10 steps to start a travel journal. There’s something magical about flipping through an old travel journal.
The faded train ticket from Italy, the pressed flower from a hike in the Alps, the coffee stain from that little café in Paris, those tiny details instantly transport you back to moments you might otherwise have forgotten.
Key Takeaways
- Decide why you’re keeping a travel journal to clarify your purpose.
- Choose a notebook and pen that you love to encourage regular use.
- Collect small memories like tickets and pressed flowers during your travels.
- Write a little each day, capturing simple details and feelings.
- Don’t worry about perfection; focus on making journaling a fun habit.
Table of contents
- 1. Decide Why You’re Keeping a Journal
- 2. Choose a Notebook You’ll Love
- 3. Pick One Pen
- 4. Pack a Tiny Journaling Kit
- 5. Collect Small Memories
- 6. Write a Little Every Day
- 7. Don’t Wait Until You’re Back Home
- 8. Leave Empty Space
- 9. Stop Trying to Make It Instagram Perfect
- 10. Make It a Habit
- To Recap What You Need:
The hardest part isn’t keeping a travel journal.
It’s starting one.
The good news? You don’t need artistic talent, beautiful handwriting, or expensive supplies. In this guide, I’ll walk you through ten simple steps to help you create a travel journal that’s uniquely yours.
1. Decide Why You’re Keeping a Journal
There are so many reasons why you’d want to keep a journal so I’m listing just a few possible reasons. For me it’s all of the below really.
- Remember places
- Preserve emotions
- Sketching
- Collecting tickets (and other emphemera
Simone’s tip: Don’t try to make it perfect. Make it personal.
2. Choose a Notebook You’ll Love
When I started out with travel journalling (you can see a couple of my older journals in the post about starting a travel journal) I mostly used cheap notebooks. I soon found out that they tend to fall apart easily so I switched to Moleskine notebooks.
I still use and own loads of those and I love them. They’re pretty durable and despite popular belief they do hold up quite well with fountain pens. Ever since the leather covers became popular a couple of years back I am obsessed and own way too many of those! But as far as notebooks go these are some of my favorites
- Travelers notebook inserts
- Moleskine
- Leuchtturm 1976
- Sterling Ink inserts
- MD notebooks
- Field notes (A6)
My preferred size of notebooks is usually A5 or A5 slim. For on-the-go notes I love using A6. For that I have both field notes as well as the MD notebooks. Field notes is pretty slim so I tend to fill those quickly but for my A6 I prefer to keep the inserts relatively slim. Otherwise I’ll forget where I’ve kept my notes!
3. Pick One Pen
Now we can talk about pens for days on end. I mean…. have a look at my home office and you will quickly see that I am obsessed with pens. I already told you about the perfect fountain pen to start with but of course you absolutely don’t need a fountain pen!
You also don’t need 20 pens. That said; whenever I travel I carry at least a few, because pens do run out. Especially with the amount of words I manage to turn out during a longer trip. So I have 2-3 regular pens, one or two Tombow markers for headings and highlighting text. You don’t even need that. The only thing you really need is that one pen.
A couple of favorites:
- Kaweco Sport
- Sharpie
- Sakura Pigma Micron (these are waterproof and perfect for making little drawings in your travel journal)
- Uniball
- Bic (perfect budget option)
So one or possibly two reliable pens is really enough to get going.
4. Pack a Tiny Journaling Kit
I absolutely love a Soolla studio pouch to create a small journaling kit on the go. They’re pretty small and more convenient that a regular pen case. You can safely store all your stickers, glue, scissors, washi, paper clips and your pens in the one pouch. Delphonics has some good ones too that are a little bulkier.
What is in my journaling kit?
- notebook – while I do carry a small (A6) notebook in my Soolla pouch, my A5 Paper Republic that I always bring with me for traveling fits but it would fill the entire pouch so I keep that one separate. The rest goes in)
- pen(s)
- glue tape – I like a glue tape but a glue stick works as well
- mini scissors
- stickers – all the stickers! I carry those in a sticker release book which is also added to my paper republic)
- washi tape – You can bring washi tape rolls or you can simply wrap a few strips around a card for easier use.
- paper clips
- mini printer – I have one of those little portable printers (I have a HP Sprocket) for printing photos of the day.
5. Collect Small Memories
One of the fun parts of travel journaling is all the little bits and pieces you can collect during your travels. I have to say that in this digital age tickets are no longer available everywhere but if at all possible I will get a paper ticket.
Some other things I collect:
- tickets (plane tickets, event tickets. All tickets really)
- maps (a lot of hotels have free maps of the city that you can use and cut out as needed)
- hotel cards (business cards and the like)
- coffee sleeves (depending on how thick they are)
- business cards
- pressed flowers (I love keeping pretty flowers pressed in my journal whenever I get the chance. Ideally you want to have them in between two layers of paper towels but toilet paper works as well. Once you’re home they’re usually dry enough to stick in your journal
- food labels
- receipts
- stamps
I stick them on in the page I am writing on that day, although I’ve seen people collect them per day and assemble their travel journal after the trip. That’s not me. I like to write while I am traveling but both work.
6. Write a Little Every Day
You don’t HAVE to write every day. And even if you do it can be as little as a few notes about that day. You don’t have to write a whole novel. Even though I do. 😉
It could be as simple as writing the below:
- today’s weather
- funniest moment
- best meal
- favorite view
Five minutes is essentially enough. And more is always fine.
7. Don’t Wait Until You’re Back Home
Now journaling on the go is my preferred way of making a travel journal, but there are people that finish it at home. But even if you do want to write it at home, it makes sense to have a little notebook with you and write down little bullet points so you don’t forget any of the little details.
Even if you think you will remember it is surprising how soon memories fade!
8. Leave Empty Space
Make sure that you leave enough space in your journal for adding photos, stickers, postcards and whatever other little things you want to add.
The more you add to the journal the more it comes alive. Your journal will grow during the trip!
9. Stop Trying to Make It Instagram Perfect
I am entirely guilty of this one. I tend to follow a couple of instagram planner girls and boys and I’ve seen so many beautiful pages that I would love to recreate. But my style is not their style and vice versa, so forget about making it instagram perfect.
You can if you want to, but it is really not a requirement. The messiest pages in my journals are about some of the happiest memories. And that’s what counts!
- crossed-out words
- coffee stains
- crooked tickets
Those are often the pages people love most years later.
10. Make It a Habit
Starting travel journaling is all about making it a habit. Wether you will spend 5 minutes every day writing down the things you did that day or spending a bit more time writing an extensive entry. I love writing in the morning ánd in the evening right before I go to bed.
It’s part of my travel and I love writing it down. Sometimes the day gets so busy that I don’t have time but I always try and make time. Even if it’s just 5 minutes.
To Recap What You Need:
At the very least you will need a notebook and a pen. That’s really all that is essential. Everything else is a bonus. Bring as much or as little as feels comfortable for you..
Common Beginner Mistakes
- Buying too much stationery
- Waiting for inspiration
- Comparing your journal to Instagram
- Trying to decorate every page
- Forgetting to date entries
- Not writing names of restaurants or people
- Throwing away tickets
FAQ Starting a Travel Journal
You can absolutely use any kind of notebook you want for starting a travel journal. Wether you prefer lined, dotted or blank.
For me that is an A5 notebook or a regular Travelers size notebook (N1) It needs to be big enough to hold maps, photos, card etc. But if you prefer an A6 that’s a great option too.
Absolutely not. I love drawing in my travel journal and I’m planning on getting better at it, but it’s certainly not a must.
Ideally yes. Even if it is just a few bullet point of what you did that day and how you felt about it. You might forget details if you don’t.
Yes! I do that as well. I use Polar Steps for tracking my route or Day One. I love Polar Steps as it’s an easy way to have friends and family follow along. I just add a few notes there. My actual journal is written.
What of it? It’s your journal and it does NOT have to be pretty. I’ve written entire pages while driving in a bus (not behind the wheel obviously) and those pages are all over the place. But I don’t care. It’s the memories that kind. Including all the mess.
Any pen that you like to write with is a good pen for travel. One thing to keep in mind is that some fountain pens start leaking if you have to travel by plane. I love my TWSBI fountain pens but I never bring them along for travel. Not anymore, after a recent trip to Indonesia where they had a serious case of spilled ink.
Embrace the bulkiness! If you really don’t like your journal to be bulky I would keep one journal per trip and make sure the notebook you use does not have too many pages. But if you want to collect all the things it IS going to get bulky. I love that, but of course you can be a bit more restraint when adding things. Up to you!
