Keeping a journal while you travel is an excellent way to preserve your memories and reflect on your trip. It is always nice to reminisce over old memories, and there’s something special about physically holding a journal in your hand rather than scrolling on the phone.
Whether furiously scribbling into a notebook or creating a collage, travel journaling is cathartic and creative. Journaling is a great habit, especially when aiming to be more present and adventurous in new and unfamiliar places.
Here are some prompts and creative ideas to inspire your next travel journal.
Prompts for Travel Journaling
Using prompts is one of the easiest ways to get started. These can guide your thoughts and help you focus on the ideas and themes that are the most important to you. Choose prompts encouraging you to be more curious, present, or grateful.
Some examples of questions include:
- What do I gain from this trip?
- How would I describe the atmosphere of a specific location I visited today?
- What cultural differences or similarities have I noticed during my trip?
- What were the most memorable scents and flavors of the day?
- What do I plan on doing differently the next time I travel?
Get a Postcard for Every Day
Creatively document your trip by using postcards rather than a traditional journal. You can get a postcard every day of your trip and write something short and sweet on the back. Not only will this make writing less intimidating every day, but you’ll also get some cute mementos for different sites and cities.
You can even take this one step further by returning the postcards to your home address before you board your flight. The postcards will arrive after you return, and it’s like receiving letters from your past self.
Use a Guided Travel Journal
Oftentimes, the most challenging part about keeping a journal while you travel is the actual writing part. Instead of relying on your stream of consciousness and willpower, following prompts that ask you about the most important, memorable, or interesting parts of your travels can be helpful.
If you want to make it as simple as possible, opt for a structured journal designed for documenting travels. This one by Nomadic Matt and Raimee Travels has daily prompts about crazy foods, fascinating people, or lessons learned. This makes it easy to document each day’s adventures, and you’ll have all of your travel memories in one book.
Glue in Your Favorite Memories
With just one little glue stick, you can take your journaling to a new level. This is an easy way to reuse the little things we usually throw away, like museum tickets, business cards, or brochures. They add interesting textures and visuals to your journal and are a treat to flip through when you reminisce on your trip.
Buy a Mini Watercolor Kit
Mini watercolor kits are easy to carry around in your bag yet fun to play with. The great thing about watercolor is that it’s not about capturing what things look like exactly; it’s about expressing your feelings through color and motion. You can sketch the view from your window or relax and doodle based on the colors around you.
A significant bonus is that drawing and painting are great for your mental health. Besides, we all want to be the mysterious traveler painting in the park.
Make it a Team Effort
Get others involved in your travel journal to bring something fresh and unexpected. You can dedicate pages to the people you meet and/or the ones you came with. From there, it’s up to you whether you want to structure this by giving everyone the same prompt or by letting them go crazy with doodles and inside jokes.
Reading these notes almost feels like being back in school when everyone would sign your yearbook. Traveling is such a memorable experience to share with people, and these notes immortalize shared joys between the bindings of your humble journal.
