50 Tips & Ideas To Create a Beautiful Traveller’s Journal

Not only do they serve as a way of documenting your time away, but they can be a valuable tool for self reflection and personal growth. Spending time charting your experiences, thoughts and feelings while you are away from home has an almost magical ability to expand both your inner and outer horizons. Whether you are a seasoned traveller or a newbie, this guide will offer you the best travel journal ideas, tips and prompts so you can create a work of art that encapsulates your adventures perfectly. H2 What is a travel journal? A travel journal is quite simply a journal that you write in while you are travelling. It’s a place to record your experiences, thoughts, feelings and reflections while you explore different parts of the world. You have full creative control over the way your travel journal looks and you can draw, paint, write, collage and include photographs.  In its essence, a travel journal is a creative documentation of your journey that captures your memories, keeping them safe so you can cherish them for years to come. Making the most of your memoir is super easy if you decide to use an app like Travel Diaries. You’ll find all kinds of cool layout options to suit your aesthetic preferences and features like photo integration to match your personal style. It’s like working on your own personal book that you can have printed and hold in your hands when you get home. And, the best part about using our app is that you never have to worry about losing your journal and all your precious memories. Your unforgettable experiences are stored safely where you’ll always be able to reach them, no matter if you are at the top of a mountain, or sunning yourself on a tropical beach.   H2 Why should I keep a travel journal? There are so many reasons why keeping a travel journal is a brilliant idea. It’s something you will always cherish and many people look back on them decades later with such delight. If you are still deciding on whether a travel journal is right for you, here are a few reasons why you should definitely keep one.  H3 Preserve your most precious memories Our lives are so full of memories and it can be easy to forget moments that you think you’ll remember forever. By having a tangible keepsake that chronicles your big adventures you’ll be able to relive those experiences every time you flip through the pages.  H3 Hone your powers of observation The act of documenting your surroundings helps you to sharpen your observation skills. Learning to pay attention and stay attuned to your environment is a valuable skill. You’ll find yourself noticing incredible things you might have missed. H3 Learn to stay present Journaling in general is a mindfulness practice that can encourage you to really be in the moment. Keeping a travel journal will help you stay present and immersed in the magic of your adventures. H3 Deepen your creativity Finding new ways to express yourself and document your experiences through writing, drawing, painting or collaging can provide an incredible outlet for creativity. You might find that you love collage, maybe you discover a special knack for painting leaves, or perhaps there’s a poet in there ready to wax lyrical about the sights and sounds of new terrain. H3 Practice self-reflection Whether you are naturally introspective or not, keeping a travel journal with all your thoughts and feelings will help you gain valuable insights. Having the time to really get to know yourself is precious and broadens your perspectives. H3 Organise your thoughts and experiences Travelling can be hectic and sometimes it can feel like your head is in a whirl. Using travel journal ideas helps you to organise your thoughts and experiences, making sense of your travels and the processes you are going through.  H3 Enhance personal growth Navigating your way through newfound cultures and experiences facilitates personal growth in a way that no other experience can. Your travel journal is a place to explore these moments more deeply, finding out how they might shift and change how you relate to yourself, others and the wider world. H3 Create a precious keepsake For many people who travel a lot, their travel journals are themost treasured memento of the whole adventure. You’ll be able to hold the essence of your adventures in your hands, with your fingers tracing over the memories for years to come. You’ll be able to show your friends and family the photos and stories of your travels, sharing the unforgettable with them. Reduce your stress Travelling isn’t always easy-breezy. There are often challenges and unexpected obstacles that demand a clear head and some flexibility. Having a place to vent is invaluable and your travel journal can provide an outlet for stress and offer somewhere safe for you to emotionally process. Stimulate your memory When we go over our days it actually helps to improve our memories. Writing, drawing and generally documenting your travel experiences will enhance your memory retention so you’ll be able to recall even the smallest details of your day. Sometimes there is so much richness in the details that seem insignificant at first.  Different ideas for travel journals If you’ve never kept a travel journal before or are looking for some new travel journal ideas then take a look through some of these suggestions for making your memoir into aesthetically pleasing personalised work of art. Art travel journal ideas Even if you don’t consider yourself to be particularly artistic there are some lovely aesthetic travel journal ideas that will help you create visually stunning pages. Use watercolours as a backdrop to your writing Sketch out your surroundings rather than simply describing them with words Try a page with mixed media. Use poetry, paint and pens to document your day. Experiment with drawing your meal and writing a poem about how it tasted. Writing travel journal ideas There is great power in simply writing out what you are experiencing. Become a storyteller and bring your world to life on the page.  Try out writing exercises like free writing where you just let the words tumble out onto the empty. Pick a few keywords that encapsulate a particular day then do some free writing around those particular words. Describe your surroundings in minute detail. What does it smell like there? Can you taste anything? How do you feel when you look out into the distance? What can you hear? Is there music in the wind? Collage travel journal ideas Collaging is a really beautiful art form and it’s easy to make it look great on your travel journal pages. Collect items from your travels like ticket stubs, postcards, wrappers and restaurant menus and stick them into your journal. Try arranging your memorabilia so that you have a postcard paired with the bus ticket you got to take you there. You can arrange your collage and fill in any blank spaces with words that remind you of your trip. Natural travel journal ideas If you are on a more nature based trip then taking inspiration from the natural world can give your travel journal a totally unique look infused with the beauty of nature. Collect different colour leaves and stick them into your pages. You can then write around them which adds depth and artistic flair to your text. Take a long walk out in nature and pick and press flowers that you find on your stroll. Stick them down on your travel journal pages or take photos and upload them to the pages of your Travel Diaries app for a botanical inspired keepsake. Feathers also look really beautiful in travel journals, they are a symbol for the freedom of travel after all. Layout ideas for your travel journal Keep your journal visually interesting and intriguing page by page by experimenting with different layouts.  Double page entry You could try using one double page spread per entry and incorporate images, stickers, or a focal point to draw your eye to a particular place on the page. Add splashes of colour and drawings to really spice up the space on the page. Add text boxes Whether you use a physical travel journal or one of the many layouts in your Travel Diaries app, put poignant phrases and quotes in a frame to make them stand out. Write with your page in landscape Try turning your travel journal around so you write with the page in landscape sometimes. This provides a new visual element to your journal.  Divide your pages You could divide your page into four sections and paint one section, collage another, write a poem in one corner and sketch someone's face in the last section. Always include pictures Photos will always hold a special significance to your travel journal. They give a visual focal point that anchors you to the experience. Whenever you add a photo, whether it’s stuck in a book or uploaded into your app, make sure you write something about it. Where were you? Who else was there? Who took the picture? How does it feel to look at the photo? Tips for creating a beautiful travel journal Beautiful travel journals don’t happen by mistake. Part of what makes them so special is the intention behind them and the attention you give to making it look beautiful. Here are some of the best aesthetic travel journal ideas that will help you make something you can cherish forever. Take your time Don't try to rush through the process — take the time to savour each moment and capture your experiences thoughtfully and mindfully in your journal. Think about the feeling you want to capture on each page and set aside some dedicated time each day to spend curating your travel journal. Use journal prompts to keep your content varied (link to the journal prompts blog) Here are 5 of the top travel journal prompts to get you started. If you want more prompts for inspo, be sure to check out this (link here perhaps?) post which has over 80 different travel journal prompts for before, during, and after your adventure. Describe the most memorable encounter you had over the last couple of days. Maybe you met a fascinating fisherman, or you were lucky enough to have an exotic bird visit your balcony. Write about it in detail. a memorable encounter you had during your travels. Describe your current surroundings in detail. What does it smell like? What can you hear? What colours and shapes can you see? Write about a place you visited that took your breath away. What was so special about it? Describe the differences between where you are and your home. What makes it so different? Is it the landscape? The people? The food? Share the funniest or most embarrassing thing that’s happened to you or your travelling buddy so far. Use a combo of collage, writing and drawing One of the best ways to make a travel journal that’s beautiful to look at is to combine different creative techniques on your pages. Bringing together collage, writing and drawing adds depth and variety to your journal and creates a dynamic narrative of your travels. Choosing the right format for your travel journal Some people love to write by hand and others prefer the phone, tablet or laptop. No one way is superior to another, it’s entirely dependent on your personal tastes and preferences. It’s your travel journal and you get to choose exactly how you create it. Online travel journals There is something so reassuring about storing all your memories digitally. It means you can relax and not worry about forgetting your journal or losing mementos from your trip. All you need to do is write into your app, take pics of every special item and upload them onto the platform and voila! You can easily update your journal entries, add in pieces of information you might have previously forgotten and you can do it anywhere there’s an internet connection (which is basically the entire planet). There’s also the added benefit of never having to rummage for a pen to scribble down a new idea, thought or feeling. Offline travel journals Using a traditional journal gives a more tactile and intimate way to document your time travelling. There's something so lovely about taking your journal out while you are gazing at an awe inspiring view, or taking some moments of solitude with a sunset.  Being able to physically interact with your journal does feel special. There is a unique feeling you get from turning a real page, tracing your fingers over photos and old bus tickets that tell a highly personal story of your adventures. The ultimate combo with Travel Diaries app If you want the best of both worlds then definitely use an app like Travel Diaries. You don’t have to make any compromises and can create a visually stunning travel journal that you can print out and hold in your hands as a physical memoir of everything you did while away.  You still get all the conveniences of digital journaling, i.e, no more freak outs about misplaced photos, lost pages, or missing mementos, with the added benefit of being able to get your travel journal as a real book when you get back home.  Travel journaling is such an enriching experience and will safeguard your most memorable travel experiences, adding depth, self-discovery and personal growth to an already unforgettable trip. Equipped with the travel journal ideas we’ve shared in this blog we hope you feel inspired to go out into the world and create something that lets your uniqueness shine through. You are the only one who can see through your eyes, so become the storyteller of your life, capture those remarkable moments, and enjoy your adventures!