5 Reasons Why You Should Carry a Travel Journal
“I looked at the gray city and the cold gray sky and the dull green water of the Seine and wondered why I had come, what on earth i would do for ten days in this city. So I wandered. I had tea in a little place in the afternoon. By that evening I was in a jazz cafe. Thrilled, at home, on vacation, soaking in every detail.”
- Sara Golden, on Paris
Travel is, as we all know, an experience. And what better way to help you reflect on that experience than with travel journals. Whether you’re an experienced writer or can barely manage the time for a postcard, here are five reasons why you should carry a travel journal.
1. Your memory isn’t as good as you think it is. When you can write down the name of that amazing cafe or the wine in the restaurant right there on the stop, you won’t forget it. And you won’t spend the rest of your life wondering where it was when friends come asking you for recommendations. So get a journal and write it down. You don’t have to write a novel – just doodle.
2. It enhances the experience. Travel more by spending some time after you’ve had an amazing experience – maybe it is writing with a glass of wine after a long day out, or maybe you’ve had a busy week and now stuck on a bus or train for a few hours. So use that time to reflect on your experience, maybe relive it slightly, examine it and examine yourself. How have you changed and what did you learn?
3. A journal is practical too. What to keep an eye on your budget? Don’t have a mobile phone at the moment yet have an important phone number to keep track of? Heck, I even carry around a pad of paper when I’m out and about in my home city, because you really should never be without a pad of paper when you leave the house.
4. You’ll appreciate it after the fact. It doesn’t have to have been a destination honeymoon to enjoy looking back and reading about your adventures. Maybe it will be years later that you will read and remember the sage words of wisdom a tour guide in Cambodia gave you. Or perhaps you’ll be looking for some inspiration on your latest project and reading about your jog along the beach last year will be just the creative juice you need.
5. It is a souvenir in itself. Your friends and family will want to read through it, and your children will treat it like a precious heirloom. (Ok, some children and family might not care less, but someone will.) You can tear out pages and make a scrapbook, or you can get photos printed and put them into the journal and make it the scrapbook. This is your creative outlet, so do what feels right.
With real time networks like Twitter and Facebook, some may call for the death knell of travel journals. But there’s something about the blank page after a wonderful travel experience that social media just can’t capture.
Now at STE: Recommended Travel Journals
You asked, we delivered: upon the request from several community members, we now are featuring two wonderful travel journals in our special offers section. I spent hours looking and checking out the various options, and have come up with two amazing options for you. Moleskine is one, a classic recommendationn that will be en vogue and in sytle forever. But the other is a real charmer: The Abroad Travel Journal and Organiser. If travel were a religion, this would be its Bible.
It has several pages of practical information and even includes some suggested itineraries and travel tips. But the real highlight is the fact that this guide is filled with wanderlust; on every page, there’s a travel quote meant to inspire or a idea for a cheap thrill or sightseeing expedition. I love this!
When you can’t take Sharing Travel Experiences on the road with you, take this instead. Visit the travel journals page to find out more and get your copy today.
Photo by swimparallel
Andy Hayes is the managing editor of Sharing Travel Experiences. Featured in Newsweek, the Wall Street Journal, National Geographic Traveler, and other major publications, he travels for up to seven weeks at a time and spends the other seven right here with you. Follow him on Twitter, @andrewghayes.
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January 25th, 2010 at 2:19 pm
Totally agree on this. I always carry a little notepad with me so I can jot down thoughts, ideas, recipes, or whatever. I don’t keep it as a souvenir, but I use all of my notes when I write posts on our site or as reminders to myself about a place or people or whatever.
January 25th, 2010 at 3:18 pm
I always wished I could draw better so that I could have neat sketches in mind – I settled for ticket stubs and other odds and ends and my RTW one looks pretty nice – can’t imagine not journaling, will have to check out that one you recommended
January 25th, 2010 at 5:06 pm
Recently, I’ve been writing about key experiences that happened to me on my first big solo trip in Southeast Asia. I thought I remembered these incidents so clearly, and it was only well into the writing process that I dug out the journals that I kept at the time and learned that the way I remembered them and the way the actually happened were quite different. As you say, memory is slippery!
January 25th, 2010 at 5:33 pm
Ha! I’ve got a couple worn-out versions of the Abroad Travel Journal. When I first started traveling, I always carried these around! Such an attractive journal too – http://matadorgoods.com/abroad-a-travel-organizer-and-journal/
January 25th, 2010 at 5:52 pm
I’m a big fan of the travel journal – in fact they are some of my favorite books! I started keeping them way back before the internet era and still keep them, even during weekend travels. There’s nothing like flipping through and reading about the magic of kayaking with 90 Orca whales in the San Juan Islands in 1997 or comparing the two experiences I had at Ayers Rock – in 1995 and 2007.
Travelers have more options these days with sharing their adventures with friends and family in the form of blogs, but there are many parts of your journey that you would want to keep for yourself, and that’s where the journal is great.
It is also a great avenue on a path to self-discovery, which travel is for many people. A wonderful book that can help you embrace journaling is “Writing Away: A Creative Guide to Awakening the Journal-Writing Traveler” by Lavinia Spalding.
I recently wrote a review for our site and hope it inspires more travelers to pick up journaling!
January 25th, 2010 at 7:06 pm
Agreed. As I’m teaching my teen about blogging for her site, we’re realizing how many details slip our minds. When you’re “on location,” you always think the memories will stick somehow, but only the biggies seem to remain. Details fade away… Love my Moleskin but will check out this other you rec!
January 25th, 2010 at 9:40 pm
Agree completely. I can’t imagine my life without a journal – travel or not. I especially agree with #4. There have been so many times when my journals have been pulled out over family dinners to settle arguments about what we saw where and when on road trips way back in the day.
January 25th, 2010 at 9:48 pm
Absolutely – first thing I pack, alongside any camera kit.
( Of course, always have one with me wherever I go, home or away )
I love the moleskines but put stickers or postcards on them, to make it easier to identify , post trip .
January 26th, 2010 at 4:33 am
I always use a travel journal. You never know when you will be inspired. I always seem to be inspired to write while traveling on a bus or train. Or when I am on a trek. When I write with a pen in my hand, I am more creative. Plus, I always write down every detail in my journal, names of people, costs of admission etc. Funny, I have a guest post for http://www.travel-writers-exchange.com coming out in a couple of weeks and I too mentioned the value of a journal:)
January 26th, 2010 at 3:32 pm
Absolutely! I wouldn’t dream of traveling without my moleskine. #1 is the most important reason for me. Memories fade pretty quickly, and details are lost. Sometimes when I reread my old journals it blows me away that I’ve forgotten a really cool incident that I was sure at the time I would never forget. I like to jot down prices of things when I travel, too, so I can share that information with others, so they know what to expect when they travel to the same place.
January 26th, 2010 at 6:25 pm
My goodness – so again, it is unanimous and I’m right.
Thanks for the thumbs up everyone. It is interesting to see so many Moleskine writers. But check out the other Abroad organiser too – it is *very* cool, I assure you.
Lola, I hadn’t seen that review before – great minds think alike!
And Dave/Deb, feel free to quote me in your article for TWE.
January 26th, 2010 at 6:30 pm
But…travel journals can get lost or stolen. Make sure you transcribe your notes into an email to yourself or google docs every so often. I learned that one the hard way: http://gomadnomad.com/2009/12/16/getting-robbed-at-knife-point/
January 26th, 2010 at 6:40 pm
I’m a big believer in keeping a travel journal as it helps you on your path to self-discovery, which traveling is all about in my opinion! Plus there are things you will want to write in your journal but not share with the rest of the world through a blog. And there is nothing like flipping through your old journals to see how far you have come in your personal journey.
A great book that can help people make the most of keeping a travel journal is “Writing Away” by Lavinia Spalding. I recently reviewed Lavinia’s book and reflected on why I love my travel journals so much: http://briefcasetobackpack.com/2009/10/favorite-books-my-travel-journals/
And personally, I like wirebound, black covered sketchbooks. The ringed-binding allows me to open up to any page easily (offering a flat surface) and the thickness of the paper allows for easy writing and sketching. I find the 5”x7” size is perfect if I want to add postcards to my pages – allowing for some visual elements to my words.
January 26th, 2010 at 11:25 pm
Oh Stephen, I’m really sorry to hear that. Not fun!
January 31st, 2010 at 2:55 pm
[...] Sharing Travel Experiences explains why everyone should carry a travel journal. For travel writers and bloggers, it’s an obvious suggestion, but I love the comment that the journal itself becomes a souvenir. I love journals, and am always picking up one for my next trip. [...]
February 1st, 2010 at 12:55 pm
Everybody absolutely must have at least small notepad especialy if you on long trip. You are right about memory. What is very clear today, will be forgotten tomorrow.
February 1st, 2010 at 2:18 pm
[...] Write. Andy Hayes lists five reasons why you should carry a travel journal, writing: With real time networks like Twitter and Facebook, some may call for the death knell of travel journals. But there’s something about the blank page after a wonderful travel experience that social media just can’t capture. Read his post here. [...]
February 19th, 2010 at 10:11 pm
I wish I could travel more. I love it. Unfortunately I have to work
I’ve journaled when I did travel to Brazil several times. I love the fact that I have those memories recorded. For me, if I don’t record stuff AS IT HAPPENS, the details are immediately lost, and the vague general impressions even fade over time. I find journaling to be absolutely necessary and a powerful tool to my mental and spiritual health and vitality. I’ll probably be journaling for the rest of my life!
My current favorite traveler journal is the Pentalic Traveler’s Sketch Book. They come in a variety of bold and pastel colors and in 3 nice sizes. I like the small ones because I can fit them in my pocket. The paper is a nice 60lb sketch, very smooth. Perfect for dry media as well as various inks. I primarily write on them with Micron pens and FW ink and quills. I enjoy it greatly, and the ink doesn’t bleed through. They also open nice and flat. They have a waterproof cover and elastic enclosure (and pocket in the back for storing memorable things).
I just wish there was a way to journal “automatically”! It takes so long… but then, even that is an exercise in being disciplined, not to get caught up in the busy-ness of this modern society… BLECK! Patience patience.
February 22nd, 2010 at 1:24 am
Phil, that’s a great suggestion, I’ll check it out. A shame we can’t automate journalling, but maybe that’s for the best.
February 26th, 2010 at 6:12 am
[...] Hayes presents 5 Reasons Why You Should Carry a Travel Journal | Sharing Travel Experiences posted at Sharing Travel Experiences, saying, “Travel is a wonderful way to inspire your [...]