Keeping a Travel Journal to Capture Memories of Your Vacation

When I was twenty my grandmother invited me to Europe for two weeks. I’d never been overseas before and was excited about the trip. When I told one of my professors about my upcoming travels he suggested to me: “Keep a journal”. More than ten years later I am so grateful for his suggestion, as I can look back on my memories of this first trip to Europe captured in my journal.

Keeping a travel journal is very simple. Bring a journal with you on your vacation and record things of interest to you. What is so interesting is that what captures your eye may not be the tourist attractions but some small detail, something in your hotel room or a conversation you overhear in the elevator, or perhaps something about the transportation system. Your journal is the best souvenir you could bring back from a vacation, as it will be the most personal.

It is a great idea to select a journal style that appeals to you. Whether it is lined or unlined paper, or a leather cover or one with a canvas cover - pick up a journal that feels good in your hands. The size of your journal is also important. Some people feel that a travel journal should be small, and very portable. But other people prefer to work with a larger sized journal. My journal has always been about 8 ½" x 11" like a regular size of paper and that is the size I prefer. I haven’t found any real challenges with transporting it, it fits well into a backpack. A good tip is to get some type of waterproof cover for your journal - like a heavy weight plastic bag with a good seal or one of those plastic envelopes that you can find at a stationary store. You never know when something in your bag could leak out, or it could start to rain – and this could just ruin your journal.

Consider also carrying extra plastic bags or plastic envelopes to bring back brochures and postcards in to put in your journal. You will probably find things during the day that you will want to paste into your journal at night in your hotel. Having something easy to transport them in is half the battle.