Franz ElizTravellers often accumulate thousands of photos, especially after years of travelling. While it’s nice to look back at travel photos every once in a while, one can still forget some of the little details. Luckily, a travel journal can help store a lot of information about travel experiences, and I recommend any traveller to have one.
Having a travel journal is essential as it helps you jot down details about your trip, from travel expenses to travel experiences. It’s easy to forget even the little details, especially as we age. By having a travel journal, you can look back at your life’s lessons and experiences.
While you can do your journaling on a mobile device, I always recommend using a physical journal instead, or both. Keep reading as we explore 8 reasons to have a travel journal.
1. It’s a Great Way To Jot Down Details About Your Travel
A travel journal will come in handy even before starting a trip. Instead of planning a trip via a travel app, use a journal instead. Some might find writing with pen and paper a hassle as it’s easy to make errors (such as typos) while writing. But typos can be fixed with a simple eraser or liquid paper.
Use your journal to write what you’re feeling before, during, and after your trip. Are you excited about your trip? Are you upset because someone tried to scam you? What did you learn on a particular day? And so on.
I like to jot down the names of the places I visited, the foods I ate and how much they cost, a summary of my trip for the day, and how much I spent that day. By journaling all these, I can determine:
- whether or not I got the most bang for my buck,
- if I would like to revisit the destination,
- whether I would recommend anything particular from my trip,
- And if it’s a worthwhile trip, overall.
2. You Can Reserve Stories Only for Your Own Read
Everyone can describe how beautiful a country is, but they might not always see what you see. Maybe you stumble upon a hidden gem that no one discusses on the Internet. You don’t know if it has a name, but you describe it in your journal regardless. Perhaps you sit with a local person who randomly shares with you their most personal stories. Maybe you met someone on the road and became romantically involved.
A travel journal will allow you to reminisce on these experiences, as vividly as you describe them in your journal. And if you prefer to keep these details all to yourself, you can. The world doesn’t always need to know everything about you.
3. Maybe You Want To Become a Travel Blogger
If you want to become a travel blogger, a journal is a must-have item for the road. Information gained from the trip can guide you on how to write your blog posts. This information also adds a personal touch to your write-ups.
Every travel experience is unique. While the Internet may be flooded with millions of blog posts from around the world, your stories will always be uniquely yours. From your travel experiences, you can share travel tips you’ve acquired from the road.
Perhaps someday you’ll be able to monetize your blog or land on partnership opportunities with local businesses. To start, you’ll need experience and content!
4. Your Travel Photos Won’t Be Left Forgotten
Often, we take photos, even hundreds or thousands of them per trip, and end up not looking back at them. Sure, some of these pictures may see the light of day when posted to social media with friends and family. However, most probably would slowly be forgotten in social media albums, cloud storage, or hard drives.
Even though soft copies of your images make great souvenirs and will never collect dust, they might lose meaning the longer they’re kept away. When you look back at these pictures, you might not even remember where they were taken, who you were with at the time, or why you took those pictures in the first place.
5. You Can Use a Travel Journal To Record Your Dreams
While living your dream of travelling the world, you may also encounter all kinds of dreams at night as you sleep. Your dreams may be related to your life’s situation or emotions at the time. It might be a good idea to record your dreams. Some people do this so they can look back at their dreams and study them.
For some, dreams are like visions. I have a friend who uses his dreams to help him make decisions. He often travels and changes his location. Often, his dreams help him decide where to go next. This might seem weird, but hey, it works for some people.
6. A Travel Journal Helps You Fill Up Your Time
Flight delayed? If you don’t have any entertainment (like an iPod or a storybook), create your own entertainment. If you have a travel journal, you can use it to write down your thoughts.
For example, you can write about the situation at the airport. Write about the people you see, anything funny that happens there, or whatever problems you might have. If you must rant in your journal, go ahead. Just let it all out. Expressing your feelings can help you overcome stressful situations.
Apart from logging in your travel stories, you can also update your journal and plan upcoming trips. If you’re a travel blogger, you can also use your journal to plan your blog content. Or, you can use your travel journal to write down words and phrases you learned while exploring a country.
7. It Can Help You Discover the Writer in You
Even if you’re not a professional writer, you can benefit from writing every day. Writing every day helps you explore your thoughts and perhaps, helps you discover your passion for writing.
Many long-term travellers found themselves writing books, whether guide books or books inspired by their encounters on the road. Soon enough you, too, might be compelled to write a book or blog.
It takes a lot of practice to become a good writer. I have an Italian friend who often shares his travel thoughts and experiences through his blog. The posts are detailed and very expressive. It’s easy to see how immersed he is in every place and culture he explores. I believe he’s already written hundreds of posts. With every practice, he gets better.
8. Because Eventually We’ll All Age and Start To Forget Things
You might have seen a movie scene in which an elderly with Alzheimer’s is being reminded about something they did or someone they met in the past. However, they can’t recall any encounter with the mentioned. It’s an example of what our brains could become as we age. Even if you don’t catch Alzheimer’s, your memories may not be as sharp as it once was.
Forgetfulness doesn’t just affect senior citizens; it also affects young people. It’s a sign of ageing and is a common phenomenon as we age. Imagine forgetting all the fun things you did in the past with friends, the nice food you had with the love of your life, the many family holidays, and so on. It would be such a shame to have muddy memories of them.
If you write those things in a journal, you can look back at them in their raw and most honest form. When you write, you don’t care about impressing others or worry about others not liking your content. You write for you. Next time your memories start to get cloudy, you can always turn to your travel journal to refresh your memory.
What Travel Journal Should You Use?
You can use any journal of your choice. Even a simple notebook is good for the job. You can decorate it however you like. Moleskin notebooks are an excellent choice if you’re looking for a notebook with a high-quality cover and paper. I recommend getting a journal with a durable cover.
This Biuwory Lined Journal Notebook (available on Amazon.com) is an excellent choice. It has a faux leather cover, with 256 80Gsm acid-free pages. This book comes in various colours, including black and blue. It’s perfect for those who aren’t fans of hard-cover books.
This medium Classic Hard Cover Moleskin Notebook (also on Amazon.com) is another option worth considering. It has a hard cover, with smooth, high-quality paper. The book is only 11.94 x 1.78 x 18.54 cm, so it won’t take up much space in your travel pack. But if you prefer something bigger, opt for L instead.
Final Thoughts
Consider getting a travel journal for your trips if you don’t have any. Writing down your thoughts is good brain exercise, and you can also benefit from preserving travel details and stories that you might want to look back again next time. Writing also helps you cope with the stress that sometimes comes with travelling.
A travel journal doesn’t need to be expensive. A simple and affordable notebook will do the job. Use a travel journal to compile as many trips as you can. Get more journals when the one you have has been fully utilised.
