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So, what are you writing?

FILE - This Oct. 28, 2013 file photo shows waterside mansions called "yali," in Istanbul, Turkey. Istanbul is best-known among tourists for mosques and bazaars but the city offers many other interesting things for visitors to see, including the classic wooden-framed yali mansions along the waterfront. (AP Photo, File)

Maryanne, who was sitting in front of me, leaned forward and asked the question I hear most often when I travel: “What are you writing in your book?”

I carry a notebook with me because I can no longer remember every single detail about the places I visit, and it’s not because I’m getting older (really).

I’ve always kept a journal because I’m expecting that there will be a day, many years from now, when I will want to read what Younger Me wrote about a trip she took in 2005, 2007 or 2014. And I won’t be interested in what I saw back then, but instead what I felt.

I’ll have photographs of my trips and maybe even a sketch of a tree on a mountain, but if I’m trying to remember what I felt when I saw that mountain, nothing can capture my emotions better than what I wrote at the time.

In the field of law and evidence, there is such a thing called contemporaneous notes, which are notes taken during or very shortly after an event or incident. The idea behind contemporaneous notes is that they’re regarded as likely to be accurate –and therefore reliable- because they were written while, or very soon after something took place.

So let’s say you’re on a long-distance train journey from Kuala Lumpur to Istanbul (absolutely doable) and you’re thinking of writing about it. If you want to keep a record of your memories, the best way to do so would be to keep a daily notebook of your travels.

But even if you aren’t planning on writing anything, imagine the joy you will feel when you come across your notebook years later.

A few months ago, out of boredom, I decided to tidy up my room. During the course of this complex operation, I unearthed a notebook that I had kept on a trip to New Zealand when I was 12 years old.

I found the notebook in an old box under my writing desk. I couldn’t put the book down. I ended up reading on the floor and only got up to stretch my legs two hours later. I never wrote about that holiday, but reading what I had written as a teenager was so much fun. It took me back to that trip all those years ago.

Part of the fun in reading was because I had described everything in such detail- what I ate on a particular day, how sick I had felt on the boat ride to Milford Sound, how I didn’t like Auckland at first, right up to the checked shirt that a cute guy I had noticed was wearing.

Those details weren’t earth-shattering in any way, but it gave me some insight into the kind of person I was at 12. Very few of us remember what we were like when we were teenagers.

I was rather observant-I had noted things like hotel names, the music playing on the radio, what the weather was like and the names of every restaurant we ate at throughout the three weeks we were there. Now, whenever I hear an old song that I mentioned in my notebook, I’m immediately transported back to those days.

Imagine going back to New Zealand and tracking down those same restaurants for the fun of it, and telling the owners about your notebook. That’s a story in itself.

I like to travel on trains, so I do a lot of writing on overnight journeys. Because of this, I’ve perfected the art of writing on a train, which applies just as well to typing on a laptop.

It’s easy enough to write or type when you’re in a proper seat, but if you’re sitting in a sleeper berth on a train, there are two common positions, namely: Sitting-Cross-Legged-While-Writing (and getting a stiff neck in the process) and Lying-Down-On-Your-Stomach-While-Writing.

Absolutely pointless but great if you’re feeling lazy is the position known as Lying-Down-and-Writing-With-Your-Knees-Propped-Up. You’re guaranteed to doze off, unless your book or laptop falls on your face, in which case you’ll wake up with a start.

My notebook is particularly useful on days when I don’t feel like socialising-strangers are usually reluctant to chat with someone when they see him or her writing. Scribbling in a notebook is seen as something private, somehow more private than reading. People might still strike up a conversation with you if you’re reading but if they see you writing, chances are they’ll leave you alone.

I first met Maryanne, who was from Switzerland, in Cape Town. By the time she asked about my notebook, we’d known each other for 12 days.

“What are you writing? Are you writing a novel? ” she asked.

“No,” I said, a little embarrassed.

“Are you writing about this trip?” she asked again.

“Yes, about what we’re doing now.”

I write about all my trips, but more importantly, I write because I want to remember.