Many travelers like to take time during their trip to be more mindful and document their thoughts and feelings. These travel journaling ideas will give you some prompts and ideas on how to document your trip!
Ever since I was a little kid I kept a travel journal. Although I didn’t enjoy writing it as a young kid, I’m glad my parents encouraged me to journal our travels. Today, it is fun to look back on my journal entries and remember all the fun memories we had together.
We still try to keep a travel journal, though we often miss days of the trip. Sometimes you just don’t feel like writing, or you forget, and that’s ok. The journal is just for you after all.
So, what exactly do you write in a travel journal? Well, there really is no wrong answer. Think of it almost like a diary. If you don’t intend anyone else to read it, who cares!
In our travel journal, we like to write what we did each day, including details like the names of restaurants and funny things that we encountered. This is just one way of doing things, though.
This list will guide you in some creative travel journaling ideas in case you get stuck or have some writer’s block. Maybe you get tired of just writing what you did every day, and want to write about something different related to your travels! Whatever the case, we’ve got you!
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Best Travel Journals
Before we talk about what to write in a travel journal, let’s go over a few different types you can use! Here are some of my favorites- hopefully you like them too!
This is the most classic travel journal that most travelers use. Jut a simple lined notebook is all you really need to document your travels! However, this one has a cute travel-related cover on it to make it a bit more fun!
This page-a-day travel journal is a bit different than the previous one, given that it prompts you to write one page each day. Inside each page, it has options to document the date, location, weather, etc. so you can truly remember your day!
Here is an awesome travel journal for kids (or adults, I’m not judging). This journal gives writing prompts, plus blank pages for drawing or scrapbooking. This is truly an all-encompassing journal, no matter how you decide to document your travels!
Travel Journaling Ideas
Alright. Now that you’ve got your travel journal, what can you write in it? Or, if you don’t like to write a lot, we’ve got some creative ideas for you to document your travels as well!
Document your Day
Let’s get the obvious out of the way: simply document your day! This is the most classic and common way to complete a travel journal, and what we typically do as well.
In your journal, write down what you did that day! Starting from when you woke up to when you get back to the hotel for bedtime, write down your travel itinerary.
- Where did you go today?
- Did you see any cool attractions?
- What restaurants did you go to? What did you eat? Was it good?
- Did anything funny or interesting happen today?
- Did you meet anyone?
- What was your favorite part about the day?
Treat this like an elaborated diary. You might want to remember the name of that restaurant you ate at if you visit again in 5 years. The more detail here, the better!
Scrapbook Style Journaling
I personally have a few scrapbooks of my own, where I paste photos, ticket stubs, maps, etc. from my travels. If you don’t want to get into scrapbooking, you can still do this in a journal.
Keep all your ticket stubs, brochures, etc. from the day, then glue or tape them into your journal! You don’t even need to write anything if you don’t want to.
Keeping all the bits and scraps is one of the most fun travel journaling ideas you can engage in- and it will be fun to look back on in the future!
Postcard Journaling
This is one of the more creative travel journaling ideas on this list. Instead of purchasing a journal, why not get a postcard each day that you travel. When you get back to your hotel room, fill out the back with what you did that day.
Then, after your trip, staple or bind the postcards together in order to create your own travel book! You can even mail them to your house so when you get home from your trip, you get some surprises in the mail. This can also help deal with post-travel depression since you will get little pieces of your trip for a few days after!
Travel Journal Sketches
Maybe you are not a writer, and that’s ok! We all have our own way of reflecting on our experiences and if drawings your thing, so be it!
Instead of writing what you did each day, try drawing it. This can be one picture or a bunch of little ones. You can even create a timeline with little pictures of what you did throughout the day.
If I could draw, I really would love to do this. However, I can hardly draw a stick figure, so I’ll stick to writing!
You can even carry your journal around with you throughout the day and stop to do some sketching. This is a great way to be a mindful traveler. Stopping to enjoy the sights and pay more attention to them will slow you down and make you appreciate things more!
Bring Home some Nature
This is one of the most creative travel journaling ideas that you can pair with any of the other ideas on this list. In addition to writing or sketching down your days, include some physical elements as well!
Maybe you walked past a beautiful tree or flower. Pick up some leaves or petals, and press them in a book. You can do this by putting the leaves and petals between the pages of a heavy book, and leaving them there for a few days.
Then, when you read your journal in a few years, you will have real pieces of your trip on the pages to remind you of your experiences there!
Wreck your Journal
The best part of having a travel journal is that no one can tell you how to use it. Another one of the more creative travel journaling ideas is to treat it almost like a “Wreck this Journal” book.
If you haven’t heard of these books, the goal is literally to wreck it. Each page gives you a prompt such as take this journal in the shower with you, make this page gross, tape something into this page, etc.
Take some of these concepts and apply them to your travel journal. Carry it with you through your days, and don’t be afraid to glue or tape things in it, add some colors, draw, scribble, rip, tear, fold, etc.
The more life you add to the journal, the more encompassing it will be of your journey!
See something interesting on the street? Tape it in! Find an interesting ticket stub? Put it in there. Anything that comes up, try to see if you can add it in a unique way to your journal! You’ll be surprised how much fun it will be!
Let's Connect!
We hope you enjoyed these travel journaling ideas! What are some ways you document your travels? Leave us a comment below, we would love to hear from you!
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