I tried something new on my last vacation and recorded video snippets throughout the trip to string them together into a recap video. This made for a fun way to capture not only still pictures of the trip, but to be able to remember the sounds and movement of the places we visited. I used iMovie to put it all together, but any video program should work. This was my first time, so I’m sharing my lessons learned with you in case you decide to try this on one of your next trips!

Lessons Learned:

• If using your phone flip it sideways to take as many videos in landscape mode as possible. This is the way they display when you put the movie together, and you’ll be happy to not have black bars at the sides of all your clips to make portrait videos fit.
• Take videos with people in them! Record your travel companions, tour guides, whoever is around. Makes for a more fun video to watch.
• Add captions to make your movie understandable, even if you’re not there to narrate it. This is something I will do more of next time.
• Even if it is a 1-2 second video of a viewpoint, bird flying, or people walking, record it! These short videos make great clips and capture the feel of the place.
• Add pictures in to supplement. I did this a lot in my first video, but will try to rely on it less in the future. 
• Keep it relatively short. Having quick video clips over longer ones or pictures can help with this. If I made the video of our Spain and Portugal trip again, I would definitely have made it shorter.
• Add fun music! Keep this in mind during your trip as well. If you remember the music of a place you visited, you can add it to your video!

If you want to check out my first attempt, it is embedded below. Bon Voyage!

My Spain & Portugal Video