Online Travel Diaries

What Are Online Travel Journals?

An online travel journal is a personal website that you can update with text and pictures whether you are traveling to Asia for three weeks or going to a friends cabin for a couple days. This personal website allows you to keep detailed written and photographic records of your travels, something that all avid travelers do, or should be doing! In addition, this written record allows you to share your experiences with your friends and loved ones.

What Are The Benefits?

I've been traveling rather frequently for the past 10 years and have always kept a written journal to record my travels. I've now decided to make the switch to an online journal for a couple of reasons:

1) Online Travel Journals Save Time

I've found that when I am writing emails home that I often regurgitate and repeat a lot of what I've written in my journal into the body of those emails. When on vacation, if you spend 2-3 hours emailing back home per week and 2-3 hours writing in a journal that is 4-6 hours of writing. You are on vacation, not aspiring to be a columnist for the New York Times. Why spend all that time writing when you could be out exploring or soaking up sun on the beach? An online travel journal allows you to keep written records of your travels and share those details with loved ones all in one shot, saving you a lot of time on emails.

2) No Limitations

Unlike the space limitations of postcards and envelops, an online travel journal allows you to share as much information and as many pictures/video as you like. Besides, who gets pictures developed or videos transfered to DVD when on vacation anyway. If you are in Egypt for 3 weeks you can upload your pics and videos onto your website once a week to share with your family back home. If you are filling up those memory cards your online travel journal also serves as a dumping ground to unload your photos/videos so you can take more picture without shelling out $80 for another memory card.

3) Online Travel Journals Are More Organized

Some people appreciate the beauty of having a chronological travel log, I do. But I also like being able to reference things very quickly and not skim through 400 pages to find a hotel or restaurant name. With an online travel journal you can search through your postings by key word to quickly find information, while also having your journal kept chronologically.

4) Online Journals Don't Get Lost or Damaged

Perhaps the biggest long term advantage of online travel journals is that you don't have to worry about it getting lost with your luggage or getting damaged when you get caught in the rain. There are only two things I care about when traveling (besides safety) - my journal and my camera. Passports, clothes, and cell phones can all be replaced. But pictures and first hand accounts of my travels are irreplaceable. By keeping an online travel journal you am assured that your memories will be housed safely online and will not run the risk of being lost, erased, or stolen

Before you take your next big trip, I hope that you consider keeping an online travel journal. Online travel journals are very easy to set up and maintain and you shouldn't be deterred if you are not technologically savvy, if you could find this article online you can create your own journal online too. If you are interested in starting an online journal please check out my website YourDailyVacation. In addition, I would be more than happy to help you get your travel journal up and going free of charge.

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By Nate Pachl
http://www.yourdailyvacation.com

Are you interested in picking up new travel tips, learning about new destinations, and creating your own Online Travel Journal? Are you sick of reading articles about the some old tourist traps?

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I have checked out over a dozen online journals and diaries. That is much overlap in what they provide in their service. They generally have a "free" version, and the most comprehensive sites also have an upgraded "fee" version with more features or more storage space.

What are some of the "MUSTS-HAVES"?

1. FREE is always good.
2. ACCESIBLE by internet from anywhere.
3. EASY TO USE. NO CODING SKILLS needed.
4. PHOTO UPLOADS available. Preferably compressed.
5. Option to keep your diary PRIVATE.

Other Bonus Features. These are features that some have and others don't but can aid in your decision as to which online journal source to use.

1. ROUTE MAPPING of your trip.
2. UNLIMITED photos uploads.
3. UNLIMITED blogging entries
4. MAP of countries visited
5. VIDEO UPLOADS available, preferably unlimited.
6. SEVERAL LANGUAGES availability and support.
7. YOU MAINTAIN COPYRIGHT over all your materials.
8. MOBILE PHONE updates.
9. CONNECT to social sites like FaceBook.
10. EMAIL updates to family and friends
11. RSS FEEDS
12. DIFFERENT TEMPLATES

There can be other features as well, but these should give you a good basis on which to decide which online journal is best for you.

After reviewing more than a dozen different online diary/journal sites, I am listing a few that are worthy of your consideration. If you know of others, let me know.

The first three seem to me to be the most useful, and I am doing separate lenses reviewing the first two. The others are listed with their links for you to check out on your own.

1. The first one is My Trip Journal and a review of it will be found at My Trip Journal: Free Online Travel Diaries & Photo Hosting

2. GlobeNotes.Com A review of this site can be found on the lens Globenotes: Free Online Travel Diaries & Photo Hosting

3. My TangaTanga Online Travel Diary

4. Personal Travel Journal--Travellerspoint

5. Travel Blog

6. eTravelDiary Online Travel Journey

7. TravelPod--TheWorld's Original Travel Blog

8. Your Travel Journal

9. Backpacker's Diary

10. Off Exploring Travel Journal

I am listing these again below. Vote on them, add to the list, or grap the list for your own use.