Keep a Journal
I highly recommend keeping a journal because the brain can only hold so much in a day, much less in two weeks. Taking a tour, whether it's a Rick Steves' tour or another company's tour, means sensory overload. Each day is jam-packed with sights, information, experiences and thoughts. I once took a 14-day tour where we slept in a different town every night. After I got back, I compiled a photo book of my trip. There was one day on the tour that I absolutely can't recall, even after looking at the photographs I took. My mind is a complete blank; it's a strange feeling. I realize the purpose of these tours is to experience a different country - to learn about its history, mingle with the natives, eat the local cuisine and experience the culture - in the shortest amount of time. So, to help me remember things on this trip, I invested in a great little travel journal by Midori. I stocked it with file folders (for restaurant business cards and other small scraps of paper), a calendar (pre-filled with my itinerary), a zippered pouch (to hold paper clips and tape for attaching memorabilia to pages), and two notebooks (one containing trip preparation notes and one for journalizing in while on my trip). Now every time I read my journal, I am transported back to that moment I experienced on my trip...Except, I still can't remember the name of that Indian restaurant in York we ate at - or the dishes served. I blame my memory lapse on the team of rugby players sitting at the table in front of us that evening for being so distracting!