Tokyo Travel Guide: Travel Cards, Must-Visit Places, and Best Day Trips
January 31, 2025
Tokyo Travel Guide: Travel Cards, Must-Visit Places, and Best Day Trips By: Hassan Shah Tokyo is the biggest city in
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Journaling is the simple act of writing down your thoughts, emotions, experiences, and reflections, like having an honest conversation with yourself on paper. Whether you’re recording what you saw, how you felt, or what you learned, journaling helps you slow down, process life, and hold onto the moments that matter.
There’s something special about journaling on the road.
It’s more than just documenting where you’ve been , it’s about discovering who you are becoming. Your journal becomes a personal space between border crossings, prayer times, and unexpected conversations. It’s your mirror, your sanctuary, your map back to meaning.
Whether you’re witnessing a sunrise over Wadi Rum, following a guide through Petra, or sipping Karak on a quiet street in Qatar, the magic isn’t in what you see, but in how it changes you.
That’s where journaling comes in.
Journaling sharpens your senses. It helps you notice the subtle details. You begin to notice the smell of freshly baked khubz in Amman, the beautiful adhan echoing through Sarajevo, or the texture of tilework in an old Ottoman hammam. These small details, when written down, become unforgettable.
Travel brings with it joy, wonder, homesickness, and overwhelm.
Journaling offers your heart a place to exhale, especially on long layovers or quiet nights away from home.
Earlier this year I visited Guangzhou in China and went to a restaurant in front of Huaisheng Mosque. When I went to pay the bill at the reception, I felt that awkward sinking feeling as the cashier shook her head. I did not have any cash either. That’s when a man from Uzbekistan, quietly waiting in line behind me, stepped forward and offered to pay. We hardly shared a common language, but his smile was reassuring. He insisted, almost like an older brother would, and before leaving, we took a photo together. That evening, I journaled every detail, his smile, the relief I felt, the reminder that kindness has no borders. Even today, whenever I revisit that page, I feel grateful. It reminds me that humanity speaks louder than words ever could.
Some people leave their fingerprints on your story, even if you never learn their name.
I hired a taxi in Doha and struck up a casual conversation with the driver, a Pakistani man. What started as small talk about cricket and weather turned into laughter, stories about family, and reflections on life abroad. At my stop, I reached for my wallet to pay, he shook his head and said sternly: “You’re a friend now. How can I take money from a friend?” I insisted but he was adamant. In the end, how I managed to pay him is another story altogether, but what stayed with me was his sincerity. Despite being a man who didn’t have much, his heart was so big. This was a perfect story for my journal, because it’s the kind of memory you never want to forget.
The version of you who departs is rarely the one who returns. Journaling lets you trace your transformation.
In Petra, I met a 12 year old boy who gave us directions from the main site to Little Petra. His father ran a small restaurant.During the walk he shared how he traveled an hour to school each morning and then walked another hour back home every day. He told the story so casually, as if it was nothing unusual. He was polite, sharp, and self assured, I wrote about him as a symbol of quiet strength. That short encounter taught me more about resilience than any blog post ever could.
Some memories don’t live in photos. They live in flavors, scents, and laughter.
While strolling casually through our hotel in Qabala, Azerbaijan, we met the catering supervisor. She stopped to chat with my family, and the whole conversation was very pleasant and friendly. Before leaving, she told us she wanted to bring us a special homemade Pulav (rice and meat dish) the next day. With a big smile, she added, “Pulav from Qabala is the best in Azerbaijan.”
When we mentioned that we’d be leaving the next morning, she looked visibly disappointed. We never had the chance to taste the pulav she made, but the genuineness and the warmth that was attached to the action reached our hearts. It was just one of those little meaningful encounters that I wouldn’t want to miss so I captured it in my journal exactly the way it happened
(Even If You’re Not “A Writer”)
Instead of writing “Had lunch at a local café.”
Try “Had lunch at a small cafe off an alley. The waiter was smiling widely, and the lentil soup was just like home.
No one else will meet the same people, feel the same things, or stand in the same shoes you do on your journey. That makes your story worth writing. Your journal doesn’t need perfect words. It just needs honesty.
Write about the kind man in Guangzhou, the taxi driver in Qatar, the boy in Petra, or the hotel manager in Qabala. Write about how they made you feel, grateful, humbled, inspired.
One day, when you flip back through those pages, you will find that your journal doesn’t just hold memories of travel. It holds reminders of kindness, growth, and faith that stay with you long after the journey ends.
Tokyo Travel Guide: Travel Cards, Must-Visit Places, and Best Day Trips By: Hassan Shah Tokyo is the biggest city in
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