Yesterday, I found myself reading one of my travel journals–the one I brought with me through West Canada. As I read it, I realized I’d almost entirely forgotten what I’d visited in Calgary.
Honestly, it was scary. I had no recovery at all of the following trip, which happened just a few months ago. Excerpt from my journal:
June 17, 2017
Yesterday was terrible.
- Woke up at 5 am to take a bus to Nanaimo.
- Took ferry to Vancouver.
- Took bus to train station
- Killed time in a café writing and trying to stay awake.
- Took night bus to Calgary.
I don’t know if it’s because I was so tired I just sleewalked through it all, or if I’ve done so many buses and train stations in my life that I can no longer differentiate them, but I had to stop at this particular excerpt for about ten minutes, focussing very hard on each part of the trip to slowly start remembering the people I met, the things I ate on the road, the colors of the buses.
And then I was like: THANK GOD I KEEP TRAVEL JOURNALS.
I recently wrote an article–What I remember of Calgary–and it was truly only based on what I remembered and also the pictures I’d taken. But as I read my journal I realized there was so much more to this trip that I would’ve lost if I hadn’t written it down.
So anyway. I guess this post is about what I forgot about Calgary.
I forgot I arrived on a Sunday morning, and walked around the city (even though I’d just been through 24h + of transportation) until I could check in at my hostel.
I forgot I spent an afternoon writing at the Naked Leaf, and that was pretty close to paradise.
I forgot I walked up the hill of Prince Park to take a look at the skyline.
I forgot the curious Island of Creativity and its cool sculpture walk.
I forgot this cool bridge. 🙂
I forgot I partied a little too much the night before I went to Dinosaur Park, and I was really glad someone else in our group offered to drive so I could sleep in the back of the car.
I forgot how much I fell in love with the Badlands, and that I promised myself I would go back one day. That this time I’d be the one driving through this beautiful landscape.
That’s it for me!
Let me know in the comments what you thought of this post;
I’m always happy to talk about travelling!
audreywritesabroad 
Cool. I used to write travel diaries, but stopped. I think I will find my old ones and see if it makes an interesting post like yours…
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Thanks! I always find it so nice to reread my journals; it’s like reliving the trip! 🙂
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Journals are a great idea! It’s just that sometimes I forget to write or I postpone and when it’s time to write I forget some things or just get really lazy. I think much much faster than I write. haha
I kept a journal when I went to Peru and going back to read is so much fun. Thanks for sharing- loved the pics!!
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Ahahah, I do that too. The first days of my trips I write everyday but then I go a week without writing because I’m lazy. But I always regret it when I can’t remember everything.
Wow, Peru! 🙂
Thanks!
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That bridge is amazing!!!
I like the idea of a travel journal. I’ve also seen another idea where you send yourself postcards from those cities, and on those postcards you record your day’s adventures. I’ll have to give either one or both ideas a try the next time I travel 🙂
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(That bridge; I know, right?)
And omg I love the postcards idea so much! 😮 I like to buy postcards when I travel, but I leave them blank so it’s kind of dull, haha. So I’m definitely going to try that! 🙂
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I’m a recent new resident of Calgary and I can attest that Naked Leaf is paradise! As is walking around Prince’s Island with a tea from Naked Leaf 🙂
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Definitely! Next time I’m in town it’s the first thing I do! Thanks for stopping by! 🙂
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