 |
| Keeping a travel journal while on the road is an amazing perk of going on an adventure. We started ours last summer in New York City and it is one of the best decisions we've ever made. |
- It's fun to collect business cards, ticket stubs, and stickers from different restaurants, museums, and parks that you visit
- It is easier to make than your mom's scrapbook, all you need are a few supplies that can be found on any journey
- It can be personalized to any degree. Make it with simple journal entries or with involved illustrations of the day's events. Your journal can also be a collection of photos with captions and titles
- It helps you reflect on the day as you write and recount what happened
- It is incredibly interesting to look back through it to show your family and friends when you're home
While there are no set rules to follow when creating a travel journal, there are some things we consider when starting a new journal or writing an entry.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
We do this to have a clear page of places included in the journal, as well as the page number (yes, we number all of the pages.) This makes it easy to look up a particular story or map when you revisit the destination later.
DATE + LOCATION
It's helpful to be able to look back on where you were writing from and visualize your surroundings. Your location can vary from around a campfire to the base of the Statue of Liberty to a beach on a tropical island.
DETAIL
Explain every sense and emotion you felt while in a particular place because when you're reading back through your journal, it won't be as easy to remember the experience. Describe the markets in vivid colors and explain the way you could smell the ocean and taste the delicious foods. Texture can be useful in descriptions and even a small drawing of the landscape can help you remember the tiniest details.
SOUVENIRS
Pocket-sized, easy to tape mementos add color and character to your journal. Airplane tickets, cheap postcards, informative pamphlets, etc. My personal favorite is going to any United States National Park and getting my journal stamped by the Park Ranger. It's like a passport stamp for different natural and manmade wonders, such as the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and Niagara Falls in New York.
PERSONALIZE
The great thing about travel journals is that they are so personal and unique to everyone. Choose to add dialogue, a hand-sketched map, autographs, questions, restaurant reviews, and anything that comes to mind. Don't make your journal a copy of a guidebook that you could buy at the airport, add your own experiences into the blank pages of a book. When you get home, you should want to go back and read your journal cover to cover, not just leave it on a shelf. Let it inspire you to revisit a destination and remember all of the life changing memories that you not only recorded in your mind, but in a tangible, bound journal.
Take your travel journal with you on every trip and become addicted to jotting down your adventures in it. It's okay if you get too busy on the road and fall behind, just try to complete your entry as soon as possible while you still remember it, so it doesn't feel like a chore when you get home.
Still having trouble thinking of what to write? These are some travel journal prompts that are helpful for when you have writer's block:
- Sequence events in chronological order, explaining everything that happened over the course of hours or days
- List notable businesses you visited that would be worth recommending or revisiting
- Include dialogue overheard or carried on between you and a local or fellow traveler
- Write down your expectations and the actual outcome
- Compare two places that you've traveled to or two cultures that you've encountered
- Summarize the trip in a reflective piece written to describe how it changed you or your emotions
The key to keeping a successful travel journal is to just write what you feel during your adventure, hopefully filling the pages with amazing stories of people and places you've experienced along the way.
-Kendall
