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This file has Vacation ABC's; Humor; Album and Photo Tips, etc. Also see Cruises; Disney; Zoo; Destinations; Amusement Park, Fair, Circus; Beach, Lake, Pool; Mountains; Vehicles; and Location Humor.
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(condensed from an idea by Elsje G. CMC)
Expanding file folder
Some one or two gallon zip lock bags
A few smaller zip lock bags
Spiral notebook and plenty of pens and pencils
Vacation Album Forms (see below on how to make them)
Collect all the memorabilia you can (tickets, receipts, maps, postcards, menus, pamphlets, luggage tags, hotel door hangers, hotel stationary, business cards, labels, wrappers, flyers, coupons, napkins, foreign coins and currency, programs, invitations, etc.) Keep these things in the expanding file folder by date (the small things can be put in zip lock bags). The first space in the folder is for general memorabilia that pertains to the entire trip. One of the large ziplock bags will hold brochures, tickets, etc. for places you have not yet visited. You will move it to the expanding file after you have finished the activity.
Use your notebook all through the trip to make notes about photos you take, things you see and do, etc. Try to find some time each evening to record your thought about the day. Be sure to include unusual modes of transportation, local slang, unusual words or phrases, new recipes, etc.
Start jotting down thoughts about the trip and things that you might not have got photos of but that you want to remember.
As you get film back label and date the photos and put them in the slots with the memorabilia for each day.
Mention things that pertain to all of your five senses.
*Sight - architecture, people, clothing
styles, landscapes, shows, hairdos, jewelry, furniture, etc.
*Sound - waves crashing, birds singing,
languages, exotic animal sounds, musical instruments, etc.
*Smell - foods, restaurants, flowers, ocean air,
forests, subways, local spices, exhaust fumes, etc.
*Taste - local dishes, fruits, delicacies, foreign
foods, special drinks, etc.
*Touch - toes in the sand, cool water, fabric texture,
cobblestone streets, cold snow, warm sun, etc.
Journal about the "mosts and bests". The most adventurous activity, funniest moment, scariest situation, exciting tour, beautiful scenery, etc. The best or favorite new food, highlight, activity, souvenir, shopping spot, beach, hotel room, etc.
Make these on your computer and print off as many as
you need.
At the top of the page leave a place to put the date and day
of the week and other misc. info (beginning and ending mileage, etc.)
Below that info make a table. You will
need four columns in the table. The number or rows will be ever how many fill a page.
The first column you will be labeled "Place
Visited". It should be about 25% of the page width. The next column will
be labeled "Comments and Thoughts". It should be about 50% of the
page width. The next column will be labeled "Weather". It should be
about 15% of the page width. The last column will be labeled
"Roll#". It will take up the rest of the space and you can use it
to keep track of which roll of film you are using at the time. You will need to
print out one for each day of your trip and a few extra. If you plan to take a
lot of photos you will want to print
out more of the forms since they can be used for that purpose also.
Several years ago I went on a trip to China. One of the ladies in our tour
group was researching bamboo. She was looking for examples of its use and anything else about bamboo. I asked her why and she told me that she always picks something
"local" to research on every trip. It adds interest to her trip.
Before long all of us in the group were pointing out bamboo things. It gave us a
totally new perspective on the trip. We noticed things (even non-bamboo things)
that we probably would have overlooked. Examples
of other ideas would be the fountains in Italy or the chimney pots in England.
Remember to take photos of people in other countries, especially the young and
the old. Look for unusual things like statues but don't forget the normal
everyday things like mailboxes or barns. They can be
standard or creative, cared for or abandoned but everyday items have their own
stories to tell.
Everyone takes photos while on their vacations but they usually miss
"going on vacation." Take photos of the packing for the trip or
loading the car. Pictures of the airport and the airline add interest. Take photos of the outside of your hotels or the lobbies. Close-ups
of signs are great.
Be creative with your photos and poses. Gather all the memorabilia you can, you
should consider getting two copies so you can crop and put it in your albums
without losing the information on the back.
Another double layout that turned out great was all their sunset photos on the beach. We cut out a black palm tree (use the die cut for the shape) then I cut 5 x 11 strip of black, yellow, gold, peach and light blue. I tore each rectangle in half long wise, starting with the black. Put the straight edge of the black on the bottom edge of the page, then tear layers of the other colors. Place the straight edge of the next color under the black. Work on up with all the rest of the colors. When you tear the 5 x 11 in half you use the other strip for the second page. It looked like a sunset on the page with a black palm tree silhouette. Then we placed the photos on top of the sunset we had made on the page. We had a picture of her husband and it looks like he is standing under our black palm tree.
For the first of last page of a vacation album draw an outline of the country or state(s) you visited. Make a duplicate copy of the shape. Draw a one-inch grid over the duplicate shape. Cut the pieces apart (numbering the pieces to help in reassembly). Cut the pieces from duplicate or excess photos (or cropping scraps). (Of course all the inner pieces are just 1" squares and don't require a pattern but the edge pieces will be much easier to cut with the pattern). Scenery photos work best for this. Adhere the squares to the shape on the page. For a somewhat different look you can cut the pieces a little smaller so there is a little white space between them. You can also cut the pieces free hand if you like a slightly irregular look. (Brandi)
A few years ago I looked after my 3 granddaughters for 8 days while my daughter and son-in-law were on a cruise. It was certainly an
interesting experience :-) and I got some really great photos.
I made several pages for my daughter's album and color copied them for the girls' albums.
At the top of the first page I wrote "Mommy and Daddy
went of a Cruise". I put photos of the girls at the airport and the plane
taking off and decorated with palm trees, etc.
Half way down the page I wrote "and we had to stay home and help
Grandma". I then took photos that made it appear they were sweeping,
dusting, washing windows, drying dishes, etc.
Then did several pages of photos of them where they slept and doing lots of everyday things - plus all the special activities we did. The last page was of the trip to the airport late at night to pick up their parents. My daughter was thrilled with the pages. She had not been eager to go on the cruise and it helped her feel she had not missed so much of their lives.
(words and music by Woody Guthrie ©1956 (renewed 1984), 1958 (renewed 1986) and 1970 TRO-Ludlow Music, Inc. (BMI))
Chorus:
This land is your land, this land is my land
From California, to the New York Island
From the redwood forest, to the gulf stream waters
This land was made for you and me
As I was walking a ribbon of highway
I saw above me an endless skyway
I saw below me a golden valley
This land was made for you and me
(Chorus)
I've roamed and rambled and I've followed my footsteps
To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts
And all around me a voice was sounding
This land was made for you and me
(Chorus)
The sun comes shining as I was strolling
The wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling
The fog was lifting a voice come chanting
This land was made for you and me
(Chorus)
Use whatever parts of this song are appropriate for your vacation. Or put the entire song on the title page of a Vacation Album. America the Beautiful" is another song that works well with vacation photos.
A - Adventure, Airplane, All aboard!, Alone-time, Amazing, Aquarium,
Automobile
B - Baseball, Bathing Suits, Beach, Beach Ball, Beautiful, Beverages, Bike,
Binoculars, Birds, Boat, Bon Voyage, Boogie Board, Breakdown (always happens on
road trips), Bridge, Bus
C - Cabin, Cable cars, Cactus, Calypso, Canyon, Camera, Camping, Car, Carnival,
City, Cold, Country, Cows, Crabbin', Crabs, Cruise, Culture, Currency
D - Dance, Desert, Dialect, Disneyland, Disney World, Down under, Dramamine,
Drive
E - Eat, Everyone, Excited
F - Family, Fair, Farm(s), Ferry, Festivities, Festival, Field, Fish, Fishing,
Forrest, Fresh air, Friends, Fun
G - Games, Gas station, Getaway, Grandparents, Grand, Great
H - Hawaii, Hike, Holiday, Home sweet home, Horseshoe crabs, Hot, Hotel,
Houseboat, Hunting, Hula
I - Ice, Ice Cream, Island, Itinerary
J - Jelly fish, Jet, Jet lag, Jet skis, Journal, Journey
K - Kangaroo, Kids, Kodak moment
L - Lagoon, Lake, Land, Landmark, Lei, Lobster (eating one or being
one(Sunburn)), Local flavor, Lost, Luau, Luggage
M - Map, Marshmallows, Memories, More ____ (anything you saw a lot of on your trip), Motor home,
Mountains, Museum, Music
N - Nature, Nautical
O - Ocean, On Board!
P - Palm tree, Paradise, Parasailing, Passport, Picnic, Pit stop, Plane, Port,
Postcard
Q - Quaint, Queen, Quiet
R - Relax, Reservations, Resort, Rest, Restaurant, Rest Stop, Retreat, Reunion,
Road sign(s), Road trip,
Roller Coaster
S - Sabbatical, Sailboat, Sailing, Sand, Sand castles, Sand dollar, Scenic
route, Sea, Sea shells, Serene, Ship, Shopping, Short cut, Show, Sight-seeing,
Skyline, S'mores, Snow, Snorkeling, Spa, Starfish, Sunburn, Sunset, Sunrise,
Sunny, Sunscreen, Suntan, Surf, Surfboard, Swim, Swimming Pool
T - Tan, Tent, Theme park, Ticket, Toll Booth, Tour Guide, Tourists, Train,
Travel, Tropical, Truck(s), Tunnel, Turnpike
U - Umbrellas, Unbelievably gorgeous!, Unique
V - Vacation, VCR, Video, View, Volleyball, Voyage
W - Watch me!, Water, Waves, Weather, Whales, Wild animals, Wild flowers
X - X-ray (airline security), Xylophone
Y - Yummy food, Yellowstone Yosemite
Z - Zany sunglasses, Zebra, Zoo
Don't forget the state or country or names of places you visited!
(Erma Bombeck)
Many parents have written to me about the horrors of the family vacation.
Some of the letters are so vehement in their criticism and sadistic in their
solutions, I feel I should outline some of the laws throughout the country
regarding the vacationing family.
The Abandon-Child Law: It is illegal in 47 states to leave a child in a
restroom and pretend it was a mistake. Maryland and Utah are sympathetic to
parents if they can produce a doctor's certificate showing mental deterioration
caused by the trip. Alaska (which is quite permissive) allows a mild sedation
for the children.
The New Jersey versus Kidder Law: It is illegal on the New Jersey turnpike for a
child to hang out of a car window and make a noise like a siren. A decision on
this was handed down in 1953, after 45 cars (including 3 police cruisers)
pulled over to the side of the road and tied up traffic for 52 hours.
The Key Decision: All 50 states have rulings regarding children who collect
rest room keys as souvenirs. One of the stiffer penalties is feeding a child a
quart of Gatorade and putting him outside a locked door until a key shows up.
The No-fault Litter Law: Vehicles bearing families are not permitted to stop in
the downtown area of cities having populations of 450,000 or more to look for a
gym shoe that someone threw out of the moving vehicle. It is suggested that
mothers put name tapes and full addresses on both shoes.
Anti-noise Laws: Nearly every city (including three ghost towns in Arizona) has
noise pollution laws. If, in fact, your vacationers have two radios playing at
full volume, a barking dog and a father screaming, "Would anyone believe
we didn't have to get married?" and can be heard with all the car windows
up, everyone in the car can be arrested.
Safe Driving Law: It is unlawful to inflate a 20-foot life raft in a sedan
blocking Daddy's view of the road, braid his hair while he is driving in the
mountains, or tie his shoes together when he is going through a tunnel.
New FCS (Food and Comfort Service) has issued a motion soon to be voted upon by
local legislatures that drivers must stop a minimum of every 12 hours for food
and comfort. Failure to do this gives occupants of the car the right to declare
mutiny and replace the driver at the next service exit.