I enjoy traveling. Also, I am lucky to have visited many places in the United States and a few places outside of the United States. It doesn’t matter how long or far a trip is, the best way to get the most out of it is with a journal (you guessed it)! Travel is such a fun topic to write about. But, if you haven’t tried it yet, then you’ll need a simple plan to document and reflect on your experience while you are traveling! This is some of the best journaling you’ll have.
Travel Journal vs. Journaling While Traveling
My approach is much different than folks that plan trips with a journal. I’ve traveled with people who have every minute of every day planned out. They seem driven to out run all of “their” tourist competitors. Like they are wining if every minute is executed as planned. They believe they are better at everything and they have the sweat rings under their arms to prove it! So, if you are reading for help on planning an epic moment by moment trip, you’ve got the wrong guy. I need some freedom to explore options while on the trip. It’s like white space and margins in my journal, I need plenty of it to feel good about it.
The journaling while traveling technique
When I travel, whether there are 2 of us or 7 of us, I like to get into a morning routine that supports “warming up” to the day. It typically involves coffee and something to eat, but mostly coffee. During this time, I like to discuss with my adventure team what the plan is for the day. During this time I write a list of everything we want to do. Because I’m a more “relaxed” traveler not everything on the list gets done. Even so I have collected what I want and my adventure team wants (family). I do my best to put them in chronological order so at least we have a little planning and use our time efficiently.
The list might go like this (Christmas trip to Florida):
- Go to the beach after breakfast to walk and be in the ocean.
- Hang out at the beach until lunch.
- Come back to VRBO for a ham sandwiches, shower, and clean up.
- Visit the Lighthouse park and museum.
- Visit that coffee and chocolate shop we heard about.
- Come back to VRBO for a naps and screen time
- Pizza from Fagnoni’s for dinner
- After dinner quite hours.
For me, this is a very busy day. Sometimes there might only be one event other than eating. But! It’s close to what it would look like for my trips. Once you’ve got your plan, it’s time to make it happen (or at least try to make it happen).
Next is the key part of my travel journaling experience.
While having fun during the day, I try to collect souvenirs. I take pictures, keep receipts and brochures, and all sorts of little things to put in my journal. One of my favorite things are colorful drink coasters. If there is a map, a coupon, or even the wrapper off of an ice cream cone I keep it. Just like I’ve recommended in other articles to “jot” down everything that capture your attention. You should collect little things as you go along that capture your attention.
I love it when a plan comes together
See how I build in “8. After dinner quite hours” into the day? That is when I pull out all my little souvenirs for the day and put them in my journal. I write about anything that didn’t go as planned. About anything that DID go as planned, and anything we did that wasn’t on the plan. I take time to reflect about interactions I had with my adventure team and how I felt during each event. At the end of the trip you have a daily journal of everything that happened and lots of little treasures as well.
I’ve done this on big trips (10 days in South America) and I’ve done it on overnight road trips. It works on camping trips, hiking trips, all sorts of adventures. Would you give this technique a try on your next trip? I’d love to hear how works out for you. If you have a picture of your journal after a trip with a bunch of “treasures” stuffed in it, I would love to see it too.
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