“T here are tons of reasons I believe it is worthwhile to travel with young children, but the number one question I get for pushback is inevitably, ‘What’s the point of traveling if they aren’t going to remember it?’”
This article pertaining to your child being too young to remember a trip is written by Joe Cheung of As The Joe Flies — but is posted at Traveling Dad — and it discusses the importance of children traveling despite possibly being too young to remember their experiences.
In an otherwise excellent article with which I completely agree — as I have always believed that travel is one of the most important forms of education — I was surprised to see that one thing was missing…
The One Thing You Should Do to Remember Your Travels Is…
…and it is so obvious that he probably did it on his trips with his family but simply did not mention it:
Record videos of experiences during travels.
I say this because it works for me. Whenever I travel, I take plenty of photographs; but I also try to balance recording videos as part of the trip.
The criteria of what qualifies for still photography as opposed to videography — assuming you must decide between them and cannot do both — is subjective; but for me, I simply question myself: will this experience to enhance the fond memories of my travels be better captured by a photograph or by a video?
If there is movement and sound which I would like to repeatedly relive, video usually wins out. That is fairly simple.
Travel is Not the Only Reason for Recording Video
Ed Pizzarello — of Pizza in Motion — and his family suffered a significant loss as the result of a recent heartbreaking decision: their beloved family dog had to be put to sleep. They have photographs of their cherished pet; and I would think that they have plenty of videos. It is difficult to read about the pain he and his family experienced without at least a tear forming in your eye.
I too have suffered losses of loved ones — who has not? — but I prepared myself for when they happened. My grandfather — whom I briefly mentioned in this article — is one of those people. He was one of the most influential people in my life. I rarely look up to anybody; but I proudly looked up to him, as he could do no wrong in my eyes. He taught me so many things — from valuable life lessons to how to play checkers and chess.
Although he was still quite healthy, I knew the day would come when he would pass away. I purchased my first video camera years ago. I asked him questions. I captured his mannerisms; his smiles; and his knowledge and sense of humor. I even recorded a complete Scrabble game we played with my grandmother.
That awful day eventually happened where he suffered from a severe stroke. We knew he did not want to be resuscitated; and none of the members of my family wanted him to live a life which would never be his version of normal again due to the bleak prognosis of his health. We unanimously arrived at the excruciating decision to have the machines which were attached to him removed. He died shortly thereafter.
I would be lying to you if I said that I no longer feel any pain — even after the healing which resulted by the passage of time — but I know that whenever I want to see and hear him again, all I need to do is watch one of the many videos I have of him. Voilà! I have the next best thing to him being alive. I can once again laugh at his jokes and see his smile.
Summary
Those reasons of preserving family members on video and in photographs are also why I continuously enjoy travel long after its conclusion: any time I want to go back to those places — but am unable to do so at that moment — I can travel back to them virtually with the combination of video, photographs and memories. I can still hear the sounds and see the people and motions of the many places to where I have traveled. It is not the same as being to those places; but watching videos still works for me.
There are even times where I will catch things in videos and photographs which I did not catch the first time while I was traveling. Discovering new things even after the conclusion of a trip can be priceless.
Recording videos and movies are even easier and less expensive than ever, thanks to advances in technology. Recording devices are smaller and more powerful while capable of capturing scenes in high definition resolution and stereo sound — leaving little excuse not to record experiences on video.
The good advice given by Joe Cheung in the aforementioned article which he wrote does not just apply to children who may be too young to remember their travels — it can apply to you and everyone else. Imagine those children reliving an experience over and over again via video so that even if they did not remember a trip first hand, they still get to enjoy it and own it as their own.
Please do not hesitate to be recorded in a video of a loved one. I have encountered that numerous times; and most of the time, those people who were initially hesitant were ultimately glad that they did appear in videos — especially when a loved one is no longer around.
I have been thinking about posting videos of my travels here at The Gate. Would you be interested in seeing them?
Photograph and graphic ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
