Start a Family Travel Journal Your Kids Will Actually Want to Keep

Pictures are great and memorialize your moments of happiness and should always be taken and hopefully printed out so there is no need to hunt in your phone for that one photo of your family posing and smiling near that beach.

But sometimes the funniest memories from a trip are the things photographs don't capture.

• What did everyone laugh about?

• What food did someone refuse to eat?

• What was the favorite activity?

• What completely unexpected thing happened?

• A simple family travel journal can preserve those memories.

• It doesn't need to be complicated.

• At the end of each trip—or even each day—ask everyone a few questions:

• What was your favorite thing today?

• What was the funniest thing that happened?

• What food did you like best?

• What surprised you?

• Would you come back here?

  
  

Let younger kids draw pictures.

Older kids can write a few sentences.

You can also add:

• Ticket stubs

• Restaurant cards

• Maps

• Stickers

• Photos

• Postcards

  
  

Over time, the journal becomes much more than a record of vacations.

It becomes a history of your family growing up together.

Years later, those little comments from the kids may be more valuable than anything you bought on the trip.

Fuel Your Life Tip: Don't try to make the journal perfect. The messy handwriting, funny answers, and random drawings are exactly what will make it special later.