If you're thinking of making a particularly extended journey - a tour of the far east, say, or a road trip round the States, the chances are a lot of friends and relations will call and email you encouraging you to write and stay in touch. Such warmth and affection from your family and your buddies may give you a lovely warm feeling inside, but it can be pretty hard work to stick to the promises you make - especially, as is often the case on foreign trips, if you're short of time, you're unsure about the mail service and typing a dozen different emails every week seems like a lot of work.
So why not keep a travel blog? It's a quick, cheap and easy way to stay in touch with family and friends. Although using Internet cafés can make it difficult to publish photos, you can post as much text as you like. Back home, friends and family can even post comments on your blog, asking you questions and generally joining in a little of the fun of your journey.
Blogging technologies are very easy to use. If you're an XML, HTML and PHP whizz you can personalize your blog to your heart's content and even host it on your own www domain name. If you're not a geek, fear not: there are plenty of online blogging services that are dead easy to use and personalize. Logging in and out is easy at any hotel or Internet outlet that has full web access. Don't forget, however, that you should always sign out of your blog account when you've finished using a public computer - just like any other service which requires the use of username and password. You don't want someone else discovering your login details!
If you're a first time, probably the best service to use is Blogger, which is a subsidiary of Google. Blogger is really easy to use and has a range of attractive, readable templates you can use for your blog. As with all free blog services, the webspace comes free with the account, so you don't have to worry about paying any subscription fees. Simply sign up for a free account, follow the simple how-to guide on posting, and away you go.
And you never need to write another postcard again!