cruise, so the food was not an issue. The ship took them to many of the places, so their time on land was limited. To me it sounds like an uninteresting vacation but it ended up being one of their favorites & they are truly world travelers. (Her favorite was Peru, particularly Machu Picchu.)
The point being for an initial overseas visit China might be harsh. However, they were over 65 when they went to China both times. The second time they were in their late 70s.
I really like the way you try to coordinate your journal with the trip itself. Neat idea. I think that would encourage me to write in it. Clearly it wouldn't get lost on some shelf as a result. Such fun planning!
Holy cow, I didn't realise I was so close to doing my China trip back in 2013! Honestly, I have been wanting to this particular trip for about twenty years. Well now it is booked and payed for so it will happen!
You are going to have an awesome time.
Neat! I was surprised to see that this thread was begun in '13. Time flies.
It certainly does, Deb. I have been back from visiting Western China about a month now, and I still am amazed by its vastness. I am used to wide open spaces and travelling long distances, but what I experienced was thousands of kilometres of barren mountains and endless plains that appeared to sustain not even a bird. The highest peaks have snow year-round, which makes for amazing landscapes.
Four overnight train trips took us from Xian (think Terracotta Warriors) along one of the old Silk Road routes skirting the Taklamakan Desert west to Kashgar. The desert provided us with a sandstorm while we were out in the dunes on camels. Turns out this was the heaviest sandstorm in ten years and it grounded our domestic flight out later that day. All's well that ends well, as my mother says!
Xinjiang province is home to the Uyghur minority and their suppression by the military and administration/government was difficult to witness. As a tourist it was like stepping into another country (from China). I guess this region of China is considered Middle Asia with its Turkish influences.
Beijing was the last stop; a quick dash up a completely rebuilt section of the Great Wall, ornate palaces and temples and Tianamen Square. I would certainly like to go back to the capital one day. A fascinating city and rapidly changing.
Lesley wrote: "It certainly does, Deb. I have been back from visiting Western China about a month now, and I still am amazed by its vastness. I am used to wide open spaces and travelling long distances, but wha..."
Lesley your China trip does sound like a trip of a lifetime.
Oh, Lesley, thank you for sharing about your trip. Just last night i caught part of a program which had a visit to the Great Wall. Near as i could tell, it was about a family of four (children both look under 5) and they had to climb a rope to get atop the wall to walk around. It didn't appear to be near any city. ANYway, it led me to wonder about your trip. While the vastness and variety of landscape makes sense, i didn't really think much about it. That you were in an immense duststorm makes for a good travel tale. Glad you made it out, albeit later. Color me envious.
deb
Deb, I hope you have a bit of time to tell us a bit about your Alaska cruise.
I'd love to hear about your cruise to Alaska.
by Lesley
Yes, I am excited, but still some time to wait. I will be with a small adventure group, 4 weeks along the Silk Road from Beijing to Kashgar in the west. I have reading to do to prepare, both fiction and non-fiction, about twenty to thirty books.
This leads me to the question; in what order should I read these? Do I read chronologically or just randomly? I will end up with pages and pages of notes but that's OK. Does anyone have any thoughts or ideas?
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by Madrano
First of all, Lesley, color me envious. That vacation & with a like-minded group sounds swell. I'm curious to know how you'll be traveling--hiking? flying? driving?
We have the same issue when we travel because we rarely go to just one country when we go overseas nowadays. Because there are two of us, it helps. DH does the planning/reading for our itinerary. For me, i start at the beginning of our trip & read toward the last place we'll visit. I do this with the knowledge i can download other material onto my iPad for reading while on the road, if desired.
That's the theory. The practice is that the iPad is new & what i've learned is that i'm so busy traveling, then tired from same, little is read on the road. We end up with pages of notes. MY idea is to store them on the iPad but DH still likes his own handwritten notes, so he can add to them later. Additionally, we have a written, annotated journal, of sorts, onto which we've copied notes about things we want to find more about when we return home.
This probably won't help you but there it is.
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by Alias Reader
Maybe you can bring a blank journal book. This way the pages won't get lost. You can then add photos to the book upon your return.
I like the idea of writing as you see the sites as the memory is fresh and a first impression as opposed to writing up the trip on your return.
I would be too tired to read on the trip. I would read before. If the books are travel suggestions you can do what a friend of mine just did. She read the travel guide and then just photocopied the pages she needed for her trip instead of bringing the book.