September 29, 2000

This week: Travel Journals

I'm Rudy Maxa and this is The Savvy Traveler.

Do you keep a journal or diary when you travel? Writing in a journal is a wonderful way to create a mental picture of a place and truly capture the emotions you are feeling while experiencing something on the road for the first time. Of course, taking a photo is a great way for recording a beautiful mountain-scape or sunset, but words are the palette the writer dips his imagination into in order to paint a canvas full of vivid sensations and memories that are best viewed not with the eyes but the heart.

A few weeks ago I asked you to call in and read passages from your travel journal that described a moment that had an impact on your life. It turns out that quite a few of our listeners have a strong literary streak. Listen in.

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Next Week: Strangest and Tackiest Souvenirs

Along with the memories we may record in our journals, it's amazing what we find ourselves bringing back home from our trips. And I'm not talking something respectable like a wedding ring. I mean those souvenirs that we pick up while on the road. That scorpion paperweight or ceramic surf monkey that sits proudly on display on your desk, like the U.S. flag planted firmly on the moon, saying, "We were there."

Actually, I wonder if that flag is still there. It's probably gone the way of the sea shell belt buckles and cow pie wind chimes and the tons of other travel memorabilia that we've all been guilty of collecting, lost forever in some nic-nac netherland. But for bad or worse, some of those souvenirs really do stand out, if not purely for their tackiness.

And that's my Question of the Week. I want to hear about the strangest, tackiest souvenir you ever found while on the road. What was it about the cheesey tchashki's that reminded you so much about the place your visited. What made it so odd that you just had to have it. Send us an email or call 888-SAV-TRAV(888-728-8728) and tell us about your strangest, tackiest travel souvenir.

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