5 Tips for Keeping a Travel Journal You’ll Cherish Forever

Traveling can be a wonderful and unforgettable experience, and bringing along a journal can be the perfect outlet for sharing all of your trip's fondest memories.

By documenting your most precious travels, you create a way to reflect on your favorite moments as well as share your experiences with those around Perhaps one day, your kids and their kids will be able to enjoy these stories, too. That's why we recommend taking the opportunity now to invest in the right journal and tools to create a treasure you'll cherish forever. Here are some tips to get you started.

Find the Right Journal for You

First, think about your vision for your travel journal. Do you want a big one to collect up all of your stops throughout your life or smaller ones for each trip you take? There are so many choices and ways to customize them.

Want to keep all of your memories in one place? Then we recommend a big journal for including as many trips as you can fit. Just remember that this mega-book will get thicker as you add more trips.

If you like to keep things neat and organized, separate journals for each trip are ideal. Anytime you don't fill up the entire journal, you can use the extra space in the back as a photo album.

(Photo credit: Lauren Suthers)

 

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Write Every Day During Your Trip

Though it can be a challenge—especially in the middle of your travels—it's important to set aside time every day to write in your travel journals. By the time you get back home and have to go back to school or work, you'll likely run out of time, and the memories won't be as fresh or clear.

We recommend taking small, simple notes throughout the day during your trip. Taking plenty of pictures on your journey can also provide helpful timestamps, allowing you to live in the moment. Then, each night, you can go through your memories with your friends and make sure you don't leave anything out as you write. Try sticking with it even when it's a little overwhelming. Feeling burnt out on writing? Try jotting down the highlights, taping in tickets or scrap papers from the trip and calling it a day.

(Photo credit: Lauren Suthers)

 

Insert Postcards, Tickets, Maps and More

During your trip, chances are that you'll collect all kinds of small items that will act as great visual aids and little souvenirs down the line. We love the idea of marking each location in your journal with the cutest local postcard you can find. Instead of mailing out a postcard (which can get extra pricey when you're traveling internationally), keep one safe and sound in your journal to share with even more people.

Tickets also make for great scrapbooking opportunities, whether they're from trains, planes, busses, museums or other local travel destinations. Usually, they're marked with the date, time and location, taking you right back to the moment of your favorite eye-opening experiences.

However, we don't suggest you include things like pressed flowers and other plants, as different places have different rules and regulations for bringing plants into other countries or even states, and it's possible your whole journal will be seized. Instead, try drawing a picture or snapping a photo of the local flora while traveling. You can find more official information on traveling with agricultural products here.

 

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Use the Perfect Tools

Some of the best tools you can invest in to accompany your travel journal are erasable pens, highlighters, clear tape dispensers and small scissors (to be packed into your checked suitcase, of course).

If you run into a bookstore or two on your travels, you may also want to bring extra fun to your trip journals with accessories acquired along the way. Legami Milano offers a wide variety of erasable gel pens with cute animals to match, and any mess-ups can be easily removed with the rubber ball on the end. They also offer refills so you never have to toss your favorite pens.

ZEBRA Pen's Midliner Double-Ended Highlighters are also a great choice for aesthetically pleasing colors with limited bleeding. The colors range from bright and bold to light and soft, perfect for anything else you'd like to add within the pages of your journals.

 

Get Inspired

At the end of the day, remember that this journal is all about you, your travels and how you want to remember them. Search through Pinterest if you're looking for a specific type of inspiration, and don't be afraid to tweak things and make it your own as you go. The more you love what you create with your journal, the more you'll appreciate it in the future. Keep this treasure forever so you have something to look back at when you're bit by the travel bug again.

 

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