Joy /joi/ noun: a feeling of great pleasure and happiness.

There are at least three opportunities for joy in travel.

One is from planning and anticipation. The second is from the actual trip. The third often is remembering the amazing adventure.

Planning, as you’ve read in this blog, is one of my favorites. I love looking at pictures of the destination, envisioning my husband and I there and anticipating what it will feel like to be away and in a place we’ve want to go.

The actual trip is always fun. I love being in a new place, seeing the sights, interacting with the people and, in my case, finding that I feel completely at home somewhere (like I did in France).

The third, however, is one of the most special: remembering. There isn’t a day that goes by that my husband and I don’t reminisce about somewhere we went, something we did or something we ate.

But as the years go by, sometimes those details get fuzzy and questions like “when did we go to Asheville in 2016?” or “what did we eat that time in Charleston?” come up.

And that’s why, since 2013 when we first went to France, I’ve kept a travel journal – detailing each day of our adventures.

We found the notebook in Marseille and I filled it with where we went, what we ate and thoughts of the place we were exploring.

As we started to travel more, the pages filled up. The memories filled up. The joy filled up. On many of those trips, our beloved dog, Piggy, came with us – and his adventures were documented, too.

Those memories, especially now that Piggy is gone and some trips are years in the past, are so incredibly valuable. I wouldn’t trade that book for anything in the world.

After nearly 6 years, that book is now full – and while we were in Asheville this past weekend, I found two other notebooks just waiting to keep our memories.

Memories that bring joy – long after a trip is over.