Keeping a journal while travelling is always such a chore, yet often on returning home we wish we'd written a few things down. That's where TravelNote comes in. TravelNote is a handy, easy-to-use tool that helps you keep notes while you’re travelling, and automatically maps them for you!

Imagine this:

You went on a fantastic European holiday a couple of years ago. You saw more amazing things than you can count - or remember.

A friend calls you one evening and says, “I’m going on a holiday to Spain. You’ve been to Spain, right?”

“Of course!” you reply. “It was great.”

“Awesome,” your friend says, before getting quickly to the point. “I’ll be spending a few days in Madrid. What’s good to do there?”

“Lots of things!” you exclaim, remembering that you quite enjoyed your time in Madrid.

“Like what?” your friend asks, fishing eagerly for details.

“Er – “

Put on the spot, you draw a blank. Try as you might, you simply can't recall what you did in Madrid. Your friend looks at you eagerly, waiting for a reply that isn’t going to come – at least not until you’ve had time to rush home, dig out those photo albums, and try to bring back memories of what exactly you did in Madrid – and which parts you liked.

Does this situation sound familiar? It did for me, which is why I wrote TravelNote. Sure, you could keep a travel journal and write down everything you do each day; I’ve done that too. There are two problems. Firstly, when you sit down to write your journal at the end of the day, you will inevitably forget the name of that fantastic little café which served the best hot chocolate you’ve had in your life, or the location of that beautiful park you came across completely by accident. Secondly, nobody carries their travel journal around with them, so when your friends surprise you with sudden questions about specific locations, it won’t be there to help you.

With TravelNote, these problems are a thing of the past. TravelNote is an application designed to help you keep notes while you're travelling. Your notes are automatically associated with the date and location coordinates, and neatly displayed on a map. Best of all, it's cheaper than the price of a notebook and pen in most countries! It provides a fast, convenient way to store notes about places you visit that you really don't want to forget. While you're sitting in that quaint café sipping your hot chocolate, or strolling through that lush green park, just open TravelNote and save the location with the tap of a button. Simply enter a title, rating and optionally some notes, and TravelNote will automatically store the GPS coordinates of your current location and the time and date you were there. What could be simpler?

But what about finding that note again? TravelNote displays all your notes on a map so you can pan, zoom, and select them to view more detailed information. The location markers are colour coded, showing you at a glance whether you hated a place (red) or loved it (green). The map display also makes it easy to find information – you may not remember an attraction's name, but are more likely to remember roughly where in the world it was. And if you do remember its name? Even better! TravelNote also provides a handy search facility that lets you find notes by title.

Don't travel often? No matter! While it's perfect for keeping a travel journal, there are countless other uses for TravelNote. Just go to www.margaretsarlej.com.au/travelnote and check out the FAQs for some suggestions. You’ll also find a basic User Guide on the site. If you have any questions about TravelNote, please e-mail travelnote@margaretsarlej.com.au with a clear description of your problem. I will check this e-mail account regularly, and do my best to get back to you within a couple of days.

I find TravelNote a very handy tool while I'm travelling and I hope you will too.