Travel journal ideas: how to journal for beginners
Looking for a way to relive the magic of your travel memories and experiences? A travel journal is an amazing way to keep the physical and emotional elements that we take from our trips and adventures, and keep them for ourselves. Plus, it creates a lasting memento that can last longer than any Facebook picture or mobile phone.
If you’re looking to source new material for your travel journal ideas, we recommend checking out Flash Pack’s adventure trips guide to get planning. Or dive in with the following tips:
Why write a travel journal?
Tips for keeping a travel journal
Getting started with travel journaling
What to write in a travel journal
Creative travel journal ideas
3 travel journal prompts
Why write a travel journal?
Treat your travel journey as a way to write a personal memoir of your trip, meaning you can recount the most special moments, emotions and experiences. So weeks, months, years from your return date, you’ll be able to revisit the amazing adventure you went on – talk about a nostalgia hit.
In this way a travel journal acts as a memory bank to times gone by. Avid traveller Helen, from London, sums up this power to revisit the past. “When we’re old and unable to get far, we can relive our travels by reading my journals and looking through photographs,” she tells Flash Pack.
Tips for keeping a travel journal
The key to successful travel journaling is consistency. Building time into your routine to write is core, particularly during “dead time” where you might just be scrolling through your phone otherwise. For example, while you’re waiting for a train or plane.
Depending on what time of day you like to write, try to fit in 10-15 minutes over breakfast, reflecting on the day ahead, or before you go to bed, recounting the highlights of the day. The more regularly you journal at the same time every day, the more you make a habit of it. But that’s not to say spontaneous entries when inspiration strikes aren’t a good idea, either.
You don’t even need to be the only person who writes in your travel journal – ask friends who are travelling with you, or new people you meet en-route to share an entry. If you need to mix it up a bit, why not draw some of your destinations or stick maps into your journal?
Make sure you’ve always got your journal on your person, along with working pens and any other equipment you might need. And if you feel the dreaded writer’s block coming on, just give it a whirl anyway in the form of a few simple exercises. Write how you’re feeling in that moment and describe your immediate location. Move onto describing the most memorable things you’ve seen, heard, smelt or tasted that day.
Getting started with travel journaling
When it comes to how to keep a travel journal, there are no hard and fast rules, but working out the right time of day for you to write (are you a morning person or a night owl?) is helpful. That way, you’ll know when you feel most motivated and you can start making a ritual out of your entries.
In terms of beginner journaling, it’s important to get yourself into the right mindset – a challenge that begins with good kit. You’ll want to select a journal that is the right size for you (i.e. will it fit easily into your hand luggage?) and is made from material that will withstand the wear and tear of travel. If you think a case or protector would be helpful to preserve memories, do consider investing in one. It helps to have a healthy supply of pens and coloured pencils handy, too.
Hung up on finding the right travel journal? We’ve pulled together a few shopping recommendations to get you started:
- Red campervan travel journal, Sukie, $24.89
- Voyage travel journal, Papier, $38.00
- Blush globe leather travel journal, Seasons Boutique, $89.91
- Passion travel journal, Moleskine, $34.95
What to write in a travel journal
Need inspiration for what to write in a travel journal? There are so many moments and activities you might want to consider capturing. Here are a few examples:
Daily experiences
Even if they don’t seem extraordinary in the moment (although they might), recounting what you observe, see and think about each day will create an amazing archive to reflect on after your trip.
Views to remember
Sometimes pictures alone don’t do a certain view justice. After you’ve seen something wow-worthy, like your first glimpse of the Treasury in Petra, Jordan, or the panorama from the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, jot down your first impressions as you take it all in.
New friends
The new people you meet on a trip can define you and your holiday memories. Be sure to note down any funny anecdotes or standout conversations you share with the folks around you.
Food and drink
Your favourite street markets, restaurants and little-known bars: all deserve a place in your travel journal. This is especially true of those off-radar foodie places you come across by chance and fall in love with.
Reflections and gratitude
Travelling often gives us a wider perspective on life, because we’ve taken ourselves out of the daily grind. When you catch a bigger thought or reflection, your travel journal is the place to explore it, free-style.
Where to go next
When you’re travelling, it’s inevitable that new destinations will come to mind for your next trip; whether it’s recommendations you hear from people you meet en-route, or sudden new wanderlust cravings. When these inspirations hit you, write them down.
Creative travel journal ideas
If you’re wondering what to put in a travel journal, focus on being creative and experimenting, too. Beyond writing alone, this brings a whole new element and really enhances your journal. It also helps to evoke nostalgia and pin down everything you felt when you read back years later. Try the following creative ideas:
Sketches
It doesn’t matter how good or bad the drawing is, try and recreate something beautiful you see on your travels by sketching it yourself. You can even just do a doodle version. It’s your interpretation that counts.
Photos
Of course, you should fill your journal with all your favourite snaps. Translate your best ones into physical mementos using a portable printer, and arrange by timeline or themes.
Ticket stubs and memorabilia
Save as many odds and ends as you can from daily excursions and activities, because they’ll bring the pages of your travel journal alive in a way that no Instagram post can.
Maps and routes
Navigation might be stressful at the best of times, but keeping your maps (ideally with notes you made then and there) is an easy way to recount your route and the adventures you had in a snapshot. Bittersweet.
Collages and scrapbooking
Once you’ve got all your nostalgic memorabilia to hand, it’s fun to mix ‘n’ match them together. Clash colours and memories for a standout spread that’s as joyful to make as it is to look at.
3 travel journal prompts
It can be hard to know when to start with travel journaling – so kick things off with some prompts to capture feel-good experiences and emotions. Try the following prompts to pin down your most personal memories:
Before you go travelling
When you’re in the planning stages of your trip, carve out a bit of time to write down how you’re feeling as your expedition takes shape – to capture that delicious sense of anticipation. What are your dream destinations, must-see attractions and goals for your holiday? Jot them all down.
Whilst travelling
As the most memorable moments of your holiday are unfolding, take the time to write down how you’re feeling as it happens. Pay attention to descriptions of mood, people, locations and experiences: no detail is too small.
After you’ve been travelling
When you’re on the plane home, or a few weeks after, take half an hour to document the things you miss about your trip; and what you’ve learnt from it all.
Planning a trip?
Whether you’re a beginner or a pro, it’s so fulfilling to make travel journaling a part of your adventure – before you set off, while you’re away and after you return. Use it as a versatile way to be creative but consistent, present in your travels, and to relive the euphoria of your trip once you’ve arrived back home. There’s no better or more accessible way to capture the truest essence of some of the best moments of your life; memories that’ll be with you forever.
Find out more about Flash Pack’s recommendations for adventure trips in our dreamy inspiration guide.
Photos: Flash Pack and Unsplash
