These travel journal tips and ideas can help you get started in travel journaling or give you fresh ideas on how to make your journal even better!
Travel journalling has been around throughout history. Some of the greatest adventurers and travelers have kept records of how they felt and what they saw. It can be inspiring to read about years later and experience what it was like during that time.
Our own travels likely won’t be as exciting as those who’ve gone on the first expeditions to unknown territories, but it can still be wonderful to keep records of your own adventures.
What is great about a travel journal?
If you don’t already have a travel journal, here are some reasons why you should keep one:
- A personal way to store memories
- A place to keep all travel information
- A creative outlet that can add depth to your travels
Choose the right travel journal:
These days there are many options for travel journaling. The biggest choice you need to make is whether you want to keep a physical or a digital journal.
Physical
With physical travel journals, the best part about it is that you have a physical memory of your travels. It’s possible to paste small things like museum tickets into your journal to look back later. If you enjoy writing by hand and the feeling of pen and paper, physical journals are a must!
A few drawbacks for physical journals is that you can’t search through them as easily as a digital one and they could get bulky. Also, if your journal gets lost it can’t be recovered.
Digital
The modern way to travel journals is to do it digitally. There are many ways you can do this with special apps or it can be as easy as using word processing software. At The Organized Notebook, we highly recommend NOTION if you want to create a digital travel journal. You can check out one of our templates here.
Be aware that some of the downsides of digital travel journaling are that it might not be as personal as a physical one. It’s more difficult to add handwritten notes or physical memories from your travels. However, it’s easy to search and can be more organized by allowing you to store data from previous trips.
Decide on your travel journal needs
Ask yourself “Why do I want to keep a travel journal?” and find out what are your needs and wishes for travel journaling. Everyone will have a different purpose and it’s important to format your journal so all of your travel journal needs are met.
Here are some common travel journal needs:
- Logistical planning (budget, flights, hotels, etc…)
- Memory keeping and reflection
- Preserving photos from your trip
- Data-keeping for future travels
Ideas on how to organize your Travel Journal:
When you’re starting out your travel journal it can be daunting to see a blank page. Here are some ideas on how you can organize and fill your travel journal no matter what format you choose.
Before the Trip
If you’d like, you can spend time before the trip for logistical planning like budget, hotels, places to eat, things to see. You can also research what kind of language they speak and write down some travel phrases. It can also be exciting if you spend some time writing down how you feel before going on your trip and what you’re looking forward to.
During your Trip
While on your trip, you can choose to keep a daily journal or add pictures that you’ll want to keep as a memory. If you choose to keep a daily diary, make sure your writing schedule is manageable and doesn’t interfere with your actual travel! For example, you can decide only to write 4-5 sentences per day about your day. If you have a physical journal, don’t be afraid to keep small physical objects like train tickets to paste into your journal so that you can keep a small piece of the country or city you’re traveling to.
After the Trip
When your trip is over, you might want to reflect on it. Think about what you enjoyed, didn’t enjoy, or what surprised you. If you did a pre-trip reflection, it can be fun to see how you felt before and how you feel now that the trip is completed. A great place to do this is on the plane as you’re departing since there are no distractions.
Be creative with travel journaling!
Finally, be creative with what you write about and how you keep your travel journal. Remember that there are no rules to how you do it!
Here are some creative ideas you can implement:
- Decide on some fun writing prompts for your daily journaling.
- Create stories from the people you see outside where you are visiting.
- Skip writing, and go for a photo or drawing travel journal!
- Decorate your travel journal to make it your own! Have fun with colors, fonts, pens, etc.
If you want to try a digital travel journal, be sure to check out The Organized Notebook’s Travel Journal NOTION template. Here is a tutorial for how to use it with a download link below.
Happy Travels!