Looking Forward to Going Back: October Trip to Spain

Every once in a while, almost out of nowhere, it hits me. Sweeps over me in an unexpected wave that for a moment makes my heart lurch and sends a tingle of adrenaline down my fingertips and toes. A certain, perfect sip of strong coffee balanced just right with rich, frothy milk and sweetness. The face of a friend appearing on my facebook homepage. A group passing by me on the sidewalk in Highlands with an unmistakable accent and attitude. A song that instantly brings me back to a lonely bus ride, possibilities and uncertainties masked in the darkness covering an unknown landscape, my head pressed against the cold window; too excited to sleep.

It wasn't a dream. I really lived in Spain for nine months. Ate, slept, walked, dreamed, longed, grew, shared--in a country not my own. When I was there, I longed to be here. And when I am here I am happy and fulfilled. But there are those moments. Moments. When I just want to be back in a little cafe, drinking café con leche, staring out at a world older than anything I know in my world. In a place that is mysterious and other. 

What is it about travel that has such potential to change us? And at the same time, make us reflect on who we are?


In October I'll have the amazing opportunity to retrace my steps, to actually get to go back to those moments, those cafes, those streets. And this time I won't just be daydreaming about sharing it all with my love, he'll be at my side, across the table, really there. And everything that was old will be new. And we'll make new discoveries together.  


We leave in a couple months, but planning has begun. I really want to preserve the trip and celebrate it, reflect on it, and be able to share it.


 I'm looking for a creative, simple, easy-to-carry way to help us do that. These are some interesting travel journals I've stumbled across. But of course, there is always the allure and limitless potential of the plain, blank moleskine . . . 

Poketo Travel Journal

Present and Correct - Library Travel Journal

I Was Here: A Travel Journal for the Curious Minded

Abroad: A Travel Journal & Organizer

Any thoughts or ideas? How do you document your journeys?