i am someone who finds journaling important, both in the moment and when you can look back on it days/months/years later.  i've been journaling since i was old enough to write, basically, and someday i'll regale you with my ridiculous elementary school journal entries.  but in the meantime:

in 1948, my freshly-married grandparents left the US for a four month stint in england, where they took master's level courses in english literature, as best i can tell.  they were 28 years old.  they journaled - both of them.  when my grandma died, we found the journal, and my cousin sara transcribed it (a labor of love, for sure).  i'm going to post some of my favorite entries in an occasional series going forward.  it's such a personal little look back into a different era and a different version of my grandma.

this entry is written by my grandma on day two of their train trip to new york to get on the boat to england.  cigarettes and beer - love my grandma.

June 21, 1948
Into Chicago at 8a.m. - breakfast, cleansing. Practically ran uptown to look at typewriters, ran back & hopped onto the Pennsylvania for N.Y. Played cards, smoked surreptitiously in “no smoking” car. Off at Pittsburg for a long, cold beer. To the conductor: “How long do we have here?” “Out at 9:40.” “Time for a beer?” “Fifteen minutes. I should think so. I could get away with 3 in that time.”

after a few days in new york, they board the queen mary for england.  this is my grandma writing again.

June 24, 1948
This is our day - to make our Maiden Voyage. About 8:45 when we first see the Queen. All I could do was gasp. She is enormous, making the Borinquen at the next pier look like something in miniature. Went thro’ the lines rapidly - no questions, no trouble. We walked thro’ the ship, getting lost at least 10 times, but 99.9% of the rest of the passengers were too. Very foggy until we were almost ready to hoist anchor when the fog began to lift. We stayed out on deck until lunch time & had to run out of the dining room to see the Lady [the statue of liberty, i assume] as we left the harbor. Quite slow going until we got out of the harbor. Drank bitter British beer and continued to fight our way around the labyrinth. It is amazing: no two turns produce the same picture. There seem to be lounges everyplace - beautiful & spacious, even for those of us who are going in something below the upper 2 classes. Cinemas, bars, restaurants, shops, beauty salons, everything. Met a wonderful young couple with whom we shall eat the rest of the journey - Jerry and Mary Billiter - he a psychiatrist who will work in England for a year, she a clinical psychologist. We danced in the evening & drank more bitter British beer until 11:30. 
Our cabins are small - 4 single bunks. I asked the steward please to leave my trunk in the hall so the girls wouldn’t kick me out. Very comfortable bunks. Safety drill. For horns blowing wildly. 
[written in the top and side margins]: All hepped up about famous personage Harry Richman on board, but was taken down a peg when Mary & Jerry asked if I’d seen the passenger list. We are travelling (several decks apart) with the Duke and Duchess of Windsor Lord Beaverbrook, and several famous psychiatrists. But to me “there’s no business like show business.”I.G.R. Wylie also.