It is becoming easier than ever to set up and maintain a blog during a trip. Whether the trip lasts for a year, a month or even a couple of weeks an increasing number of people are taking time on their travels to record their activities on the web for the world to see. But is this behaviour all that different from those who have long recorded their travel adventures in hand-written journals? As both methods are available to the modern traveller how should you decide which is best for you to use?

Millions of Blogs

Around one million new blogs are started every week. A fair few of these are created with the sole aim of posting updates and photos from a holiday for those back at home (whether they're interested or not). In a way this is a positive development all round, with family members no longer forced to sit through hours of endless photo shows and stories of drunken escapades. "Yes, I saw that on your blog" should be enough to stop someone in their tracks. 

For the blogger too this tool allows the integration of photos and even video into a diary entry, producing a multi-media record of their trip which can be stored indefinitely in the ether and accessed from anywhere in the world. But what about the juicy stuff? 

The Juicy Stuff

When someone writes a blog entry they write not only for themselves but for whoever they think will read it. Whether it be just family and friends or a wider web audience, personal reflections and observations have to conform to social norms and accepted language. After all, your boss (and future potential bosses) may find your blog when they check you out on Google. 

Compare this with a diary or journal, where words were always written for an audience of one. Often jealously guarded and hidden even from lifelong partners, a journal would recall observations on countries, on their people and on individuals met along the way. It might tell of illicit encounters or infatuations, of moments of self-doubt or fear and could even speak of lofty ambitions that were later dashed or found to be embarrassing.

Who is the audience?

What is the best medium for your travel memoirs depends very much on what you intend to record. For factual recording of photos and where/when/who with information it's hard to beat the convenience of a blog and the ability to share it with anyone you want to in a mutually preferable way. If however you are the type of person who likes to record your most private and intimate thoughts as you stumble your way through a journey of adventure and self-discovery then I suspect a personal diary will be the better option.

The final irony here is of course that strangers would be far more interested in the content of the personal diary than of a timid factual blog.