New Cruise Journals

March 12th, 2010

As usual, we dig to find good products for our niche. And we liked a couple of cruise journals that were created by the Mystic Seaport Museum.

Vintage Cruise Journal –  is a classic, retro-inspired journal with nautical maps and old photos on the front cover. The inside has been kept simple and flexible with plenty of lined pages and blank pages, which are great for writing some more, sketching or adhereing mementos. It includes measurement and sizing conversion table and a listing of world times.

You’ve got to love the covered spiral binding for it’s ease of use and the perfect size of this journal at 6 x 7 1/2.  http://www.hellotraveler.com/detail.aspx?ID=1788&Name=Vintage-Cruise-Journal

Cruising Memories Diary – We weren’t sure this would be the type of journal our customers would be looking for but, it seems they’re interested. The first page includes  fill-in sections about your yacht (what, you don’t have one?). But, the rest of it is like a typical cruise journal with prompted sections, including :  Day/Date,  Port Departed/ Port Arrived, Weather, Where & What we ate,  What we bought, Who we met, etc. Plus plenty of lined space for general writing. It’s covered in a navy leather-like covering with gold embossing, is hardback and measures 7 x 10.  http://www.hellotraveler.com/detail.aspx?ID=1789&Name=Cruising-Memories-Diary

Anchors Aweigh!

Where the heck have I been?

January 15th, 2010

Getting in the regular habit of blogging takes some doing. There’s been too much time between my posts. It’s one of my New Year’s resolutions to write posts regularly. I’m pretty good about focusing on those resolutions!

But, the good news is that the Holiday selling season worked out okay, given these thrifty times. And, going to the Caribbean in winter is always a treat. A week in St.Lucia was a thrill after a hectic 4th quarter.

Have already attended the Atlanta Gift Show and found some nice new travel or beach-themed frames, photo albums and gifts. Check back in the next month as we add nifty new things. Happy New Year!

Travelers stick together

January 15th, 2010

It’s certainly always nice to get noticed. It’s even more fun when someone is compelled to write about their discovery.  

Laura Carroll, Managing Editor of StudentsInEurope.com came across Hello Traveler  recently, liked what she saw and decided to write a review about us. Yippee! You may read her review here.

Holiday Shopping Made Easier!

November 30th, 2009

This Holiday season we’ve added two sections to make shopping a little easier. It’s always fun to find great items to put in stockings and because they need to be of small size, you’ll find many neat things collected in the  Stocking Stuffers category.

Sometimes we’re able to obtain special pricing on terrific products and we love to pass on those savings. With that in mind, you’ll also note the Special Holiday Deals category. All sorts of items are there; from travel journals to scrapbooks and photo albums, to picture frames.

We hope you enjoy finding special travel gifts at HelloTraveler.com

Gift Certificates at 15% off — that’s rare!

November 19th, 2009

Indeed it is. There are various schools of thought in retail-world. Some feel that it doesn’t make sense to ever have a storewide SALE. Why discount products that sell well at regular retail prices? It’s hard to argue with that.

You’ll notice that stores like Michael’s and others offer a hefty 40 % off coupon regularly but, it’s only for one item. Then they’ll have various, rotating categories of merchandise on sale. Obviously, it’s a relevant program for both retailer and shopper because it’s been in place for many years.

We generally put on sale items that: we have just a few remaining pieces, are slow sellers or products we’ve been able to buy discounted from the manufacturer and are passing on the good pricing.

However, one of the very fun things about having your own business is being able to do whatever you want! So we decided, for a limited time, to offer Gift Certificates ON SALE. They make wonderful presents for the Holidays especially if you know someone will be taking a trip next year. We always sell loads of travel journals at Christmas time. As well as things like cruise picture frames and photo albums. This year we have more destination-specific products than ever. Luggage tags are always welcome stocking stuffers.

But, don’t forget……you could just buy one for yourself. That’s where the storewide sale comes in. You can use it to buy anything we have at 15% Off.

Hurry, because this offer ends on Fri, Nov 20 at 5PM EST.                      Here they are: Gift Certificates

                               agiftcertimagesm                                                          agiftcertimagesm

New Country Flag Photo Journals — COOL!

October 12th, 2009
rn_englandjournalsm1We’ve just brought in some new hybrid travel journals. We refer to them as hybrid because with just blank white pages inside they can be used as a mini scrapbook, a journal to write in or….our favorite…..a photo journal.

Measuring approx. 9 x 6 there is plenty of space to install regular-size photos along with some favorite stories. They come with a set of 3-D stickers that will look great on the outside and inside. 

AND, they’re at a perfect price for gift-giving…….think upcoming holidays!

Sample pics below and find the series of 9 styles here: http://www.hellotraveler.com/SearchResult.aspx?KeyWords=/rn

                                                                    rn_germanyjournalsm
Mexico Photo Journal                

Keep an interesting travel journal

August 24th, 2009
Visual images add great dimension to a travel journal

Visual images add great dimension to a travel journal

This is a copy of an article I wrote for a travel resource website a couple of years ago. Info is still relevant.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Do you keep a travel journal? For those that already do, congratulations. Perhaps I may offer a few new ideas to your usual style. And for those who don’t, well you really should. Because you think you’ll remember that hilarious interaction with a local character or those amazing, off-the-beaten path dining spots, but maybe you won’t. Here’s one such funny instance that I didn’t want to forget, so I scribbled it in my journal (this is the cleaned-up, reads-in-sentences version):

~ Istanbul, 2004 - I really liked the little café buffets of Istanbul, with their huge trays of creative meat, veggie and carb dishes displayed in their broad front windows. So, I stroll into a place like this one day about 3PM to have a late lunch. I was the only customer there so the server decides to have a chat. He asks (in struggling English, sigh….is it always so obvious?) where I’m from and when I reply “America” his eyes get big and he says, “Ohhhh, Miami?” He had been there and liked it. I answer, “No, I’m from Atlanta, Georgia”. Well, you can‘t believe what he does next —he puts 3 fingers up to his O-shaped mouth and begins to make American Indian sounds. I was confused for a moment and then started to chuckle and thought to myself ‘I can’t believe I’m going to do this, but…..’ So, I nodded and began slicing my arm up and down like the so-called Atlanta Braves Tomahawk Chop, plus making the war chant that goes with it. Well, the guy went into hysterics, laughing uncontrollably, and then began doing it himself. So I said “ baseball” and he replies “YES, baseball!” Oh geez, there are even Braves fans in Turkey. Who would have guessed it. That little interaction totally made my day…and his too, it appeared. ~

Given that I was on a 3 month trip I , so easily, could have forgotten that particular incident. Plus, it used to drive me nuts when a friend was taking a trip to a place I had been, a destination that had a really special B & B, retro shop or funky restaurant, that I so badly wanted to recommend but had kept no information. Not helpful at all, so now I keep a book of notes.

Initially, my problem was that I thought it had to read in some sort of intelligent, chronological fashion, like a book. Hello! What was I thinking? Nobody can write a journal like that and still sink their teeth into the traveling. The point of the journal is just to get the info down. You don’t want it to absorb lots of time, you’ll miss too much.

Listed below are some techniques I’ve employed to make the writing process easy, interesting, visually appealing and more fun.

1 - You simply must buy a journal that will lie flat when opened. Seems obvious but, plenty of them won’t. And if you have to fight with the darn thing, it will win. And there goes your valiant attempt at journal-keeping. Buy spiral bound or Smythe-sewn.
2 - Sometimes it’s very useful to create a section at the top of some of the pages with fill-in prompts like these: Destination, Date, Accomodation, Restaurants, Sites Visited, etc. Whatever is important to you. This makes it much simpler to reference later on and lends a bit of organization. There are also journals on the market that are already designed this way.
3 - Take a highlighter pen with you, or a red pen, in addition to your usual writing instrument (mechanical pencils work well). Incorporating more than one color on the page makes the text infinitely more interesting to the eye. And brings focus to important elements.
4 - If you’re traveling with someone or met a memorable character along the way, ask them to write a short story or impression in your travel journal. A few of those sprinkled around will add some colorful dimension to the writing. Sure, go ahead guys, ask that saucy waitress for her autograph…..and maybe a lip print next to it!
5 - Use the best adjectives you can think of. Don’t hold back. That annoying guy at the train station wasn’t just a jerk……he was a smelly jerk. Well, what did he smell like…..skunky cologne, last night’s garlic, a wannabe Cuban cigar? Trust me, you will begin to laugh then and forever on when you makes notes like that.
6 - If you like unlined journals you can easily turn them into a visual work of art by adhering nifty items inside. Like a small picture from a brochure, an extra stamp, a business card, that leftover 10,000 Vietnamese dong bill, a museum ticket. Take along a small roll of acid-free photo mounts and keep them with your writing tools in a ziplock bag, along with the collected mementos and this endeavor will be super easy and produce amazing results.
7 - If your trip is to just one area, like London or Tuscany, etc. paste a small map inside the front or back cover of your journal. It provides geographic perspective and you can install dots to the places you’ve visited. Map freaks like myself love this sort of thing.
8 - Guide books often provide some great context for describing something. Here’s an example from my own journal:

~ I just couldn’t quite figure how to define the degree of smog in Cairo and then I remembered how the Rough Guide described it, it was perfect…. “that inhaling the air of Cairo is like the equivalent of smoking 30 cigarettes a day”. Nuff said. ~

The whole idea is not to take the writing of a travel journal too seriously. Mostly because it may result in you never keeping one and also because it may wind up reading more like a periodical than a memoir. Make it uniquely yours and enjoy the journey.

We love custom-made stuff.

August 14th, 2009

Sometimes we come across a clever person who makes cool things. If we can tweak what they make to fit what we think our customers would like, then we’ll place order and give it a whirl.

Many travel organizers aren’t large enough to fit all of things you’d like to put in them so we had a couple of styles created of larger dimensions. (plus a neat matching small notebook).

Check them out:

Large Travel Organizer w/Ribbon Tie
Large Travel Organizer w/Ribbon Tie
Large Travel Organizer w/Snap close

Large Travel Organizer w/Snap close

 

If you have a great idea for something and can’t find it anywhere feel free to send an email to Customer Support. We read everything that comes in and, you never know, if we think there’s enough demand we may try to source something that you suggest.

Bragging Rights

June 18th, 2009

I think everyone ought to go ahead and toot their own horn, on occasion. If it’s deserved,  if you’ve earned it. Well, some of our customers believe that we have so, I thought I’d share some recent email feedback we’ve received.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I would like to write a review of your company.

I purchased a travel journal for my niece’s trip to France.  It was exactly like the photo on the web-site.  It was a reasonable price and was delivered in two days with no additional postage cost (shipped normal mail).  I would definitely give “Hello Traveler” a five star rating.  I would also buy from them again and recommend to a friend.

Thanks,

R Hancock

 

Hi, 

I received your phone call confirming the cancellation of my online order.  I appreciate the ease and promptness.  I think the site is awesome and have it bookmarked.  I will return.

Thanks,

Andi

 

The stickers were a big hit. Thanks again for your impeccable customer service!

David B.

 

Hi there,  Just to give you some feedback on my recent purchase.  The papers are fab, just what I was looking for. What a fantastic pack of great papers, excellent value for money, great postage rate,  I will be back for more, I have recommended you to all my scrapbooking friends.  Well done to you all for such a great product.

Crafty hugs,

Pauline W.

                                                                                               

I just wanted to take some time out and thank you for your wonderful site and the products on it.

 

I ordered on Monday, and received my beautiful travel journal today.  I purchased the French Travel Notebook and it is perfect! The shipping was inexpensive and very fast, and the journal itself was a great price.

 

I’m going to be traveling to France in the Spring with my French Club and wanted a nice travel notebook in which to record my experiences.  I found that the travel journal I kept while I was in Peru in 2006 is one of my most treasured objects because of the memories it brings back for me when I simply read it.

 

I’m glad there is such a site as hellotraveler.com, for which my traveling and writing tendencies can be indulged!

Thank you!

Katie M.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thanks everybody!  We do try very hard to provide an interesting selection, an easy experience and to get orders shipped quickly. We appreciate hearing from you and especially like getting photos sent of items made from our cool travel stickers and scrapbooking products. Bring it on.

Save 25% on gorgeous Dolce Mia Designs, but hurry!

June 9th, 2009

An old friend once said, “You never regret buying quality.” So true.

Dolce Mia Designs create beautiful, vintage-inspired designs and we purchase the travel-themed photo albums and picture frames they produce.

For a limited time,  we are having a sale on these top-quality products;  25% off every style.

Get’ em while they’re hot!  Look here:

http://www.hellotraveler.com/SearchResult.aspx?KeyWords=dolcemia

dolceheaderimageleft4001