Why I keep a travel journal in the social media age

By a rough count, I have more than 70 notebooks on a bookshelf in my office. That does not include the dozens of older notebooks in boxes in the garage and a few lurking in old handbags.

I like to write things down, as you probably can tell. I am a compulsive scribbler of words. Even as I type this, I have a notebook on the desk to write down words as they come to me. I'm noting down thoughts on the end of this column before I even get to the middle.

Those 70 notebooks represent the travel I've done over the past five years or so. I dip into them occasionally if I'm writing about a trip and need to jog my memory. They sit there in a mad jumble of coloured covers, leather-bound, spiral bound (and one very beautiful green snakeskin one.)

I don't think I've ever travelled without a notebook. I've always had a problem remembering the past, mostly because I'm always consumed by the moment and by thoughts about the future – anxieties too, admittedly. One day, I think, I will sit down with all those journals and reminisce about the parts of my life that I spent away from home. (Home gets short shrift – I never diligently wrote a teenage diary, as so many did.)

If only my handwriting hadn't become so poor! I'm sure it's a result of typing everything, of not needing to handwrite legible letters or thank you notes because these days I have email. I will need a magnifying glass to work out what the scrawl means when I'm in my dotage.

How many other people write travel diaries by hand in 2017? Occasionally I see a person in a hotel dining room or on a cruise ship musing over a notebook and jotting things down. And some of my fellow travel journalists still do it, although many type or talk directly into their smartphones.

Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and their like have taken the place of the travel diary, to a great extent. It's not a bad thing – I have many "friends" who post delightful accounts of their journeys, with photos, on social media. When a friend does it well, it's not only entertaining but informative and inspirational. In terms of travel, recommendations from friends are the major driver of decisions.

Then again, there are all those posts featuring unappetising plates of food and texts that are mind-numbingly dull and self-absorbed. Most of what is posted is unremarkable and I'm probably guilty of this myself. The need to "share" – anything, no matter how dreary – is almost compulsive these days.

In the old days, a handwritten letter might not have been scintillating, either, but the effort of sitting down and filling a page seemed to require at least two or three thoughts, not just the quick dashing off of a reaction or emotion, which characterises most social media. And the time it took to lick the envelope closed, find a stamp and get the letter to a post box, meant there was plenty of time to reconsider the sentiments within.