Why Write?

Travel is all about the adventure. Thoughts about writing.

By Jay

Why write?  Maybe for a lot of the same reasons we take pictures when we travel. To help us recall events, impressions and experiences in the future or to some degree share those same things with friends. When we write we should be mindful of our reasons for recording these things and adjust the writing style to suit the purposes.  Our friends don't necessarily want to hear about our disappointments but we might record them for future planning of similar trips; to remind us to plan better or discuss options with traveling partners.

Digital cameras have made it possible to take many more pictures than we did with film cameras, to sort and filter them when we get home. Most modern digital cameras even allow us to record short video clips. Likewise, we can record a lot of information with tablets and economically send stories back home as we are going. The tablet of course is also a great resource for researching the where and how, but I digress.

If writing for friends do we know what will interest them?  It's likely they don't want to hear about our bad days because they may be having a few themselves. They might want to hear about your screw- ups and problems if you share them in a humorous way or is instructive and will help them avoid similar problems.

Writing helps us clarify thoughts that lie under the surface, bring out details of events that we initially thought unimportant. Writing may help us make distinctions or decisions by summarizing seemingly disconnected details. Our subconscious thoughts brought to light.

Writing is fun.

Literally thousands of images and thoughts pique our minds while traveling because we are in unfamiliar surroundings, while at home we take many things for granted. Because of these unfamiliar images we tend to record more details during a given period than we do at home and this recording of details can become a distraction from the experience that we seek. Watch some vacationers peering at these experiences through a camera viewfinder. Observe what they are not seeing in their periphery. Sometimes people are so intent on capturing "the moment" that they miss the experience.

We have had people applaud our stories as a vicarious experience for them and we hope that by doing this we are encouraging our friends and family to overcome the inertia that is preventing them from having similar experiences. We know there are many more reasons than inertia that prevent them from traveling, but a little encouragement can't hurt. We are also hopeful that our stories might save someone from having a bad travel experience through the information that we share.