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Tracing your Trail

A trip is exciting! You get to see new places, explore new activities and have loads of fun! But did you know that you can capture these experiences forever? Not only in photographs, but also in travel journals.

What is a travel journal?

In a travel journal, you can document the trips you’ve taken. From short city tours to week-long adventures, you can note down everything about the trip. You can record your experiences daily and note down what you saw, when you saw it and how you felt. And whenever you open your travel journal, you get to relive the experience!

We spoke to Noorain Ahmed, an illustrator who has been documenting all her trips since the past 10 years! She gave us some cool tips on how you can keep a travel journal and document your memories!

“I started keeping a travel journal because I liked to write about everything I saw when I travelled. Now, whenever I read my journal, I feel very happy as I remember everything I did on my trip. It makes me want to travel more.” 

Brooklyn Lopez, 7 years, Dubai

  • One for one

Keep a dedicated book for one particular journey and give it a title. For example, if you’re travelling to Manali, the title could be ‘Manali Diaries’. Mention the date so that when you look back you remember exactly when you took that trip. It’s best to make your own journal by stapling pages together, otherwise, you can use a small drawing book as it is easy to carry around.

  • Mapping fun!

One of the first things you could do is draw a map of the place you’re at. It could be the street you’re living near and the shops or landmarks around you. Just draw what you see. You could mark the street name, stores you visited, junctions, eateries or restaurants, places you hung out, or anything you noticed on the street. If you’re doing a tour of an entire state, then you could outline the state and mark places you visited in the state. Drawing maps should be done on the first day of the trip as you can keep adding to it throughout the journey. You can also add symbols to your map to remind you of the places you saw.

  • Do it Daily

One of the things about travel journaling is you do it on the spot, while you’re on the trip as that’s what makes it special. Make an entry every day as your memories are fresh and you will be able to remember every single thing you did. If you make a note and think of putting it down later, you won’t be able to capture how you felt. It makes it special to do it right away because then you have two memories—one of the moment you are capturing and the memory of you drawing or writing about it.

  • Date it!

Whatever you’re capturing every day put the date in one corner or a title for each entry summarising your day.

  • Pen it in!

To ensure you maintain your journal every day, use a pen. If you use a pencil, you won’t be able to complete it as you will keep erasing. Use a pen and ensure you finish your journal.

  • Pick, stick and go!

It’s not necessary to only write or draw in your travel journal. You can also stick pictures, bills, tickets or something you found, or anything that describes some part of your trip.

“My travel journal is full of pictures, drawings and tickets to the museum and every single place we went. I even stuck the label of this juice I drank, which is the tastiest juice I ever had.”

Nikhil Singh, 10 years, Pune

Travel Journal Checklist

  • A title for your trip (it could be funny, quirky, adventurous or simple)
  • A map (that includes places visited, street names, important locations/ spots, north direction, distances, major landmarks, etc.)
  • People you travelled with
  • Where you stayed
  • People you met and the interesting things they said
  • Places you visited and memorable moments
  • What you ate
  • How you travelled (cab, car, auto, train, flight, bus, rickshaw, by foot, etc.)
  • Signage that is unique (welcome to…, 10 km to .., metro ahead, etc.)
  • Stickers, tickets, stamps, wrappers, fallen leaves, flowers etc.
  • Things you bought
  • Do’s and don’ts that you can share with your friends later

The Spotted Puppy

Abhay was fond of puppies. He demanded and pleaded with his parents to get a pet dog, but every time they gave him some reason and turned him down.

“It’s not easy to have a pet, Abhay! It’s a lot of responsibilities. Humans can speak and ask for what they want, but pets can’t.

Just imagine if we do not understand the needs of the animal, how miserable it will be for him here,” dad explained.

“That’s not all! If we go out on vacation, there will be no one to take care of it. We won’t be able to take it with us, nor leave it alone,” said mom.

Abhay would get sad. He knew his parents were right, but he really wanted a pup.

One day, Abhay left for school when he heard a low cry. He looked around. In a shallow drain near Uncle Sharma’s house were some tiny puppies! Abhay carefully looked at them. They were of different colours—black, grey, white, spotted—all huddled together.

Abhay stared at them for a while and then started counting them. Before he could count, the puppies huddled together, making him forget his count.

Abhay giggled. He separated them and started counting again.

While he was counting, their mother came back and looked at Abhay, bared her teeth and growled.

Abhay stepped back. He knew the mother was being protective about her babies.

His school van also arrived so he left for school. But throughout the day, Abhay’s mind was occupied by the puppies.

After returning home, he quickly changed, had his lunch, and sat down to finish his homework. Mom was pleased to see him studying and went for her usual rest.

“Mom will take a nap for an hour now.

I’ll go and play with the puppies till she wakes up,” thought Abhay as he smiled and went out.

Bobo, the mother of the puppies, was not around. She had probably gone out to eat.

Abhay picked up the puppies and started petting them. He loved the spotted puppy and picked it up and walked home with it.

Mom was still asleep when he entered.

Abhay took an old shoebox, placed some towels inside and put the puppy in it. He put some milk in a bowl and tried feeding it to the puppy, but it could not drink properly.

Abhay could not take the puppy inside the house, for if mom came to know she would ask him to take it back. And Abhay did not want that.

He started thinking of ways to convince dad and mom so they would let him keep the puppy.

An hour passed. Abhay was still playing with the puppy. He heard his mother wake up. He covered the shoebox and quickly started riding his bicycle. Mom did not suspect anything.

When dad came home from work and called Abhay, he went inside the house, keeping the shoebox covered with the puppy still in it.

Meanwhile, Bobo came back and started looking for her lost puppy who heard his mother and came out of the shoebox.

Bobo realised that her puppy was inside Abhay’s house but couldn’t get in as the door was shut.

Bobo stood outside the main door, barking. The pup ran to the door but could not go out. Bobo tried to get inside but she could not either.

Mother and child, each on one side of the door, were helpless.

Bobo’s barking made a lot of noise. Mom went out and saw the puppy and the shoebox.

She realised what had happened. She opened the door and the pup ran out to its mother. Bobo picked up the puppy gently by its neck and went back to her other pups.

Abhay saw the whole thing. He was upset when he saw the pup leave. Mom called him inside the house but did not say anything about this.

“Abhay, I’m going to grandma’s place for a few days. She’s not keeping well. You will be here with your sad,” she said, while packing her bag.

Abhay started thinking. He had never been away from mom. From the time he woke up in the morning till he went to bed at night—mom was there for his meals, homework and games. The thought of spending even one day without her around gave him shivers.

Then he saw the pups and Bobo pass by the house.

“How selfish of me! I can’t live a day without mom, and I was planning to separate the pup from its mother forever,” thought Abhay, feeling bad about what he had done.

“Abhay! Let mom go! We’ll bring the spotted pup home tomorrow. You can play with him and you won’t even notice that mom’s gone,” said dad.

“No, dad! Even that pup wouldn’t want to stay away from his mom. I saw how much he was crying today. I don’t want the pup to be separated from his mom just like how I don’t want mom to go,” said Abhay and hugged his mom.

“I’m not going anywhere! I was just trying to show you that just like you can’t stay away from me, baby animals also need to stay with their mothers,” smiled mom.

The spotted pup stood outside the door and wagged its tail.

Let us Rhyme

Geeta was not aware that Srishti’s grandmother was a poet. Geeta had come to celebrate grandma’s birthday at Srishti’s invitation.

Dadi asked, “If we want to celebrate my birthday, would you all like to do it my way?”

“Yes, why not, dadi,” replied Srishti, “So, will we not cut a cake on your birthday?”

“We will neither cut a cake nor will we blow candles. We will do something more fun!”

“So, how do you want to celebrate it?” asked Geeta.

“We will sing and dance,” said dadi.

“Wow! That sounds like a lot of fun,” said Srishti.

“So, let’s begin with some rhymes,” said dadi.

“What are rhymes?” asked Srishti.

“We have to say something in two, four or six lines, which should end in rhyming words like bad-mad, day-say, couch-pouch.”

“Okay,” said Geeta. “Dadi, you go first and we’ll follow your example.”

Dadi made a funny face and said, “So, listen:

Humans look like owls,

But they don’t growl!

Owls look like me,

Look closely, you will see!”

Everyone laughed. “Wow, dadi! An owl’s face resembles ours. But dadi, you are not an owl. You are our beloved dadi,” said Srishti and hugged her.

Geeta had thought of some lines. “May I give it a try?” she asked.

“Go ahead,” replied dadi.

“Move your legs,

Move ten paces and come back two pegs.

Let’s see who runs fast,

Who goes ahead and who comes back last?”

“Wow!” As soon as Geeta said her rhyme, Srishti, Smridhi and Priyanka stood in line. Dadi said go and everyone ran. Geeta was the first one to come back after touching the wall.

“Wow, dadi, your birthday will be memorable,” said Srishti.

“After all whose birthday is it?” said dadi and started reading one of her poems,

“Come. Come.

We make a circle,

Hold hands, everyone stands

wearing purple.

Let’s play again,

And make a chuk-chuk train.”

Dadi stood in front and the children held onto each other’s shirts and started the train. Chuk-chuk! Rahul was at the back. He was blowing a whistle and then said,

“Kabaddi is a number one game,

played by the wise,

Not for those who don’t exercise,

Whoever touches the winning line,

They will wear the garland of

victory and shine!”

Saying so, Rahul made two teams and started playing Kabaddi. Dadi was quick and touched the winning line and returned.

“Really! Dadi’s game is fun,” said Rahul.

After some time, they all got tired and sat down to talk.

“Dadi! When you were young, were you afraid of exams?” asked Smridhi.

“Yes, like everyone I too was afraid of things I didn’t understand,” said dadi.

“People who didn’t understand the dark were afraid of it. The only reason we still fear things is because we don’t know them.”

“My grandfather used to say exams test our knowledge. They bring out whatever one has learnt.”

“What does this mean, dadi?” asked Geeta.

“Exams are held so that we can ask ourselves what we know and test our memory. So, why should we fear them?”

“Hmm…I did not think of exams that way,” said Srishti, “Now, what do we do next, dadi?”

Dadi distributed sweets to all the kids. She also gave them a storybook.

“My children! If everyone reads their books, I’ll think my birthday was meaningful,” she said.

Srishti then said,

“Let dadi’s birthday come again,

We get to play aboard a train!

May we sing and dance a lot just like this,

And give dadi a hug and a kiss.”

Saying this everyone hugged dadi and sat down to eat dinner.