I was wondering what peoples opinions are on writing blogs for travels completed in the past...like wayyyyy in the past?
I am undecided on whether i should or shouldnt, although i've been slowly going backwards and adding historic blogs. Originally i thought it was a little strange to write about an experience you had before where info is now out of date and sometimes i cant even remember the hotels or correct names of locations or sites. Some friends have subscribed who tease me about the amount of travelling we do so i also dont want to look like i'm bragging. But... the other day a fellow travelblogger wrote a fantastic sentence that especially as they have little kids, they are documenting where they have been and adding photos so they can see in the future what they got up too. And others have mentioned it is nice to live in those memories and remember what they got up.
So i was wondering, what do you all think? Do you have good reasons either for or against?
Reply to this Definitely yes to writing these blogs! My most recent blog was based on an experience from 20 years ago, and it received such favourable reviews that I intend to write another one based on my travels in 1992.
Reply to this I think the primary reason we write these blogs are for ourselves. Like postcards written to ourselves to keep memories alive. Growing up, we never had such an amazing media to record memories. So nothing wrong with using TB to imprint your history to share and treasure for yourself. Go for it!
Reply to this I think you should definitely do this....
I have photos from some of our travels I'm very proud of (before 2006 when I joined TB), and apart from a couple I've stuck on the wall the rest are just a series of 1's and 0's on a hard drive (well 2 hard drives as they're backed up). I think it would be good for my kids to have a record of where we went and what we saw before they existed without having to trawl through my computer and piece the parts together themselves.
Sadly I'm woefully behind on my most recent travels so I can't see it happening anytime soon but I'd love to blog about all the other places we've been...
Reply to this I'm probably the textbook example of writing about my past travels, starting with my conception in China in 1949 (see
The Beginning).
I'm retired, and had plenty of time on my hands to take on a major project. One that I was reluctant to take on was organizing the boxes of slides and pictures stored by my Mom in my garage that documented my early years.
Then I realized that, although I had started blogging on Travelblog about trips starting in 2007, I could use this platform for documenting all my travels. So I spent 2011 writing 170 blogs and posting 5000 pictures of every trip I have ever taken. I was fortunate to have some journals, desk calendars, and passports with entry stamps that helped me recall dates and events, and the pictures also brought back many memories. My audience was my family as my legacy to them.
Once I finished I discovered that my TB family was more interested in what I had written, at least at this point. I have encouraged others to do the same, with
deleted_46288 taking me up on the idea. I strongly encourage those who have traveled before, as they find time, especially in between trips, to document their earlier trips. My future blogs will most likely be written for my TB family.
Reply to this Thanks guys! I think the writing for my kids idea is definitly a great idea and i'm already fuzzy on what i did only a few years ago let along 10 or 20 years ago 😊
Also it is interesting how we digitalise everything now and so unless we pull out a pc and pull out the disk with those photos they are sortof lost....right now i am stuffed if this laptop dies! So i agree that tb is a great place to put our stories and perhaps help other travel mad people along the way
thanks
tam
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We can only speak for ourselves but we enjoy reading both new and historical blogs. It is a great way to document a trip even if you can't remember all of the details.
We recently published a blog about Lake Tahoe and included a bit of information about when we were there 16 years ago. We also included a few of the old photos.
Our friends have been very responsive. They have enjoyed looking at the old photos.
We recommend you do it. Surprisingly you will remember more than you think. Plus in the day and age of the internet you can look up the name of a forgotten hotel.
Looking forward to reading.
Reply to this Im so glad I saw this answer - I had the same question in my head Tam 😊
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I can confirm that people really enjoy the older blogs. Recently we went to visit friends in Lake Tahoe. We had not been there in 16 years. Our blog was about our recent trip but we wove in a few facts from 16 years ago and some of the old photos.
We had a great response from friends who loved seeing our old photos and also from people who remembered when we lived in Lake Tahoe 16 years ago.
Reply to this Hi all, you have given me the inspiration and motivation to write about my past trips. I have just done a recent trip and have posted a blog about this, but there are no trips planned for the near future and I was also sceptical whether any one would want to read about any of my previous trips, some of which were done 'in the time of the dinosaurs'. (quoted from one of our friends children!) I look forward to reading some if not all of your blogs and hopefully I won't bore the TB family with mine.
Reply to this Great to hear Alma! We've had an increase in pre-Travelblog trips in recent months - and I've noticed that these blogs are as well read as blogs written about more recent travels.
Reply to this I've been toying with this idea of blogging about old trips too. I really wish I had been better at keeping a travel diary of my solo travels in the 90s - my memory is shocking! However like Merry says, it probably will come flooding back when I sit down to write it. 😊
Reply to this I think it's a terrific idea, but does require a fair amount of work. Providing you have the motivation why not make a chronology of your travels and photos down through the years. If something has become slightly hazy after all those years, remember google is your friend! I wrote a complete set of retrospective blogs after being inspired by an unknown blogger who wrote about his past. Wow, I thought, I didn't even realise that was an option. It was a big project (as Bob can surely attest) but some of my retrospective blogs have proven surprisingly popular, and I'm very glad I took the time. Remember the internet existed prior to TravelBlog, it just wasn't as good!
Reply to this I should add the biggest issue with writing past blogs is adding images. My memory is still strong, but all my images from the 1980, 1990s and early 2000s were slides, and getting them into digital format (without a scanner) is time consuming. However, it is worth it for the more memorable travel tales.
I have to say Bob, that your effort in documenting earlier travel stories is extremely impressive.
Reply to this I would agree with you Shane, although my problem is one of location. All the pictures I need are on the other side of the planet and are at the moment in the possession of my ex-wife, so whether I will still be able to get hold of them is another thing entirely.
As
Home and Away mentioned above; after seeing his wonderful, historical blogs I just had to jump on the bandwagon. It is amazing, going back and seeing how much things have changed, especially since Bob started blogging from 1949.
[Edited: 2012 Aug 17 06:42 - Cockle:46288 ]
Reply to this Although I'm sure it's very enjoyable for the blogger to reminisce (I blogged about my trip as a 13 year old trip and what it was like 30 years later for that very reason)....but I can't help but feel I'm being dragged down to someones basement rec room for a slide presentation!! Forgive me, but I wanna read about trips in the now! Go easy on me. 😱
Reply to this I am presently blogging China...tastes of 4 trips to China (14 Provences) between 2002 to 2007. Encouraged by Home & Away, Cockle & Travel Camel I gave it a try. I may blog about places visited or blogged by others...but all my experiences are very different to those of others...the essence of travel...and some of the locations have not been on TB to date.
Some of my experiences in China are nothing short of insane...so if people do not want to read them because they are not current...no matter...the import of the stories & photos are not diminished. I have received nothing but encouragement to my China blogs to date.
The advantage I find is I have so much material to choose from, I can pick and choose the subject which ensures a fresh approach for each blog. Come to China with me and enjoy the ride.
That's a "considered yes" to interesting historical blogs by the way!
Reply to this Well said, Dave! And I would add that it's more legacy than indulgence...scanning 5000 pictures and writing over 170,000 words of events that happenes over 60 years is definitely a labor of love and not indulgence.
Reply to this Indulgent, yes! Hard work, most definitely, especially trying to remember things that happened so long ago. Time consuming, even more so, when you sift through so many facts, photographs and memories and when you wonder if it will hold the attention of your friends or someone you have never met. But I have enjoyed reading so many blogs since I joined TB, that I have to limit myself daily in order to do some work! We are such a varied group of bloggers that there is something for every one, and you get to know very quickly who's blog you would like to follow. Such a good feeling though, when you realise that there are quite a few people that enjoy your travel stories, whether old or new. So thanks to those who take the time and effort to read them!
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