Travelling is all about making memories and experiencing new things but the best way to keep track of all of your memories is to document your travels. I love taking photos, videos and making notes of the places I've been so I can look back later and attempt to relive my experiences in Europe and Australia. Carrying around a camera to every single place I visit on my travels was getting annoying so I decided to invest in a newer iPhone and search for some apps to use. There are so many different ways to document your travels so today I'm sharing a few of my favourite travel apps that I used to document my trips.
1. Instagram
Perhaps the most obvious on the list but definitely worth a mention is Instagram. Instagram is the BEST way to share your travel photos and videos with all of your friends. I especially love Instagram's highlights feature.
If you're visiting multiple countries, you can create highlights for each country and share your stories here so you can go back and relive your travels.
IGTV is also a great way to document your trip. With IGTV, you can upload videos that can be up to an hour long. You can create a full video of your trip and upload it to IGTV for your followers. I also suggest creating your own travel hashtag and using it in your photos so you can look back through the hashtag later and see all of your travel photos in one place. For best results use a third-party Instagram story maker.
2. Evernote
It's great to have photos of your trips but I also think it's important to write stuff down. It's so hard to get lost in all of your experiences and forget the little details.
I use Evernote as a travel app to write down my itineraries, the places I've visited, the restaurants we try out, the food we liked, and anything little thing I want to remember.
You can also use Evernote email forwarding and Web Clipper to keep all of your important information in one place. Not only is this great for my own memories, but I've also used my Evernote notes to share itineraries with friends travelling to places I've been to. If you have a blog and plan to write blog posts about your travels, Evernote will be your best friend.
3. Journi
Voted one of the best new apps by Apple, Journi is the best way to document your travel with photos, notes, and maps. You can even turn them into printed photo books. These stories can be private to you or you can share them publicly or with a specific audience.
The best part about this app is that you can create stories with your travel partner. You can both capture photos and take notes and store them in one story so you can create the memory book together. They also allow you to search other stories around the world so you can see what other people are doing on their travels.
This is a great way to find travel inspiration or look for suggested spots to check out during your trip.
4. 1 Second Everyday
Make a quick and memorable video of your travels by recording just one second every single day. I have loved using the 1 Second Everyday app to document my travels so far this year. I decided to use it a little differently and I export videos after each country or trip.
This way I have a quick video of each place instead of one longer one of my entire year. I love to take videos of the exciting things I see on my trip so most days I have a lot more than one second in my video and that's okay! The app is easy to use and it will even remind you to add a video for the day.
There were definitely days that I missed my one-second clips but that didn't matter the video still turned out awesome and I'm really happy I found this app!
5. ChatBooks
Chatbooks is a great app to use if you want a hard copy of your travel photos. These photo books are a great keepsake and couldn't be easier to put together. The easiest way to create a photo book is by using the hashtag I mentioned earlier. When you use the Chatbooks app to create your photobooks, simply select the hashtag and all of your travel photos will be in one place.
Then you can pick and choose the ones you want to include in your book. You'll also have the option to edit any captions and add your own text to your book. If you're interested in getting regular photobooks sent to you, you can create a subscription and for every 60 photos posted on your Instagram, Chatbooks will send you your customized photobook.
6. Tripcast
My parents love to be able to see what I'm doing while I'm travelling but constantly sending them photos and explaining what they were looking at got annoying real fast. Enter Tripcast.
This app is the best way to share your trip with your friends and family. Upload your photos to Tripcast and invite your friends and family to follow along. You can easily make updates and your followers can ask questions or leave comments. Photos are automatically added to your trip map so your friends and family can see exactly where the photo was taken without having to ask.
7. Google Photos
Download Google Photos and set it up so that whenever you're connected to Wi-Fi all of the new photos on your phone are transferred to Google Photos. Not only is this great to ensure you never lose your photos, but the Google Photos assistant will also enhance your photos, create animations, create location/time-based albums, and show you memories from previous years.
I know everyone is talking about getting off your phones and enjoying the moment as you're living it but taking photos and videos make me happy and I love being able to share those memories with my friends and family. If I'm going to spend all of this money travelling around the world, exploring new places and experiencing new things, I don't want to rely on just my memory.
Memories fade but photos and videos last forever. I want to be able to watch a video and be reminded of how I felt at that moment. I want to look at my photos and tell the stories of each for years to come so I am very thrilled to have access to all of these amazing applications in the palm of my hand. Documenting my travels has never been easier.
