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Easily add stories to your diary in our online editor or app, which have been designed to look like an actual book. Choose from numerous fonts and styles to design your travel diary according to your own taste.

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After adding a text (or several texts), you can continue formatting the diary by choosing different layouts. Place a layout on the desired page and fill the grey areas with photos, maps or other features.

Add photos and maps

A travel journal is not complete without photos and maps! Click on a grey area and add an image, picture or map. You can place pins on the map to indicate certain locations or specify an entire travel route.

Share your diary

You choose which – if any – of your chapters you’d like to share with friends and family. Once you share them, they are automatically converted into an online travel blog that you can share with the world.

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A Little Adrift Travel Blog

A Little Journal… These Digital Travel Diary Apps Are Worth Your Time

Last updated on January 4, 2024 by Shannon

As travel enthusiasts, we yearn to capture the essence of extraordinary travel moments and freeze them in time. We even want those mundane details preserved—what was the name of that hilarious taxi driver who shuttled you from the airport to your guesthouse?

If you’ve logged those details in a travel journal, you don’t have to remember—that’s where travel journaling apps come in, offering a digital travel scrapbook that easily documents even the craziest travel adventures.

online travel diaries

I’ve been traveling the world for 15 years, writing, photographing, and sharing my travel stories from the first day. That means I have pretty high expectations when it comes to using digital travel diaries meant to preserve the memories of your expeditions. Here’s what you need to know about the best online travel journal apps available.

Table of Contents

What are Digital Travel Diaries?

reflecting on Loch Ness about what to write in my travel journal app

While journaling about your travels via a paper notebook used to be called a travel log, the more modern equivalent is an online travel journaling app. That said, even diary app is just a new way to log the most important moments of your travels—and the mundane ones too.

Travel journals essential just document your experiences, capturing your memories as you travel the world. By logging your travel memories in real time via a journaling app, you ensure the smaller details are captured.

Was it a torrential downpour on the day you had booked an “any-weather” tour of the Norwegian fjords? Log that and then share how you felt at that very moment, otherwise the details fade with time.

That’s the real magic of keeping a travel log in any form, a beloved notebook, an app, or a blog. I’ve used all three over my 15+ years of travel. This travel blog was my primary travel log, but at times I’ve used these travel apps to capture moments more immediately.

thoughtful travel journal diary  apps

And no matter my online travel journal app of choice, I always, always have a small physical journal. Even if you diligently record all of the best moments of your trip in your digital travel diary app, you should also carry a small travel journal that acts as your travel log—you use it to jot down funny off-the-cuff moments, or even just mundane details.

Perhaps you press between the pages ticket stubs, a pretty flower from your world wanders, and other small memorabilia that can’t be captured in a journaling app. It becomes a place to log currency conversions you can surreptitiously glance at when haggling at a market, or jot down lists and travel plans.

I never travel without a pocket Field Notes waterproof notebook and this Moleskine travel journal —its these two things that have allowed me to share such rich details on this blog, my personal travel log that’s been running 15 years and counting.

How to Choose an Online Travel Journal App

online travel diaries

Travel journal apps are not one-size-fits-all. The best apps offer the exact range of features you need and at a price point you can afford—which can mean free! Many journaling apps offer a free version that may just meet your needs. Often its the more sophisticated features that require a paid upgrade.

Given that you’re probably snowed under travel planning, don’t waste your time downloading every travel diary app here. To pick the right app for your travels, consider these things before you download it:

When choosing an online travel diary app, there are several factors to consider that can help you find the one that best fits your needs. Here are some tips to help you make a decision:

  • Features : Review what the journaling app actually does—what are the key features these app developers believe are the hallmarks of their app? That will tell you a lot about functionality. Standard features of most digital travel diaries include: text entry, photo and video uploading, geotagging, and weather data. Decide which features are important to you and ensure that the app provides them. Maybe you want an awesome map interface because you’re hopscotching around the world for a year ? Or you’re studying abroad you might want an app with more functionality around text and photo entries.
  • Platform Compatibility : Check if the digital journaling app is available on your preferred platforms, such as iOS, Android, web-based, and desktop. If you’re bringing both a smartphone and laptop on your travels , you may wan a travel diary app that seamlessly switches between the two devices.
  • Syncing and Backup : Consider whether the app offers syncing and backup options—and if those are free or paid features. You want access your travel diary across multiple devices, and you want it securely backed up to the cloud.
  • Export and Sharing Options : If you plan to share your travel diary with others or would like to have a backup of your entries outside of the app, check if it offers export options, such as PDF or other file formats.
  • Company Story : If the travel journaling app you’re considering using hasn’t been around for at least two-to-five years, run in the other direction. Companies, especially app makers, fold quickly. The last thing you want is an email saying you have a matter of days to download your cherished memories before they’re all deleted.

Best Travel Journaling Apps

Day One is the best travel journal app

Day One tops most of these lists because it’s actually that good—and it’s been around since 2011, so you know your travel memories are safe with this online diary app. The company has invested in a high-quality product, and updates over the years have responded to user reviews and feedback—which is enthusiastic across the board.

Its clean interface and seamless integration with iOS (both iPhones and Macs) and Android make it a joy to use. You can effortlessly capture each destination through text and photos, while popping in location data too.

Best app features : The “On This Day” functionality is neat because it doesn’t pull in the best of anything, but rather that exact moment years ago when you were on an incredible adventure out there in the world—or maybe you had logged a tasty hot chocolate at a hipster spot near that landmark you were visiting.

Either way, you’ll be transported back there in an instant and that app feature is maybe one of the strongest motivators to journal about all the big (and small) things that happen as you travel.

Cost : The free version is enough to see if you like it, but if you’re using this as your main digital travel journal then the one photo per entry restriction on free plans isn’t going to cut it. Premium is affordable though, at just under $3 per month, which buys you unlimited photos, videos, audio, drawings, and more.

Journey online journaling app

If you go all in on Journey as your travel journal app, it will become your trusted companion. Rather than being a journaling app that’s great for travel, this travel-centric journaling app goes above and beyond with its extensive features.

Geotagging allows you to pinpoint the exact location of you experiences, while the inclusion of weather data and “mood” status adds depth to entries. You can import photos from your camera roll directly into journal entires, creating vivid visual narratives of your travels.

This robust app works on iOS devices and Android phones, Mac or Windows computers, and there’s even a web app! Basically, it’s an accessible and essential tool for any travel writer seeking to document their adventures with style and precision. Not only because of the features, but also because it allows multi-media exports in PDF or doc format.

It’s also a bit cheeky and has a handy guide to what Journey offers versus Day One or Daylio .

Best app features : Stand out for many will be the features that let you automatically sync and import social media content from Instagram and the like—what a time saver! And the full text editing screen is nice—you can bold, bullet, color, or link to anything you’d like right inside the text. Surprisingly, that’s not in every diary journaling app.

But one of the neater travel-focused elements are the three views for your journal—media (where you scroll by photos), map (which shows your entries pinpointed on a map of the world) and calendar (journals organized by date).

Cost : Unlike essentially all competitors, Journey offers a one time purchase license—currently $18. You can buy a membership for ~$4.20.

Daylio is a super slick online journal app

Daylio , billed as a “simple micro-diary app,” adds an interesting twist to a travel journaling routine. As a mood and activity tracker, it enables you to record daily experiences and emotions with ease—and without writing anything. It’s an interesting way to to reflect on how your travel adventures have impacted your overall well-being .

It’s not for the hardcore travel writer, but rather, Daylio captures the essence of the travel experiences in a uniquely personal way. It’s a good companion for those seeking to intertwine their emotional journey with their physical travels. And for those who want a more streamlined diary app with fewer features and just straight to the meat of what you want to do.

Best app features : This app is dead simple to use and can be updated in under a minute thanks to the tap interface. It’s certainly not going to be the only way you record you travels, but if you’re already planning to share extensively on a Facebook or Instagram page , then this ease of use may just ensure that you use it every day.

Cost : You could get pretty far with the free version, or upgrade for just $3 per month—only the premium version supports exporting to PDF.

4. Evernote

Evernote for travel journaling

Real talk: The digital travel journal of your dreams may be something you’re already using. When it comes to versatile note-taking, Evernote reigns supreme. Its functionality goes beyond simple journaling, allowing the creation of multimedia-rich entries.

I’ve organized my entire life via Evernote—travel pans, stories, etc—and its robust features make a compelling case for this being one of the best journaling apps out there, period. Not just in travel, but in general.

As one of the best digital diary apps, you can update it seamlessly across iOS, Android, Mac, and Windows.

Best app features : Well, you could use Evernote to basically plan and execute your trip, in addition to using it as a digital journal. You can also stay ruthlessly organized.

Cost : The free version offers 60 MB monthly uploads, which is constraining for travelers looking for an online app where they could add photos and videos to Evernote itself—this would like be better if you’re embedding YouTube videos, for example, versus storing them in Evernote.

The Personal version offers a more reasonable 10 GB in monthly uploads, but costs $11/month for that perk. If you’re already paying for Evernote for other reasons then this could be an excellent online travel journal, otherwise some of the other ones are likely better priced for a traveler.

5. Travel Diaries

Travel Diaries app is not free but is very cheap

For those seeking a dedicated travel journaling app, Travel Diaries hits the mark. It’s really a truly solid option. As a travel writer, I’m captivated by its interactive features. You can easily create immersive travelogues, complete with photos, maps, and annotations.

It’s also a captivating way to showcase your journey to fellow travelers (and your family and friends back home, of course!). The ability to share your travel stories and explore others’ adventures on the platform adds a sense of community not available in the other digital travel journaling apps.

It’s available as software for web, iOS and Android, but will only work with an internet connection (either cell data or wifi)—which means this might not be the best journaling app for those going far off-the-beaten path .

Best app features : A broad range of fonts and styles allow you to design your travel diary according to your own taste, and your travel log can include itineraries, travel photos, and a traveling map. The layout as an actual travel journal is a fun and personal touch that makes it feel like your digital diary is just as capable of creativity as a blank page in front of you.

Cost : There is no free version of Travel Diaries—it’ll be a subscription for as long as you want access to your travel journal. The basic plan costs $1 a month and includes unlimited storage and is really all most travelers will need for a robust travel journal. If you want to export your stories to PDF, you’ll have to upgrade to $3 per month.

Diaro general journaling app that would work for travelers

Diaro App is a reliable companion for millions of people, not just globetrotters. This comprehensive diary app offers an array of features that elevate a travel journaling experience. Sometimes the best travel journal is, well, just a great online diary that you happen to use to document your travels.

The ability to add text, photos, tags, and organize entries into folders keeps this app well-organized—you can effortlessly find specific memories or delve into specific themes from your trips. It has a map of entry locations, which is especially important for those using this as a travel journal diary.

Diaro’s sleek interface and user-friendly design make the process of documenting adventures a true pleasure. Available on web, iOS or Android devices (with cross-device syncing via Dropbox) Diaro is a go-to app for travelers who want to capture the essence of their trip with elegance and efficiency.

Best app features : The multilingual UI (30+languages) may be a real boon for those for whom English is not their native language, but the shining standout features is just how easy it is to create a robust diary accounting for all of the key moments on your trip.

Cost : The free version has robust functionality. Upgrading to Diario Pro costs $10 per month and offers more customizability.

7. Polarsteps

Polarsteps online journal app

Polarsteps is a great travel journal app that offers automatic tracking of your journey, making it effortless to document and share your trips. With its GPS technology, the app traces your route in real-time, creating a visually appealing map of your adventure without requiring any manual input.

This feature sets Polarsteps apart from other travel journal apps, as it eliminates the need for constant updates and allows you to focus on enjoying your trip while the app takes care of recording your route—and uses minimal data and power to do so.

What truly makes Polarsteps unique is its ability to create a beautifully presented travel log that showcases your journey. This app is made for the travel photographers out there also wanting a digital travel log of their journey.

Along with the automatic tracking, the app allows you to add photos, captions, and personal insights to your entries. These elements are then combined to create a visually stunning travel journal that can be shared with friends, family, and fellow travelers. I think this is one of the prettier apps—the maps alone are just a step up from the others.

Best app features : The GPS tracking is easily the standout here. You’ll know the precise spot you took a photo, and can then include a quick note—an inside joke you shared with a friend while there, a tidbit about the day, and more. This kind of precise location data is invaluable in the months and years after you travel.

Cost : It’s free! Polarsteps offers you a printed travel journal of your trip, which is how it’s monetized.

8. Waffle Journal

Waffle Journal travel diary screenshot for iphone

Waffle Journal stands out from the rest as a a collaborative journaling app that allows you to document and share your travel experiences with others—probably those on your same trip. Its unique approach fosters collaboration, allowing friends, family, or fellow travelers to contribute to your journal. With the ability to add stories, photos, and memories, everyone can create a collective travel diary that captures the essence of your adventures.

The app goes beyond traditional journaling by integrating multimedia elements. You can include photos, videos, and audio recordings. It’s not a travel journal specifically, so you’re not going to have any of those map features the travel apps have integrated into the experience, but it could be a great option for those travel in a group, or a group of friends who just love to share their travel adventures with each other. Social sharing features make it easy to showcase your travel adventures on social media platforms or via email.

BONUS: RIP: Bonjournal

Bonjournal captured my attention many years ago for its visually stunning approach to travel journaling. As you penned your travel stories, this app transformed them into beautifully presented narratives—and it made you choose just one photo to represent your day. Which was really quite neat.

This travel journal app is no longer available! Even though other websites are still recommending it as a travel diary app, the gorgeous app that debuted more than a decade ago is no longer up and running. Instead, a new app with the same name launched in 2021—it’s not a viable alternative. This new Bon Journal diary app is glitchy and poorly rated—storing your cherished travel memories there is not a good idea.

Don’t forget a paper journal as well.

This Moleskin travel journal is well made and worth the space it will take up in your bag. There will be times you just want to put pen to paper—you’ll be glad you have an analog record of your travels too.

How to Safely Store Travel Photos and Videos

online travel diaries

These travel journaling apps are a terrific way to document your journey for personal memories, and to share with others. Although some long-term travelers create a travel blog to record their trips, using a travel diary instead is a great alternative.

You get amazing functionality and the ability to share your travel stories without the hassle of running a blog—which can get pricey and generally lacks the ability to share some stories privately with family, or keep other journal entries entirely private.

One thing all of these apps have are general constraints on how you upload, store, and present your travel photos and videos. Although some of these apps offer paid subscriptions with unlimited uploads, you’re likely safer if you store your actual travel photos elsewhere, too. Here’s a quick review of other places you can store travel photos, and the perks of using them in addition to, or instead of, a travel diary app.

  • Facebook pages : Rather than use your personal profile, consider setting up a Facebook page for your trip—then you can share unlimited stories, photos, and videos. And you’re creating and sharing in a place where it’s likely your family and friends are already hanging out.
  • Instagram : This is a great way to share photos, but videos and stories are a little more constrained on this platform. This might be a good option in addition to a digital travel diary.
  • SmugMug : If you need a place to both store and display all of your travel photos, SmugMug is a great option. I’ve had an annual plan for more than a decade and it offers unlimited storage for all of my photos from all over the world for $88 per year. And it’s totally customizable—you can create gorgeous albums on a custom domain name if you own one.
  • Google Drive : If you just need a backup solution without the need to share then Google Drive is a good option (I find Google Photos a chore to use). It’s just $2 a month for 100GB of cloud storage.

Ready for some travel inspiration? These are the best travel stories of travelers to follow now, inspiring books from historic travels, and short reads, too.

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The Best Digital Tools for Travel Journaling

When it comes to logging your travel memories, the modern era poses a unique set of problems. You don’t want to upload a hundred vacation photos to Facebook (newsflash: no one’s looking), and you know you won't get around to printing all those snapshots—but one or two Instagram posts just aren't enough to do your trip justice. Enter the digital travel journal: an elevated way to share photos, jot down memories, geo-tag restaurants, and track your itinerary in real time.

Kristen Dold is a Chicago-based freelance writer and content strategist who focuses on health, travel, and lifestyle topics. Her work has appeared in Women’s Health, Travel + Leisure, Runner’s World, Marie Claire, GQ, Vogue, and New York magazine.

Best For: Building stunning photo-centric narratives

Exposure’s clean, minimalist aesthetic has made it a fast favorite among the professional photog set, but it’s easy enough to use for amateurs. The concept is simple: drag and drop your snapshots into grids, add some brief titles and descriptors, then let your followers bask in full-bleed photos that have the highbrow feel of a digital magazine. (Take a look at some of their featured stories to see what we mean.)

Price: Free for the first three stories, $5+ a month after that

Best for: sharing real-time updates with close friends.

No more overposting anxiety— Tripcast is like a private Instagram feed for the folks who really do care about your every move. (Hi, Mom.) Friends at home and fellow explorers can get notifications on your whereabouts and comment on trip photos that automatically upload to a travel map. Another perk: travel pals can build albums together so everyone’s memories are in one spot.

Price: Free

Best for: keeping a quick chronicle while on the move.

The newly revamped version of the Day One app (called ‘Day One 2’) makes journaling as easy as posting to Twitter. Jot down some highlights, attach a photo, and the app will stamp your location, the date, time, weather, and even your step count, if you want it. Plus you can tag posts, so it's easy to keep past excursions organized for future reference. (If you like microjournaling, the app can keep separate journals for things like work, health or sleep.) Features like audio recording and tagging your friends are coming soon.

Cost: $4.99

Best for: getting wordy without wifi.

Words and images get equal real estate on Bonjournal , a Tumblr-like platform ( here’s what it looks like) which allows you to add tags like ‘food & drink’ or ‘nightlife’ to entries, share them on social media (a privacy lock is available for any posts you want to keep to yourself) and even give your experiences a grade. The best feature: you can create posts offline and upload them later, ideal for long flights home without wifi.

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6 Top Digital Travel Journals & Travel Log Apps

Written by Alison Kotch on August 28, 2022

Alison Kotch is a freelance writer and editor based in Brooklyn.

If you’re hitting the road you’ll want to document every moment. These are the best digital travel apps that just might replace your journal.

Asked your boss for well-deserved time off? Good! Depending on the reason for your break (and how long you'll be away from work), you might not want to spend every second documenting your travels ... and every travel photo you post might not be Insta-worthy. Even though there’s something to be said for packing your daypack with a pen and a paper journal and writing about your trip, it’s a lot easier to keep friends and family in the loop while you’re on the road if you do it digitally.

How to Choose an Online Travel Diary App

Every trip is different, and so is every traveler. If you're headed out for a short two-week trip, you may choose a travel diary app that offers features to integrate into your life as well—more of an online journal. But if you're traveling around the world on a one-year trip, perhaps a dedicated app that could transition into a blog is more your speed. Either way these are a few considerations before you sign up and start journaling.

  • Ease of use : If the travel journaling platform is online but offers no app, that might be a deal breaker if you're only traveling with a smartphone! Look for apps that allow you to quickly open it up, upload photos, and jot quick notes.
  • Company history : How long has this company been offering digital journaling services? The last thing you want to do is invest time and effort into journaling only to discover the app has shut down, and you need to export all of that hard work.
  • Social features : Do you want an app that excels first and foremost at getting you right to the journaling, or are you interested in digital travel communities with a social element? If you love one of the travel diary apps on this list, but it doesn't feature a built-in community, consider how you could use Instagram or a Facebook page to fulfill that need.
  • Cost : Some of these are free, while others offer limited services on the free platform and require paid upgrades to make it fully featured.

Best Digital Travel Journal Apps

Here are the best digital travel diary apps that will help you document your next journey.

Day One Journal

The best part about Day One journals? You don’t necessarily need to be taking a cross-country or international trip to use it; you can just make a habit of capturing things that inspire you. Journaling novices will likely be content with the free version, which allows you to write diary entries by hand, with Apple Pencil, or your finger. You can look back through entries via calendar, timeline, or photos, while also being reminded of specifics of that day, like temperature, weather, moon phase, and altitude. Upgrading to the premium version of this digital travel diary gives you even more incentive to make journaling a habit: It allows unlimited photo storage and journal entries, cloud-based storage, audio recording, and a 25 percent off book printing discount … perfect if you’d prefer to page through your memories in paper form after collecting all of your epic travel stories.

Travel Diaries

The free Travel Diaries app has everything a traveler could want in a digital diary: Customizable layouts that allow you to enhance your text with photos and maps marking all of the places you visited, with the option to keep entries private or share them with family and friends. Inspired to turn your diary into a travel blog? No problem: The app can convert your entries from diary to blog automatically, which you can share via social media or email. Need to see your entries in print? That’s an option, too. Choose to print all (or a portion of) your trip; books are available for printing in as few as 40 pages (or as many as 320), in hard or soft cover formats.

Tripcast markets itself as the place you "share your travel photos with the people who want to see everything, not just the highlights." It's designed as a social network for those who love to spend time on the road. The app supports photos and videos and encourages your friends and family to comment, like, and interact with your updates—perfect for solo travelers who will love knowing their loved ones back home are along for the ride. The iPhone app is highly rated, and users generally rave about the variety of features to journal through the website or on iPhone or Android. You'll love the feature where it uploads all your travel photos to a map, so you can see the world populated with your best memories.

Even though it’s currently only available for iPhone users, Bonjournal is ideal for travelers who want a simple interface for documenting their activities, whether that means road-tripping up the West Coast or chilling on a deserted island. Not sure if you want to share every moment of your trip? Its privacy settings allow you to keep some entries to yourself. Need inspiration for your next trip? Follow friends (or fellow travelers), curl up in your travel blanket, and be inspired by their entries.

Are you not traveling but want to live vicariously through someone who is? Polarsteps is a photo-lovers dream. It provides the capability to track your travel route automatically when on the road (and uses minimal battery power while doing so) and transforms each travel journal into a visually stunning coffee table book. The coffee table books are complete with modern-looking layouts of the countries visited, miles and/or kilometers covered, and the number of photos taken.

Even if you don’t have any life-changing trips planned, Momento is worth downloading either way. Momento can organize your social network activity from up to 11 different platforms (such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Swarm, Flickr, and YouTube) into one neat, cohesive package. You can make it private, which is great if you’re using its pregnancy feature that allows you to journal your experience of nine months of pregnancy and beyond. You can also explore people who have tagged themselves enjoying similar experiences. No vacations (or pregnancies) in your future? This travel diary also doubles as a work/project journal, allowing you to track project notes, milestones, and meetings so you’re always prepared, whether working in-office or in another time zone.

When you use a digital travel journal you need only slip your smartphone into your waistpack and let the travel adventures get under way.

Travel Diary Apps: FAQs

What is a travel diary app.

You have all your essential tech for travel , like your smartphone to share photos with friends and family, but are you using it to document your experiences? Now, you can use app-based travel diaries to track and capture your experiences. Travel diaries allow you to document every fun and exciting thing you do while traveling the world. However, thanks to the many travel log apps available, you no longer have to carry a journal. Instead, you can create a travel journal on your smartphone to capture your best memories and create your own personalized travel book.

These apps also allow you to share your travel scrapbook with the touch of a button. You can share them either as a blog or on social media. Common features of travel diary apps include:

  • Photo and video sharing
  • Journal entries
  • Snapshots of temperature, weather, altitude, and more

Are there any free travel diary apps?

Yes, there are tons of free travel diary apps you can use, including some mentioned on this list, such as Day One Journal and Travel Diaries. Additionally, many paid travel journals come with free versions with limited features. However, if you love traveling and sharing your experience with others, we recommend using paid versions to track your travels, upload photos, and share entries with your followers.

Can I use a travel diary app offline?

Some travel journal apps allow you to create entities offline in case you lose service, while others let you share pictures without the internet by selecting photos and creating private posts offline. However, whether you can use a particular travel diary app offline depends on the app, so you should research which apps you can continue to use when you don’t have any service.

That said, if your app doesn’t allow you to create new entries without service, you can continue to take photos on your smartphone and update your entry later.

Can I add photos and videos to my travel diary entries?

Yes! Most travel journal apps allow you to add photos and videos to document and remember your experience. Additional features may include turning your diary entries into social media posts and blogs, taking a snapshot of the time and weather, customizing layouts, and more. However, some apps are more photo-based than others, so consider what you want your travel diary to be. For example, if you prefer to create a scrapbook with photos and captions, you might choose Polarsteps, which allows you to create a coffee table book-style photo journal.

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6 Free Travel Journal Apps to Create a Beautiful Trip Diary

Use these free travel journal apps to note your thoughts, add photos, map your locations, and share your travel diary with friends.

They say that the trick to remembering anything you learn, think, or feel, is to write it down. Travelling is all about learning, thinking, and feeling, and these free travel journal apps make it easy for you to maintain a trip diary, which you can embellish with photos and share with friends.

1. Find Penguins (Android, iOS): Auto Track Your Travels and Post Updates for Friends

Find Penguins is a smart app that automatically tracks your movements during your trip, while your phone is in your pocket. It also updates the weather, temperature, and altitude, providing a quick snapshot of what the conditions were like that day.

All the data that the app gathers is presented in cool statistics and interactive maps. It's fun to see how you traveled represented on a map as a trail and posts about the noteworthy events. Find Penguins also updates your profile along the way, noting how many countries you went to, how many trips, and so on.

Each post in Find Penguins is called a footprint, which can include text, images, videos, or a combination of these. The app is a bit like using social media, and you can control who sees your posts. If you discover something you want to do while browsing a friend's feed, you can add it to your "bucket list" and save it for later. If you're traveling with someone else, you can add them to your trip to get joint updates on your statistics.

Download: Find Penguins for Android | iOS (Free)

2. Travel Facets (Web, Android, iOS): Turn Your Camera Roll Into an Automatic Album

Travel Facets turns all the photos you take on a trip into an organized album of your travels. The app reads the geotagging location data in each picture you've taken with your phone, matches the date and time with weather records, and maps out the trail. You won't have to lift a finger throughout this process.

Once the album is ready, you can edit it to add captions or additional data. These are called waypoints, and you can even add non-image waypoints manually to note something worthwhile.

You can also skip the entire automatic album maker and make a trip manually. You get more control over each waypoint and how it represents your trip. You'll want to use this mode if you want a robust travel diary, adding your thoughts to create a memorable journal.

Share albums with other Travel Facets users or privately so that only those with the link can see your trip.

Download: Travel Facets for Android | iOS (Free)

3. TravelMap (Web): Simplest Way to Create a Map of Your Travel Blog

Sometimes, you don't want the complexities of an app, social news feeds, auto-tagging, and all that jazz. Instead, all you want is to create a map where you add places of interest to plot your trail, along with photos and journal entries. TravelMap is that simple, free solution.

The simplicity of this web app is its best part. Sign up, create your mini-site with a unique address, and start creating your map. The map is your homepage, where you add places by searching or clicking placemarkers. You can always reorder these too.

Then, add images to your map or write posts and link them to the placemarkers you've already mapped. The result for a viewer is a neatly ordered map showing your journey, with a sidebar that displays images or posts to reveal more about your adventures.

The free version of TravelMap should be enough for most people, as its restrictions are still pretty high (like a maximum of 100 images). However, the premium version removes all such limitations if you need it. You can also check out a cool demo of TravelMap to see its full possibilities.

4. Jauntlet (Web, Android, iOS): Journal That Looks Like a Travel Blog Timeline

The Jauntlet web and mobile app look a bit dated compared to others in this list, but the final output looks so good that it deserves a recommendation. It's a mix of a travel journal and a travel blog, presenting your trip in a neat timeline.

When you sign up, Jauntlet asks you to also connect your Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram accounts. This lets the app import photos from your different profiles. When you make any new post of a city you've been to, add the location to plot it on a map, write a journal entry of what you saw and felt, and select photos to add to the entry.

The final result looks fantastic, as seen in the image above. It's a timeline of where you've been, showing a map on the left, the city and date at the top, and your thoughts and photos on the right. Viewers can also comment under the entry. The whole thing can be played as an automatic slideshow, taking readers through your entire journey.

Download: Jauntlet for Android | iOS (Free)

5. Travel Diaries (Web, Android,iOS): Create an Actual Diary and Optionally Print It

Travel Diaries is a free app to design what a travel journal of your trip will look like and optionally print it too. The app is a virtual open book where you can write beautifully formatted entries.

For each page, you can apply one out of 38 custom layouts, choosing how text and images will appear on the page. Based on the layout, select and upload images from your camera roll, and write text in the simple text editor.

Travel Diaries isn't the best app for on-the-fly travel journaling while you're on the trip. It's more a place to reflect on your journey and compose a good-looking travel diary that you would be proud to show to friends. If you like what you've created, you can pay to download a PDF of the journal or ask the app makers to print and ship the travel journal to you directly.

Download: Travel Diaries for Android | iOS (Free)

6. Traveldays (Web): Travelogue of Photos With Location, Time, and Captions

Traveldays is one of the best online photo album creators to show off your trips and vacations. It's shockingly easy to use, as it takes your photos and automatically turns them into a picture journey of your travels, almost like showing postcards or polaroids to friends.

Upload your pictures in the order you want, and Traveldays will seek their geotagging information to pin it to a Google Map. You can also write small captions on each image. Share the link with your friends, and you're done.

Try a Physical Travel Diary

So which travel journal app should you go for? There's no one-size-fits-all app here. As a rule of thumb, Find Penguins, Travel Facets, and Jauntlet can better log your thoughts while on the trip. TravelMap, Travel Diaries, and Traveldays are better to create a travel diary after you're back from the trip.

But as much as we love these apps, there is a case to be made to use a physical travel diary instead. Not only do many travelers swear by the little diary they carry with them, but How Life Unfolds offers a detailed guide on how to use a travel journal while you're on a trip to make it more memorable than ever before.

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Travel Diaries - Create your own traveler's diary

Creating a travel diary allows you to capture the magic of your adventures and preserve cherished memories. Explore different ways to create one in this blog article, including how Journey, an innovative online journaling platform, can help you on this remarkable travel journey.

Ashley

Read more posts by this author.

Traveling is an enriching experience that allows us to explore new cultures, meet new people, and create lifelong memories. While we may capture moments through photographs, it's equally important to document our travel experiences in a way that will enable us to relive them in the future. One fantastic way to do this is by creating your own travel diary online. In this blog post, I'll discuss the significance of travel diaries and how using Journey, a popular online travel journaling app, can help you create a unique and personalized travel diary.

Why Keep a Travel Diary?

A travel diary serves as a personal chronicle of your adventures, capturing not only the places you visit but also the emotions, experiences, and lessons learned along the way. Whether you are an avid traveler or embarking on a once-in-a-lifetime trip, a travel diary serves as a treasure trove of emotions, observations, and reflections. Here are a few reasons why keeping a travel diary is beneficial:

my work space.I’m the founder of the company Arttravelling ( travel for artist)

1. Memory Preservation

Memories can fade over time, but a traveler's diary preserves the details, allowing you to relive those special moments and emotions years later. It becomes a cherished keepsake that transports you back to the sights, sounds, and experiences of your travels.

Peace sign by Golden Gate Bridge

2. Self-Reflection and Personal Growth

Documenting your travel experiences in a diary encourages self-reflection. It allows you to process your thoughts and emotions, reflect on cultural differences and similarities, and gain a deeper understanding of yourself and the world around you. It acts as a tool for personal growth and self-discovery.

Riding in the Desert of Sahara

3. Capturing the Small Details

While photographs capture the visual aspects of your travels, a traveler's diary allows you to capture the small yet significant details. From the taste of a delicious local dish to a meaningful conversation with a stranger, these details add depth and richness to your storytelling.

Breakslow - Budapest Coffee Tour 2019.04.13 - 2019.10.13

4. Sharing and Connecting

A travel diary is not only for personal reflection but can also be shared with loved ones, friends, and even fellow travelers. It allows you to share your experiences, recommendations, and insights, creating connections and inspiring others to embark on their own travel adventures.

Creating Your Online Travel Diary

With the advancement of technology, keeping an online travel diary has become an increasingly popular and efficient way to document travel experiences. Online journaling platforms provide an easy and accessible way to share your adventures with friends, family, and even a wider audience. Creating an online travel diary allows you to incorporate multimedia elements such as photos, videos, and interactive maps, enhancing the storytelling aspect of your journey. Here's how you can get started:

1. Choose an Online Journaling Platform

There are several online journaling platforms available, and you should select one that suits your needs. One popular choice is Journey , an intuitive app that offers a range of features specifically designed for creating travel diaries.

2. Select a Theme or Template

Many online journaling platforms provide themes and templates specifically tailored for travel diaries. These themes can add aesthetic appeal to your diary and make it visually appealing. Choose one that resonates with your style and enhances your storytelling.

3. Incorporate Multimedia Elements

Online travel diaries allow you to go beyond text and include multimedia elements like photos, videos, and even audio recordings. Adding these visual and auditory elements not only enhances your storytelling but also allows you to capture the essence of your experiences.

Hat and photos in flatlay

4. Organize and Categorize

Use tags, categories, or folders within your online diary to organize your entries by location, date, or themes. This makes it easier to navigate through your diary and find specific entries or memories.

5. Share and Engage

Online travel diaries give you the option to share your entries with a select group of people or even publish them publicly. Sharing your travel diary with others allows you to connect, inspire, and engage with fellow travelers, and it can also provide a platform for tips, recommendations, and advice.

online travel diaries

Using Journey to Create Your Travel Diary

Journey is a versatile and user-friendly online journaling app that can be perfectly tailored to suit your travel diary needs. Here are some features that make Journey an excellent choice for creating your own travel diary:

1. Multimedia Integration

Journey allows you to effortlessly add photos, videos, and even audio recordings to your entries. This means you can visually capture the breathtaking landscapes, delicious meals, and memorable moments during your travels. You can also include audio recordings of ambient sounds, interviews with locals, or personal reflections to enhance your diary entries.

Add memorable travel moments, photos, videos, and even audio to the Journey app, allowing you to create a rich and immersive travel diary experience.

2. Geo-tagging & Mapping

One of the remarkable features of Journey is its ability to automatically detect your location and incorporate geotags into your entries. This functionality allows you to effortlessly keep track of the places you visit during your travels. By adding geotags to your entries, you can easily organize your diary by location and create a visual map of your travel route.

Display your geo-tagged entries beautifully on Google or Apple Maps, enhancing the visual representation of your travel journey.

Not only does this make it easier for you to recall specific moments and places from your journey, but it also adds a new level of depth and context to your travel diary. With just a few clicks, you can instantly view all the entries associated with a particular location, immersing yourself in the memories and experiences of that specific place.

3. Multiple Devices & Syncing

Whether you prefer to write on your smartphone, tablet, or computer, Journey provides seamless synchronization across multiple devices. So, you can start writing on your phone and continue on your laptop without missing a beat.

Sync your travel diary seamlessly across multiple devices, including iOS, iPad, Android, Mac, and web platforms.

4. Privacy & Security

In the digital age, privacy is a growing concern for many individuals. Thankfully, the advancements in technology also include measures to protect our personal information. Journey recognizes the value of privacy and offers various privacy settings to ensure that you have control over who can access your diary. This means that you can choose to keep your entries private and only for your eyes, or share them selectively with close friends and family. If you are comfortable with it, you can even publish your entries publicly to inspire and connect with a wider audience.

Take control over who can access your Journey diary by enabling a passcode and utilizing end-to-end encryption for added security.

One aspect that further enhances the privacy and security of your online travel diary is the implementation of end-to-end encryption . This means that your data is encrypted on your device and can only be decrypted by the intended recipient, making it virtually impossible for anyone else to access your diary without your consent. With Journey's commitment to privacy and secure encryption, you can share your travel experiences confidently, knowing that your personal information is protected.

By offering these privacy settings and implementing end-to-end encryption, Journey empowers users to fully embrace the benefits of an online travel diary while maintaining control over their personal data. Whether you choose to keep your entries private or share them with a select few or the world, you can rest assured that your privacy is respected and your content remains secure.

5. Journaling Prompts & Templates

Journey understands that sometimes finding the words to express your travel experiences can be a challenge. To support you in capturing the essence of your journey, Journey provides a collection of travel journal prompts and templates . These prompts are thoughtfully designed to inspire reflection and offer guidance on what to write about.

Select a travel journal template from Journey's template library, offering a range of options to personalize and enhance your travel diary.

Additionally, Journey offers pre-designed templates specifically tailored for travel diaries. These templates provide a structure and format for your entries, making it easier for you to organize your thoughts and create visually appealing pages. From simple layouts to more elaborate designs, these templates allow you to customize your travel diary to reflect your unique style and preferences.

Creating your own travel diary online is an excellent way to document your adventures and create a lasting memory of your travels. Journey's user-friendly interface, multimedia integration, privacy options, and sync features make it an ideal platform for crafting your travel diary. So, whether you're a seasoned traveler or embarking on your first journey, start your online travel diary with Journey and enjoy the process of reliving your adventures for years to come.

traveldays is your minimalist travel diary.

See an example or start creating your own album ..

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10 Best Travel Journal Apps to Organize Your Travel Memories

As a digital nomad or frequent traveler, you likely want to keep a log of your travel activities. But what and how you record is a very personal experience.

You may want to write extensively about your experiences and feelings and keep them private. If so, you are probably better off with a paper journal and a pen.

Or maybe, you want to log the most important moments, photos, and travel routes and share them with your family and friends. In that case, a digital travel journal makes more sense.

Perhaps you’re an Instagram Influencer or blogger and want to keep copious notes for future posts/reels.

No matter your reason, if you’re looking for a travel journal app to maintain a digital log, this list of the 10 best travel journal apps will help you find the one that suits your needs.

Let’s start!

Table of Contents

10 Best Travel Journal Apps

1. day one journal.

With a Twitter-like interface, the Day One Journal is about capturing the important moments of your trip. The app can collect data such as location, weather, and music, for your travel photos and videos.

You can use this app as a digital diary and write using your finger or Apple Pencil and quickly comb through the entries using photos, timeline, or calendar. It even accepts voice commands.

This travel journal app can record fine details such as temperature, moon phase, weather, address, etc.

A free version is available, but upgrading to the premium version gives unlimited journal entries, photo storage, cloud sync, audio recording, and 25% off on book printing (if at some point you’d love to create a printed book of your adventures).

Platforms Supported:

  • Apple Watch
  • Safari and Chrome browser extensions

Cost: $2.92 per month billed annually.

Perfect for: Anyone looking for an online version of a standard journal that can also include images, voice recordings and track your locations

2. Find Penguins

One of the top digital travel journals, Find Penguins uses GPS tracking and AI to automatically track your journeys.

It also updates temperature, weather, altitude, etc., giving you a quick snapshot of the conditions on a particular day.

All the data that the app gathers is then displayed in a fun way on an interactive map as a trail and posts.

Find Penguins refers to those posts as footprints that are essentially blog posts where you can attach photos, videos, and texts as diary entries.

If you want, you can order a printed photo journal complete with maps, photos, and footprints.

Cost : Free with in-app purchases. You can buy a monthly or yearly subscription for $4.99 a month or $29.99 a year respectively.

Perfect for: Anyone who needs the best travel journal app for automatic journey tracking.

3. Polarsteps

If you need a completely free travel journal app that not only helps you to plan and track your journeys but also doubles up as a digital travel diary, Polarsteps is one of the top travel diary apps you can find.

It comes complete with an editable itinerary planner and transport planner. It even plots and automatically tracks your path on a digital world map.

You are free to add thoughts, videos, and photos. If you want, you can leave tips for the traveling community, or retrace your steps by scrolling through your travel stats, photos, and places.

The app also supports printing a hardcover travel book with just a touch of a button. The best part? It works offline and allows you to manually add journal entries that can later sync when the internet is available.

Perfect for: Anyone looking for a free travel tracker app that can track the travel route and keep the family informed!

Momento is more than just a travel journal app. It can double up as a project/work journal, pregnancy journal, or private journal.

This app can organize and streamline your social network activities from 11 social platforms. You can add photos & videos, tag your fellow travelers and places you visit , and even record your pregnancy journey!

Momento can also give daily, monthly, or yearly visual summaries, and allow you to explore past timelines.

Cost: Free with in-app purchases for paid upgrades.

Perfect for: People who need a multi-purpose digital journal that works not only as an online travel journal but also as a private and/or work journal.

5. Journi Blog

Journi Blog is a unique photo journaling app that you can use to record your travel experiences as timelines and maps or even have them printed as a photo book to show off to your friends and family members.

Whether you have a travel blog where you write about your vacations and travels, or whether you are maintaining personal travel diaries or recording your kids’ photo album, Journi Blog helps to capture all the moments and stories.

With this travel diary app, you can create a public travel journal or create a private journal entry.

Cost : Free with in-app premium membership purchase options. Membership costs €9.99 for one month, €43.99 for 6 months, and €53.99 for one year.

Perfect for: Those who want a photo journaling app.

Penzu isn’t particularly designed to be a travel journal app. In fact, it is more of a reflective journal meant for note-keeping and milestone tracking. However, it can be used as a pregnancy journal, a food diary, and even a travel diary.

It will give you the feel of maintaining an online travel blog with the ability to add images, add photos, and write your travel stories. You can use custom tags to categorize your travel logs.

Penzu has an incredibly simple interface where you can record beautiful memories of your entire trip.

Cost : Free, Pro for $19.99 a year, and Pro+ for $49.99 a year.

Perfect for : Anyone who needs a private online journal or a digital diary with syncing ability across the web and multiple mobile devices.

7. Tripcast

Tripcast is one of the favorite travel journal apps for many users worldwide. The app is perfect to keep your friends and family members updated about your journey.

With Tripcast, you can create shared photo albums where your fellow travelers can upload and share photos they click and store them in a single place.

The app uses photo geotagging to create a map of the places you visit.

Cost: Free!

Perfect for: Those who are on a group vacation, or participating in volunteer projects.

8. Journey: Diary, Journal

Journey was listed as the Google Editors’ choice in the best travel apps category. Just like other travel diaries, Journey will help you to maintain a travel journal complete with texts, audio files, images, and videos.

You can also use this dedicated app to add location and weather details to all your journal entries.

If you want, you can download and keep your entries private on your computer. Alternatively, you can export them as PDF or DOCX files for easy sharing.

Journey is not just a simple travel journal app. It is a multi-purpose app that allows users to record anything they want such as a stress management journey, sleep journey, better habits development journey, and so on.

Cost : Journey is a free app, but there is an in-app membership purchase option for $3.99 a month or $29.99 a year.

Perfect for: Those who need a multi-purpose journal app that can also be used as a digital travel diary.

Diarium is another great app that allows maintaining a travel journal using a calendar interface.

You can quickly attach texts, audio files, and images, and even tag multiple entries in a single day.

There is an option of adding a sitemap with location info. Plus, the app will display a wide range of data including your fitness data, weather info, and calendar events.

You can easily export entries in HTML or DOCX formats. Journal entry is possible using a laptop, PC, mobile, or tablet.

Cost: Diarium is free, but offers in-app purchases. You can purchase a lifetime pro version for $5.99.

Perfect for : Those who want a travel journal app without committing to a monthly or yearly subscription.

10. Worldee Trip Planner & Journal

Worldee is a popular digital travel diary that not only allows you to organize and store your travel memories.

You can mark the countries visited on an interactive world map, add timelines, photos, and maps, and even share your trips.

You can share your stories with other travelers or you can keep everything private. The app will also help you to plan your next trip using the integrated trip planner.

With the trip planner, you can set your itinerary and travel map on the same screen and then share your trip details with your travel partners.

Cost: The app is completely free to use.

Perfect for: Those who want a completely free digital travel journal.

More Journal Apps to Consider

1. trotter it.

Trotter It is a digital travel journal app that allows you to create and share travel stories with travelers across the world. It also doubles up as a social networking app for travelers. The app is available only through Google Play Store and is completely free to use.

2. Jauntlet

A mix of a travel journal and a free travel blog, Jauntlet allows you to present your trips in a neat timeline. The app connects with Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, and imports photos from different profiles.

You can add the location to a post to add it to the map and write your story. Jauntlet is a web application that offers a platform-independent mobile site.

3. Esplorio

A beautiful and interactive travel journal app, Esplorio can record trips even without a data connection. You can choose what to share publicly and what to keep private.

It easily integrates with social platforms to retrieve previous journeys. The app is free but there is a pro plan available for $49.99 per year. It is available on iOS devices and through a web app.

4. Traverous

Traverous is an automated travel journal application that uses GPS data to track and record your trip. It also records media and location to create a personalized animated travel diary. The app is free to use but to unleash its full potential, you will need a premium account that costs $4.99 a month or $54.99 a year. The app is available for both iOS and Android devices.

How to Choose the Best Online Journal App

Choosing the best online journal app can be tricky. They’re all so good and you need to pick one that does everything you want it to.

Here are a few tips on choosing the best online journal app:

  • Ease of use : The app you select should be straightforward and easy to use. An overly complex app will only make your life difficult.
  • Mobile apps : Since you will mostly be traveling with your phone or ipad, the app must have versions for either iOS or Android or both. However, digital nomads traveling with laptops can always use web apps.
  • Social features : The app you select must be able to integrate with social platforms. If the app has a built-in community feature, it is even better, especially for group tours and backpackers.
  • History : The company developing the app must have a proven history of offering digital journaling services. You will not want to use it only to see that it is no longer under development.
  • Cost : The app you select must be cheap. Expensive subscription plans can put budgetary pressure.
  • Security: If you want your journal entries to be private you need to ensure the app has end to end encryption services.

Best Travel Journal Apps FAQs

Is there a free journaling app.

Yes, there are a few free travel journal apps available today. While some are dedicated digital travel diaries, others are all-purpose digital journals that can be used for keeping travel records.

Day One Journal has a free version, Polarsteps is completely free, Penzu has a free version and Tripcast is free. Try them out and see which one you like the best!

What’s the best app to track everywhere I’ve traveled?

Most of the digital travel diaries listed above can track every place you have traveled . Apps like Day One Journal and Find Penguins can not only track the places you visit but also add additional data like weather, temperature, altitude, address, and more.

Best Travel Journal Apps Summary

Digital travel diaries or journal apps are immensely beneficial (and fun) as they help to organize your travel experiences and keep your memories stored in a single place.

They will allow you to add written notes, images, videos, audio files, tags, etc., and help you to easily share your experiences with friends and family, or other users.

For digital nomads or influencers, some come with customizable layouts for enhanced personalization and some will even allow you to blog automatically and share moments of your trips with your readers.

Try a few out and select the one that is within your budget and meets your needs the best. Hopefully, this list of the best travel journal apps will assist you in finding an awesome journal for your travels! 🙂

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Disclaimer: Please note this post may contain affiliate links, from which, at no additional cost to you, I may earn a small commission. Also as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. I only recommend products and services I’ve used or would use myself. If you choose to purchase from any of my links, thanks so much for your support! 😊

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35+ hilarious road trip games for couples & digital nomads.

Frost + Sun

6 Best Travel Journal Apps for Your Next Trip

By Author Meg Frost

Posted on Last updated: October 20, 2023

Categories Travel Tech

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Photo of a woman on a train smiling while looking at her smartphone.

I love to look back on past adventures via journals, photos, and videos – but it can be so time consuming!

One of my tricks to organizing all of my travel memories is to use travel journal apps.

Over the years, many of these apps have evolved to include so much more than a way to organize photos and videos.

Many also help you plan your travels, gather and report data, and a few even help you create printed photo books!

Check out this post for my absolute favorite travel journal apps to help you document your adventures through slide shows, photo collages, timelines, maps, photo books, and more.

1 Second Everyday

Photo collage with screenshots of the One Second Everyday travel journal app.

Turn your travel videos into a travel journal summary with 1 Second Everyday.

This app pieces together 1 second video clips to create a video, making it a super easy way to create travel video without the need for video editing skills.

1 Second Everyday is a great way to journal a day or an entire trip with ease. I love that it eliminates the analysis paralysis when it comes to journaling creatively or creating content for your social media.

In my opinion, 1SE is the best free journal app for iPhone and Android overall, not just for recording travel memories.

Pros : Super easy to use and create fun videos that can double as social media content. Cons : Sometimes 1 second just isn’t enough! Download : iOS / Android

Day One Journal

Photo collage of the various iOS, Android, and Mac apps available for the Day One travel journal app.

Day One Journal is an impressive digital travel journal app for iPhones, Android smartphones, Apple Watch, and Mac computers.

Its biggest strength is the collection of data for all photos and videos, such as weather, location, and music. It also includes a timeline view and a map view.

This is a great travel journal app for those that like to reflect about everything that happened on their trip.

Day One Journal will make it a bit easier to remember the finer details, like weather and addresses.

Pros : Not just an app – also has a Mac app and a Safari browser extension so you can work on your Mac laptop or desktop. Cons : No browser extension or software for non-Mac laptops and desktop computers. Download : iOS / Android / Mac / Browser Extensions

Photo collage of various version of the Grid Diary app.

Grid Diary combines digital journal capabilities with a planner for one ultimate app.

Users can keep track of all they need to do, create journal entries with guided writing prompts, add stickers and tags, and gather statistics.

This app is more of a traditional text-based journal and planner, but sometimes that is really all folks want!

Pros : One app to keep you organized and record memories. Cons : Most of the valuable features are only available in the premium version (can’t blame ’em though!) Download : iOS / Android

Momento pulls in data from all of your social channels to piece together a journey’s story, such as Instagram, Facebook, Spotify, and Uber.

You can keep your stories private or share with friends to select social media channels, as well as via text message or email.

Momento is a great travel journal app for those that are heavy social media users. You’re already documenting your travels elsewhere, but this app will pull them together in a cohesive way.

Pros : Super easy to use and affordable premium subscription available with extra features. Cons : Only available on iOS. Last major update was in 2016. Download : iOS

Photo collage with a photo book and map for the PolarSteps app.

PolarSteps is a fun app that helps you plan and track your travels.

However, the standout feature with this travel journal app is that you can transform your journal into a printed photo book!

The PolarSteps book includes summaries and stats pulled from app usage, such as maps, miles or kilometers traveled, number of countries visited, and so on.

In my opinion, this is not only the best free travel journal app for iPhone and Android, but one of the best traveling apps for iPhone and Android, too.

Pros : Top notch usability design makes it super easy to use. Cons : Some limitations with customizing the travel book, such as inability to choose size and limited number of color themes. Download : iOS / Android

Keep mom and dad updated on your travels without annoying your Facebook or Instagram friends with every single photo you take via Tripcast .

Or if you’d rather not share with everyone you can use Tripcast to share photos with just your travel group.

Tripcast is a great way to track longer journeys and still keep up with your friends and family back home.

Pros : Makes sharing photos from everyone on a group trip seamless. Cons : Limited social media capabilities despite being one of its focus features. Download : iOS / Android

What are your favorite travel journal apps?

Let me know in the comments below which travel journal apps you use when you travel.

Next up, check out more of my favorite travel & tech tips:

  • 15 Best Travel Journals
  • 8 Best Manifestation Journals
  • 8 Photo Sharing Websites
  • Best Photo Editing Apps
  • Best Camera Apps

About the author

Photo of travel blogger Meg Frost, of Frost + Sun, in Havana, Cuba.

Meg Frost is a Boston-based travel blogger that helps people embrace technology to make vacation planning and traveling wicked easy, affordable, and fun.

She holds an M.A. in Journalism from Northeastern University and B.S. in Communication & American Studies from University of Miami.

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This post was originally published April 22, 2017. It was last updated December 1, 2022.

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Wednesday 14th of February 2024

I have been hunting and hunting for a travel journal that is easily updating- shareable with friends, with a push notification kind of thing. There are SO many and have read and read. I want to journal and add pictures. I don't want anything that does anything automatically or populates anything. I want to write and add photos or maps as I choose. Thank you SO much

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  • Best Travel Journal App

When we are traveling, certain things can be a hassle to bring; computers are heavy, cameras are bulky, notebooks are flimsy. Luckily, we live in an age of technology that has put these three things, and many more, in the palm of our hand. Our mobile phones have become extensions of ourselves, containing everything from pictures and music to dating profiles and online alter-egos. Our phones can do almost anything. Although, when you don’t have service or a wifi connection, those possibilities become limited. Especially when traveling, it can become quite the inconvenience not having a constant wifi connection, but we manage. With our phone’s camera, there is little else we need, but what about the words that go along with the pictures? What about the all the other things you did that the camera didn’t capture? That is when a travel journal app comes in handy.

Why Use a Travel Journal App?

When wandering the world, a travel journal helps you keep track of it all and an app allows your journal to wander with you.

Convenience

Don’t worry about bringing a notebook or waiting to write down the things you don’t want to forget. Bring your mobile device and right down whatever you want, whenever and wherever.

You know what you don’t take everywhere? A pen and a notebook. You know what you do take everywhere? Your mobile phone. With your digital diary app, your travel writings go where you and your phone go.

Jot down quick notes or record long entries, you can write as much or as little as you want. Your diary software can be used to remember experiences just as much as it can be used to remember names, addresses, phone numbers and directions.

6 Reasons To Use Penzu’s Travel Diary App

There is no better software for a traveler or a writer. And certainly no better app for someone who is both.

1. Accessible

Penzu’s mobile app software lets you access and write in your travel diary from anywhere, whether it is from a five-star hotel in London or an internet-free tent in Patagonia .

By using Penzu’s free software, all of your thoughts and memories are saved in one place. They are saved as you write and all entries can be searched and found if forgotten.

Penzu keeps your journal private. Only you can view it, unless otherwise dictated. Once you have signed in, you can put a lock on your journal, which will require a password each time it is opened.

Your travels are more than the words you use to describe the places you’ve been. Penzu lets you upload pictures to your diary, so your entries can become visual delights as well.

The appeal of Penzu is that it is intuitive and easy to use. There is nothing to fuss over when using this mobile software. As long as you remember to write, this program will do the rest.

They say the best things in life are free. Penzu’s mobile app is no different.

Don’t be caught on an adventure without a travel app again. Download Penzu today and let the good times (and the writing of them) roll!

There's no time like the present - start your free online journal today!

Penzu Mobile Phone apps

Loved by millions!

Get access to your diary wherever you are – download the free Penzu app for your all of your iOS and Android devices today!

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Escape Artist Katie

Travel Journaling Guide: How to Write the Ultimate Travel Diary

Travel Journaling Guide: How to Write the Ultimate Travel Diary

Travel journaling allows you to preserve your travel memories for life. It’s a fact of life that memories fade over time. Some may disappear within seconds, while others can stay clear for hours, days or weeks. Travel memories that are written down, however, are there for life.

If you’ve been tracking down waterfalls in the Cuban jungle, it’s only a matter of time until you forget the blood-red feathers of the Cuban trogon you stumbled upon. What about the name of that man you met on the Paris Metro? The ins and outs of your journey on a night bus in Vietnam? The accidental shortcut you found in Switzerland?

As a travel writer, I’ve been travel journaling in one shape or form for my whole life. However, you don’t have to be a writer to start a travel journal. It can be as simple, as short or as complex as you like, with the following travel journaling guide.

Whether you bullet-point everything or smash out several pages of prose per day, your travel journal doesn’t just preserve precious travel memories. It’s a place to self-reflect on your journey, record facts and quotes, and creatively display your travels so far. The best part? All you need to start travel journaling is a notebook, a pen and a travel plan.

Table of Contents

What is travel journaling?

Travel journaling is the act of keeping a written record of your travels. While this typically refers to keeping a chronological (hour-by-hour and day-by-day) travel diary, some travel journalers might also sketch, create collages or draw infographics to tell a story.

Travel journaling is unique to each storyteller, but at its core, it’s about relaying your experiences for an imaginary or real reader and recording your adventures for your future self to look back on.

A woman travel journaling and flicking through the pages of a book.

The only piece of equipment you need to begin travel journaling is a notebook. This could be as simple as a basic lined or unlined notebook. However, some notebooks are designed specifically as travel diaries and aim to prompt the author, such as the  Travel Listography Diary  and the  You Are Here Mindful Travel Journal .

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Travel Journaling: Should I keep a travel journal?

Anyone can keep a travel journal, whether you’re creating a travel journal to share memories with family and friends when you return home, or just for yourself. It’s a souvenir of sorts, but one that has a personal meaning to you and captures your exact thoughts and feelings at a specific time and place in your journey.

You might want to keep a travel journal if…

1. You want your memories to become sharper and more meaningful.

At school, teachers often advise students to write down facts to remember them. The same goes for memories. Writing about a memory stimulates your brain to recall and remember specific details from that moment.

When you revisit a memory like that, it sends your brain a signal that that particular memory is important. It is prioritised above other, more insignificant memories from the day, the week or the year. As a result, you’re more likely to be able to recall it in the future.

Blonde woman wearing red t-shirt dress gazes over tea bushes in Munnar

At the same time, revisiting a memory allows you to add meaning to your experience. By exploring the thoughts and feelings that came along with the physical sensations, you’re able to bring a unique, personal meaning to what happened.

2. You’d like to relive a memory a second time.

When I urged a friend I met on my travels to try recording his memories on paper, one of the most significant things he said was, “It’s like I get to experience it all over a second time.”

That’s one of the best parts about travel journaling. In your own, unique way, you get to experience something in detail for a second time. You might feel the same rush of adrenaline, the same apprehension or the same ‘lightbulb moment’.

3. You want to jot down contact details of new friends.

Sometimes you meet people on the road and they have a huge impact on you in some way or another: a blasé comment that stuck with you, a new perspective on a topic you thought you’d already figured out, or an unexpected friend in a moment where you really needed it. Just as often, you forget to ask for their contact information or you lose it in the mayhem.

Kathakali performers in elaborate costumes and makeup

Anything can happen to your phone when you’re travelling: loss, theft, damage, or unexpected memory wipes. Jotting down important contact details in your travel journal creates a second, permanent copy of their details. You never know, you might want to share some of the entries they starred in as a way to reflect on your fleeting time together.

4. You want to work through complex thoughts and feelings.

There’s a reason why many therapists and life coaches suggest writing down how you’re feeling. It’s a very effective way of processing complex or difficult emotions.

You might have had a travel experience that has shook you up slightly – an illness or a missed flight, perhaps – and want to get your immediate frustrations out on paper. Maybe you’ve come to a big realisation about the way you handle stress or adversity. Either way, your travel journal is a great way to work through the feelings.

Bottling up emotions isn’t good for anyone, so this is a particularly handy use for a travel diary if you’re a solo traveller who doesn’t have anyone to vent to immediately. This can all boost your self awareness, protect yourself from future mishaps, and generate a greater understanding of yourself.

5. You want to reflect on your travels so far and what you’d like out of the rest of your trip.

Travel can be a whirlwind. However, by reflecting on your travels so far, you can assess what have been the most meaningful experiences in your trip so far, and seek out similar experiences in the future.

Lady operating a street food stall

Similarly, it can help you to realise if you’ve been focusing on one particular experience so far – for example, hiking or visiting historical sites. It might influence you to try something new, like attending a cultural festival, going on a village walk or engaging in some  offbeat travel  experiences.

6. You want to save ideas for an online travel diary or social media posts.

Whether you’re a content creator, a digital nomad, or simply someone who likes to share your travels with friends and family, travel journaling can be a great way to fine-tune ideas for future stories, whether written or visual.

You might be planning to create your own blog or post photos on Instagram with in-depth captions. Setting up your own website is relatively inexpensive to do nowadays with websites such as  Bluehost  offering cheap, affordable domains and hosting plans – this is the site I used to set up my own blog.

Draft ideas for stories and captions in your travel journal, and use a highlighter to pick out your best ideas.

7. You want to improve your writing skills

Whether you’re a seasoned writer or a complete beginner, the simple act of travel journaling every day (or every other day) will give you more practice in the art of the written word.

This will carry over into your studies, essay-writing, creative writing, email-writing, or general communication skills. It also boosts your confidence as a writer.

8. You want something tangible to share with family or friends.

Unless you’re planning on keeping your travel journal to yourself, a travel diary is a great hand-me-down that will give your ancestors a taste of your travels and personality. It’s also an excellent way to connect with friends and families back home, and give them the run-down on what you got up to. If you travelled with a partner or a friend, it’s also an excellent shared keepsake.

Travel Journaling: What should a travel journal include?

When it comes to the question of ‘what should a travel journal include?’, I use the word ‘should’ lightly. Your travel journal is uniquely yours. It doesn’t  have  to include anything you don’t want it to.

Lady wearing jeans is travel journaling outside of a coffee shop

However, there are many things that you might want to include in your travel journal, so the following list should provide some inspiration.

Pick and choose the ideas you like and  experiment  to see what works for you. What works for you will be different than what works for other travel journalers.

1. Brainstorming

You don’t need to wait until your departure date to begin travel journaling. It can also be used to plan your trip. Before anything else, you might want to dedicate a page (or a few) to brainstorming.

Do you want a budget or a luxury trip? Do you want to see the beaches, mountains, jungle, lakes, rivers, or deserts? Which countries match your non-negotiables? Who might you invite, or who can you connect with out there? This sort of brainstorming can streamline the planning process and help you to get the most out of your trip.

2. Trip research

After brainstorming comes the more nitty-gritty trip research. Your travel notebook is ideal for this too. It’s easy to open up a dozen or more tabs on your laptop or mobile device, so you can use the physical notebook to jot down key destinations and activities that have captured your attention. This will help you to narrow down your itinerary once and for all.

3. A trip plan

Shrine inside a cave

You can take this a step further and write a complete plan for your trip. If you don’t want your notebook to get too messy, you can simply add your finalised itinerary. This will be very helpful when you’re actually travelling, because you can store all of your booking information and your travel timeline in one place.

This is what I do, and it keeps my mind clear and my travel plan organised. I also include back-up ideas for activities and alternative transport options should anything go awry.

4. A travel diary

When you start to gather first-hand travel experiences, you can begin to record a diary of the events. You might want to write in prose, which is the best way to let your thoughts flow freely onto the page.

Blogger Escape Artist Katie smiles over the waterfront in Lucerne, Switzerland.

An alternative option is to take bullet points, which help you to get down information quickly before you forget it. You might also want to alternate between the two, writing in bullet points when you’re short on time and writing in prose when you feel particularly inspired.

5. Other travel memorabilia

Your travel journal doesn’t just have to be a written diary. You can collect – and glue down – other travel memorabilia such as ticket stubs, receipts or dried flowers.

Just remember to pack a small glue stick or double-sided tape and scissors (in your checked bag, not your carry-on bag).

Some travel memorabilia that you might want to stick into your travel diary include:

  • Ticket stubs.
  • Foreign bank notes.
  • Newspaper clippings.
  • Dried flowers.
  • Food wrappers.
  • Luggage tag labels.

6. Sketches

If you’re particularly artistic, sketching the scenery, wildlife, or people you see on your journey is a great way to bring your diary to life. If you’re not artistically inclined, a small caricature might be more accessible and just as fun.

Others might prefer to paint in watercolour; there are a number of  watercolour travel journals  available.

Travel journaling: How do you write a travel journal entry?

When you start recording your first travel journal entry, my first piece of advice is simply to start writing.

It doesn’t have to be perfect. It doesn’t even have to make sense to anyone but you. If you work better with an outline, the following prompts should get you started.

1. Write down the date.

The most important thing to do, and perhaps the only rule of travel journaling, is that you should start by writing down the date of your entry. If you can, include the day of the week too, as this can often give extra context – for example, if it’s the weekend, it might explain why the crowds in your destination were so lively or the public transport delayed.

I recommend using the format: Thursday, 21st July, 2022. You want to be able to look back on the date of the entry and see how much time has passed since it took place.

2. Write down your location.

Busy street in Parque Central lined with classic cars

The second most important thing to write down is your location. It’s a good idea to be as specific as possible. Include the town, the village or even the hotel or hostel you’re staying at.

This makes it easier to re-imagine the scenario when you’re reading your diary back. It also makes the entry more accurate and places the event somewhere tangible.

3. Decide whether you’re going to write in prose or use bullet points.

As a rule of thumb, it’s best to get your memories down on paper when they are still fresh. If you’re pressed on time, you might want to take bullet points rather than write in prose. If more than a couple of days have passed, you’ll start losing some of the sharper details.

4. Start writing chronologically.

It might be tempting to jump right into the drama that happened in your evening. However, writing your travel diary chronologically is the easiest way to keep it understandable.

The version of events can get confusing if the narrator is constantly skipping from 7pm to 10am, then to 3pm and back to 10am again.

Blonde woman swimming in a natural swimming hole with a waterfall

Begin by writing about your morning. What time did you wake up? What did you eat for breakfast? Who did you talk to? Where did you go from there? It’s also easier to recall memories this way and follow a clear train of thought.

5. Be specific.

As a rule of thumb, the more specific your writing is, the better. This is because the smaller details such as street names or direct quotes are some of the first things that will fade from your memory.

If you really want to bring the memory back to life, focus on the details:  location, names, times, dates, quotes, and specific thoughts.

A man multi-tasks with three pans over a fire at the Da Nang night market.

The following prompts might come in handy:

  • What did you eat? Where did you dine? How did it taste? What was the texture of the food?
  • Who did you speak to? What were their names?
  • Did you discover anything new today? Are there any facts you can recall? Did your destination meet your expectations?
  • What was your favourite part of the day?
  • What was your least favourite part of the day?
  • Did you have any realisations throughout the day? What did you learn about yourself?
  • How did you feel mentally? Were you energised, homesick, nervous, excited, or content?
  • How did you feel physically? Were you in full health, hungry, full, sore, sleepy, or hormonal?

6. Be truthful.

Not every day is all roses and butterflies. At the same time, not every day is packed with drama and turbulence. It can be tempting to over-exaggerate your version of events, for a number of reasons.

You might want to make your trip sound more positive, add drama to your diary, or impress your real (or imagined) readers.

Remember, journaling isn’t just about creating a story. It’s about gaining self-awareness, improving your understanding of the world and working through the feelings that arise as a result of your travels. You can’t do that if you’re trying to paint your journey in a specific light the entire time.

Travel insurance is essential for any trip abroad. If you’re in an accident or experience an emergency, you need adequate cover. I recommend  Staysure  for single or multiple trips per year and SafetyWing for digital nomads.

Travel journaling tips

1. decide whether you want to use a dated diary or a general notebook..

There are pros and cons to purchasing a dated diary over a general notebook. The problem with a notebook is that it’s just a notebook.

A general notebook:

+ There are no restrictions on how long your entries are.

+ It’s more space-efficient for those travelling long-term, as you don’t have to start a new entry at the top of a page.

+ More freedom to doodle.

– Less incentive to make an entry.

– It can get scruffy quickly.

Purchasing a dated diary can make you feel more motivated to write your entries on a regular basis. They often include prompts, which can help you to get started. Many tailored travel journals also have additional pages dedicated for jotting down thoughts and notes, whereas a general notebook can quickly get messy.

Travel journal laid out on a coffee shop table with a mug and glass of milk

A dated diary:

+ Looks more aesthetic.

+ Acts as a reminder not to miss a day.

+ Looks like a traditional diary.

+ May motivate you to write more often.

+ Often includes helpful prompts to spark your creativity.

– Can waste line space.

– May limit the space you have to write about each day.

At the same time, a general notebook might be the best option for long-term travellers who are short on space, because you don’t need to start a new entry at the top of a page. Starting a new entry mid-page saves precious line space. Unless your dated diary has blank spaces where you can insert the exact date, you’re also limited on the amount of space you have to write about each day.

2. Put aside 15 minutes every day to journal.

If one thing is for sure, it’s that travel can get hectic. As a result, it’s easy to get out of the routine of travel journaling every day. Since you want your memories to be as fresh as possible when you’re writing an entry, one of the best ways of keeping on track is by putting aside a specific time slot every day to journal.

Two bikers riding down a road surrounded by jungle

You might decide to journal for 15 minutes each morning while you wait for breakfast to be served or for the 15 minutes before you go to bed.

If you have a daily commute – to the beach, to your temporary job, or to your friend’s hotel, for example – take your journal with you and utilise the spare time.

3. Journal while you’re in transit.

If you’re constantly travelling, it’s probably not going to be long until you have a lengthy train, bus or flight ahead of you. As long as the road (or airspace) isn’t too bumpy and you’re not prone to motion sickness, I’ve found that this is the perfect time to get some travel journaling done.

Yellow taxis and bicycle taxis parked in bays on the road

Having a good chunk of time to dedicate to writing is excellent. Plus, if you do get preoccupied on your travels and go off track with your journaling, the plane ride or boat ride back home is a good stretch of time to pick up where you left off and get down everything you can remember in chronological order.

4. Try to write within at least two days of the events.

The sooner you write about a memory, the better chance you have at remembering the niche details. The ideal situation would be to write about your day at the end of the day before you sleep, but that’s not always realistic.

Instead, try to set yourself a goal of writing about a day or an event 48 hours after it happens. If you still fall off track, write about your travels within a week of the date they happened.

5. Don’t feel the pressure to be perfect.

The pressure to get something perfect is often the first obstacle in getting started. Life is messy – and so is writing a travel journal. It’s not going to be perfect the first try. Besides, what is perfect anyway?

A horned deer grazes on grass in the Periyar National Park.

Your travel journal is for you. It doesn’t matter how many spelling or grammar mistakes there are, as long as it’s legible. It doesn’t matter if you don’t have the motivation to write.

Bullet points or a few short paragraphs are better than a blank page. Otherwise, you won’t have anything to look back on at all.

6. Get creative with it.

Harnessing your creativity goes hand-in-hand with letting go of the need for perfection. You could draw caricatures of the interesting people you meet on the road. You could sketch a bird you spotted this morning. You could even make a chart or a diagram of your spendings so far.

Here are some ideas:

  • Dedicate a few pages to creating caricatures of people you meet along the road.
  • Create a ‘quotes’ section and jot down the most meaningful things people have said to you.
  • Make a chart or a diagram of your spendings.
  • Put together a recipes section where you write down your favourite meals and their key ingredients (don’t be shy about asking).
  • A ‘rant’ section dedicated to unedited writing.
  • Glue ticket stubs to the relevant pages.
  • Make a collage out of ticket stubs, photographs and other memorabilia.

7. Keep your travel journal safe.

While a journal might not look that attractive to potential thieves, it’s probably invaluable to you. Therefore, it’s very important to take measures to stop it from getting stolen, lost or damaged.

Prevent water damage

Whether it causes smudged ink or crinkled pages, water damage can have a catastrophic effect on your journal. It’s also one of the most common ways that travel journals get damaged, as they’re prone to rainwater and liquid leakages in your luggage.

Some travel journals have waterproof covers, which add some extra protection, but this isn’t a foolproof solution.

Long wooden coir houseboat on Alleppey backwaters lined with palm trees.

Storing your travel journal in a waterproof pouch or pocket is the most effective way to prevent water damage.

A plastic bag is effective too. However, it’s more prone to getting punctured by sharp objects and it’s less durable (and less eco-friendly) than a permanent waterproof pouch.

The following waterproof bags and pouches will protect your travel journal:

  • Syncwire Waterproof Pouch Bag
  • Eono Waterproof Waist Bag
  • Waterproof Dry Bag Set

Keep it in a safe or a locked locker

If you’re not planning on travel journaling while you’re on the go, it’s probably best to leave it locked securely in your accommodation. Many hotels provide safes; it will usually be listed on the list of features on booking websites such as  Booking.com  or  Hostelworld.com .

Some hostels and homestays may provide a locker instead. For this, you will often need to bring your own padlock. I’d recommend bringing a set of  TSA-approved combination padlocks .

Carry an anti-theft backpack

It’s unlikely your travel journal will get swiped from your backpack. Thieves are far more likely to target a mobile phone.

Still, you should carry your valuables (journal included) in an anti-theft backpack. They come with features such as secret pockets, durable zippers, and designs that make it hard for thieves to gain access.

Anti-theft backpacks:

  • Della Gao Anti-Theft Laptop
  • TcIFE Ladies Backpack
  • Oscaurt Theft Proof Travel Backpack
  • Waterfly Anti-Theft Backpack

8. Don’t forget a pen (and back-ups).

A pen is one of the easiest things to forget on your trip. While they should be easy to get a hold of, there are some locations where you might find it tricker (Cuba, the middle of the jungle, or a small town, for example).

I’d recommend using a clickable pen, because this is less prone to leaking ink than a regular ballpoint. Bring spares if you can, because the ink might run out mid-journey or just when inspiration strikes.

Travel journaling examples

As someone who preaches about travel journaling, I’ve decided to share a few entries from my own travel diary so that you can get an idea for the sheer variety of what you can write about and how you can record the details.

Entry 1: Havana, Cuba (Saturday 22nd January, 2022)

A street in Havana with people purchasing from a fruit stall

Anisah and I arrived in Cuba late, around 7pm. It was already dark outside and thunder-storming – lightning, heavy rain that soaked through my papers.

The airport was very basic and very stringent with Covid (masks, stalls and many checks) but we cleared security swiftly and had only our backpacks as a carry-on.

Outside, there were taxi drivers holding names, and, surprisingly, they weren’t at all pushy. Our hostel was supposed to arrange a driver to take us directly there, but upon ringing twice (and spending a daunting £3 per minute on the calls), it appeared the driver was stuck in his house due to the storm.

We ended up in a yellow, licensed cab (which cost 25 euros – but down to 20 when the lady hosting us paid on our behalf).

I felt a little unnerved in the taxi, probably because I was exhausted, and because without maps, the driver relied on memory and locals in Havana for directions – and there weren’t many outside due to the torrential rain.

Entry 2: Ubud, Bali (Thursday 20th June, 2019)

Woke at 1am for the Mount Batur sunrise trek.

  • Mount Agun nearby “coughed” up lava three weeks ago, according to our guide.
  • 1,700-metre climb – our time was 1h35 but it felt way longer.
  • Very steep, gravelly, and one of the toughest climbs I’ve done in my life. At one point, I told Jess, “Go on without me”.
  • I ate a boiled egg and a banana at the top. I was still starving.
  • Monkeys and dogs were fighting on the mountaintop.
  • Monkeys almost stole my bag. They successfully stole a purse from another lady.
  • We lost Pablo (Goncalo’s cousin) at the top of the mountain. The guide (jeans and sandals) was going to leave him behind, but we refused.

Entry 3: Havana, Cuba (Monday 31st January, 2022)

A man driving a bicycle taxi through Havana

Our host gave us the cheque. We were short by 700 pesos. We went to hunt down an ATM. The ATM declined my card, as did the second ATM… and then the third ATM.

We started to panic, so we went to the Kempinski Hotel in Plaza Mayor to use their WiFi to contact my bank. It quickly emerged that the WiFi had completely cut out city-wide. At this point, we really started to panic. We had to leave for the airport in one hour.

We’d used up all of our options, so I told Anisah we’d have to ask someone for money. She was very dubious. We were walking down my favourite street when I spotted an older man and a younger woman, both blonde, looking lost and carrying cameras and bags.

I took off my mask and asked ‘Ingles?’. Nope, they spoke Spanish. In broken Spanish/English, I started to explain ‘plane’ (hand motion), ‘Londres’ (London), ‘desperate’, ‘taxi to airport’, and ‘short by 700’.

They replied, ‘No, a taxi should be 20’. They thought I meant euros! I said, ‘No, no. 700 pesos’. He nodded, ‘Oh, good price!’. To my disbelief, he pulled out a fat wallet filled with US dollars and pesos, and handed me a 500 and a 200. I nearly cried, but settled for tapping the lady’s arms and doing a prayer hand motion. People are truly good at heart.

Travel journaling: How do you make a memorable trip?

There are two halves to creating a travel journal. The first half is the part where you  explore, observe and investigate .

The second half is the part where you  write or create .

If one half of the formula is missing, you won’t have a travel journal at all.

Similarly, a travel notebook that documents seven days spent beside a swimming pool, tanning and reading a book, is unlikely to be as riveting as a travel journal that documents a journey into Dubrovnik’s old town, a bus ride through central  Vietnam , wild swimming through waterfalls in  Cuba  or a cruise over the backwaters in  Kerala , for example.

  • Guide to the Parque Guanayara Waterfalls in Cuba
  • Things to do at Alleppey and its backwaters

1. Research your trip.

A great motto, and one I live by, is ‘plan to travel without a plan’. If you want to make your trip memorable, it’s just as important not to over-plan as it is to dive in headfirst without a scooby of what you are doing.

Jeep driving on a rural highway

Research enough so that you have a huge backlist of itinerary and destination ideas. Make a list of local accommodations that you like the sound of. Book essential, long-distance travel only.

You don’t know what will happen on the trip: delays, unexpected new acquaintances, weather events, romances, and so on.

Sometimes, the most interesting stories form from following your heart or your intuition, so if you’ve planned every single detail, you’ll end up boxed in.

Here are some ideas for your research:

  • Research blogs to get practical advice from those who have visited a destination or attraction previously.
  • Confirm the main modes of transport, currencies, and WiFi accessibility in your chosen destination. Practical details matter.
  • Create a list of destinations and activities you’d like to engage in.
  • Highlight your non-negotiable activities, desirable itineraries, and nice-to-have experiences. That way, you know which activities are the most important to you.
  • Try to avoid tourist traps and opt for more authentic, local or offbeat travel experiences. These are often the most interesting experiences to write about.

2. Book your flights.

After your research is complete, the first thing you need to do is to book your flights.  Skyscanner  should be your go-to tool to search for flights. It scans the internet for the cheapest deals, routes and even the most eco-friendly transport options.  Google Flights  is another useful tool, which you can use to confirm that you’ve found the best deal.

3. Book interesting accommodation.

The accommodation you book has a direct impact on your travel journal entries. It can create drama, it can spice things up a little, or it can act as a relaxing backdrop.

Unique accommodation might liven up your entries: search for things like treehouses, camping tents, shepherd’s huts, and themed resorts.

Skyrises and houses merge along the Da Nang skyline.

The following sites are my go-to websites for booking accommodation that will jazz up my travel journal entries:

Booking.com : Booking.com has a wide selection of accommodation, including eclectic stays. I also find that it generally has the best price, compared to other booking websites advertising the same hotel or accommodation.

Hostelworld : Staying in a hostel is one of the best ways to introduce new, wise and quirky characters into your diary. As most hostels have communal spaces, it’s very easy to delve into a deep conversation with a stranger, which is often one of the most interesting parts of travel journeys.

The act of staying in a dorm room or shared accommodation is eventful in itself; you don’t know what sorts of stories you might get out of one night spent in a dorm room. Was there a fight for a particular bed? A sleep talker? Late-night card games and conversations?

Homestay :  Homestay specialises in accommodation where you stay in the home of a local. This is a brilliant option for those who are writing a travel diary, because it enables you to connect with the community, learn about local customs and have a more authentic travel experience.

4. Engage in more offbeat travel experiences.

Generally speaking, you won’t get as much of a story out of a tourist trap as you will out of a more unusual or hands-on travel experience. After six years of travelling, this is the biggest lesson I have learnt, and exactly why my blog specialises in offbeat travel experiences.

Farmers digging up tapioca

So, how do you find offbeat travel experiences for your travel journal?

  • Ask at your hotel or hostel for local-led activities. Questions such as ‘where do you eat?’ or ‘where do you go to party?’ are also great ways to find local spots over tourist traps.
  • Search for unique travel experiences on  GetYourGuide . They list local-led travel experiences, which are a great way to meet fellow interesting travellers and get an insight into the offbeat sides of a destination.
  • Use tour organisations that label themselves as ‘local-led’, ‘experiential’, ‘offbeat’ and ‘immersive’. These are tailored towards giving travellers unique, hands-on experiences, and not taking you on the usual tourist trails.

Travel journaling: How do you write a travel journal that is worth reading?

Not everyone wants to share their travel journal. However, if you do want to write your travel diary for an audience – whether that’s family, friends, an online following or a potential future publisher – it’s going to need to be worth reading.

1. Make your first draft in a physical travel journal.

Writing in chronological order and as soon as possible after the events happen, make your first draft in a physical travel journal.

Remember, that you’re going to edit your travel journal when you’re back home, so the most important thing isn’t writing perfectly. It’s about being consistent with your writing schedule and getting the details down on paper.

2. Be as specific as possible.

Specificity is even more important if you’re going to share your travel journal in one form or another.

Use exact times, exact dates, full names, ages, and detailed physical descriptions. This will bring your story to life, especially for those who weren’t there to watch it unfold in person.

3. Feature specific characters.

Just as a novel would be incomplete without a series of in-depth and interesting characters, your travel diary should also feature characters.

It doesn’t matter if they’re fleeting and disappear after an entry or two. The important thing is that your reader can envision and relate to your character.

Collection of locals in Havana wearing casual clothes

That might mean describing them physically, disclosing their name (or pseudonym) and age, as well as describing their little quirks and mannerisms.

You should try to quote them directly when possible, and explore their mindset and their backstory.

4. Write up your travel journal.

When you arrive back home, write up your travel journal into a digital format, correcting spelling and grammar mistakes as you go. This will create a second copy of your journal, just in case anything happens to the physical copy.

5. Edit your travel journal.

If you’re going to be sharing your travel journal, the most important part is the editing process. Your journal may only need a light edit, which corrects any spelling or grammar mistakes and makes it more legible.

However, it may need a deeper edit if you’re truly going to post it online or send it to a publisher. The execution, plot, and characters will be more important in this case.

Traveling journaling: Types of travel journals

There are several types of travel notebooks, and they all have their specific advantages and disadvantages.

A small travel notebook next to a mobile phone, bag and postcard

There are also some clear criteria you should be looking for out of a high-quality travel notebook:

Number of pages:  The number of pages you’ll need will depend upon the length of your trip. If you’re travelling long-term, it’s better to have a notebook with a large number of pages rather than several, smaller notebooks which will take up more space overall.

Paperback or hardback:  While a hardback notebook is more durable, a paperback journal is more lightweight. If you’re limited by space or weight limits, opt for a paperback. Size:  Notebooks come in a variety of sizes, such as A4, A5, or A6. In general, an A5 notebook is ideal for a travel diary because it’s compact enough to carry in your packed or day luggage, but not so small that you’ll run out of space quickly.

Line size:  Unless you have large handwriting, a journal with fairly narrow line sizes is ideal, because you can fit more writing onto one page, and therefore into one notebook. You could also choose a notebook without lines at all, which gives you more freedom over the size of your handwriting, but can end up with messy, undulating lines.

Paper thickness:  Thinner paper is usually ideal, unless you are planning on painting, colouring-in or using heavy ink. Still, bear in mind that ink can bleed through the paper if it’s too thin, ruining other pages in your diary.

Binding:  The binding of your notebook is important too. Ideally, you want a notebook that can spread out flat while you write and one where you don’t need to hold the edges of the pages down. A spiral-bound notebook is ideal over a smaller, tightly-bound notebook, in this case.

Traveling journaling: A6 travel diaries

Best for: weekend trips.

  • Sovereign-Gear Antique Brown Refillable Travellers Notebook : This A6 notebook has a leather case and a refillable design, which includes three packs of paper (one unlined, one lined and one made from kraft paper). Even better, it has a PVC water-resistant zipper pocket for your valuables.
  • Avocado and Spice Hardback A6 Notebook : With a hardback cover and 200 pages, this A6 notebook is an aesthetic travel diary that comes with its own protective velvet bag. It comes with the option of dotted, lined or blank pages, and has a built-in pen holder and a bookmark.
  • Antony Olivier Leather Journal : With unlined paper and vintage brown leather, the Antony Olivier Leather Journal is a premium A6 notebook. There are 200 pages, all unlined.
  • Newestor Pocket Notebook : The Newestor Pocket Notebook is small enough that you can tuck it into your back pocket. It’s probably not ideal for those who are going to be writing in long prose, but those who are planning on documenting their travels with bullet points or short paragraphs will have 144 pages at their disposal.

Travel journaling: A5 travel dairies

Best for: longer trips.

  • EMSHOI A5 Notebook : With the option of lined, dotted or squared pages, the spiral-bound EMSHOI notebook has 640 A5-sized pages. It also has a water-resistant PVC cover.
  • Antony Olivier Leather A5 Notebook : This is an A5-sized version of the high-quality, leather Antony Olivier notebook. It includes unlined 200 pages and a journal enamel pen.
  • Silvine A5 Executive Soft Feel Notebook : The Silvine 15 Executive Notebook has 160 pages with a sewn case, inside pocket and ivory paper.

Travel journaling: Watercolour travel journals

Best for: artists.

  • Seawhite A5 Travel Journal : This notebook has 60 pages and a back pocket. It’s also completely vegan.
  • Hahnemuhle Watercolour Book A5 : This sturdy hardback book has 30 sheets of natural white fine-grain paper, ideal for panoramic paintings.
  • Tumuarta Watercolour Journal : Designed as a travel watercolour notebook, this journal has 48 pages, made of 25% cotton. The pages can tolerate light washes and they’re micro-perforated, so you can tear out a page if you need to.

A travel journal is a great place to jot down travel affirmations if you experience anxiety or nerves before or during a trip or to write down packing lists and other plans. See where I’ve been to start planning your next trip.

Katie Treharne

Escape Artist Katie owner riding a yellow quad bike over former lava fields on Mount Mayon in the Philippines.

I’m Katie, the owner of Escape Artist Katie. I have been travel writing since 2018, including writing for luxury travel magazines and publications such as Wanderlust.

As well as being a digital nomad who works and lives abroad permanently, I’m a big advocate for  offbeat travel  and pushing yourself out of your comfort zone.

I hope you found my article useful – find out more  about  me here or keep up with my travels on  Instagram .

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Travelling snail, the online travel journal

A revolutionary new kind of online travel journal.

  • Plan and manage your trip before it even starts.
  • Capture and remember your travel experiences forever
  • Share your travel experiences with family and friends as you travel
  • Upload photos and map views of your journey as you go
  • Store and organize your travel journals forever on bookshelves within your account
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A 2 day hike through the hills around Chiang Mai visiting the Hill tribes, staying overnight in...

Eating and drinking

This is a not to be missed market restaurant serving fresh fish and the famous hairy crab (when ...

I was looking for a nice cosy restaurant close to my hotel, with outside seating and not too far...

A hidden gem set in a deep cellar right off the main Grand Place square in Brussels/Bruxelles. ...

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Accomodation

A modern looking fronted hotel just by the Hoan Kiem lake in the centre of the old quarter of...

The hotel Florian is in a narrow four storey terraced building on the rue du commandant André...

Hotel just off the Nathan Road hustle and bustle within walking distance of Tsim Sha Tsui.

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The Morin Hotel is the oldest hotel in Hue City, Vietnam and was built in 1901 by a French man...

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Then why not buy the original Ultimate Travel Journal as a companion to your online account.  Have the best of both worlds, enjoy the timeless pleasure of writing in ink on quality paper while travelling and then transcribing your memories to your online account later.

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Travel Journal & Trip Tracker 4+

Journo - blog, print & share, journo inc., designed for ipad.

  • 4.4 • 520 Ratings
  • Offers In-App Purchases

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Description.

Try this award-winning travel journal for FREE so you can document your trips like never before. BONUS: get your own travel website and make your friends DROOL with envy! Create your own story with Journo! From classic journal writing to travel maps and photo books, you’ll be able to document your adventures, print your journals, publish your travels online and much more!    We give you the tools you need to immediately start writing your own amazing story!    Being able to keep a flexible journal on your iPhone or iPad with text, drawings, images, videos and maps helps you document your memories and experiences on the go...    Paper journals take time to write in, space in your pocket and you can’t add those beautiful pics and vids you just took – how inconvenient!    We understand that paper journals may have a special place in your heart – we love them too - which is why you can instantly print your Journo as a map or coffee table book! Customize the Journo however you like with text styles, colors, placement and more to create the perfect printed Journo to treasure your memories (and show off to your guests ;).    It gets better: get your own dedicated page on the Journo site where you can publish your Journos online for your friends – or the world – to see without needing to download the app!    WHY SHOULD YOU CHOOSE JOURNO TODAY?    - TRAVEL MAPS: View and track your route on a custom designed map.    - CAPTURE THE MOMENT: For beautiful sunsets, landscapes and other moments when words just don’t cut it, add videos and images directly into your Journo (we'll even tag them exactly where you took them).    - NOT JUST DIGITAL: Print stunning route maps and gorgeous coffee table books full of your cherished memories. We’ll do all the hard editing with our signature ‘automagical layout’ feature. You can add the finishing touches, then send your Journo to print!    - USE WITH FRIENDS: You and your friends want to keep a shared Journo of your travels? You and the hubby want to write down all the funny things the kids do? Only Journo lets you collaborate in a shared Journo. More people, more memories!    - USE OFFLINE: No internet? No worries! Even without a connection, you can use Journo without a hitch. And when you connect again to the internet, we’ll securely sync your data for you.    - SHOW THE WORLD: Every Journo client will have their own dedicated page on our website where you can publish your Journo online for your friends to see, without requiring them to download the app. You can browse through other people’s Journos, too!    IN THE PRESS:   - Awarded “Best Travel App” by IMA Awards  - “Sharing memories from a trip can get messy. Journo removes the pain.” – National Geographic Travel  - “Makes journaling super easy and fun for anyone and everyone.” – The Gadget Flow SUBSCRIPTION PRICING AND TERMS:  The Journo App is free to download and comes with a 14-Day Free Trial. Subscribe anytime to continue adding entries to your Journos and to immediately access our Exclusive Content (any unused portion of your free trial period will be forfeited). We offer the following Journo subscriptions:  - $11.99 per month - $65.99 per 6 months  - $99.99 per year Journo also offers a Lifetime subscription which is paid for by a one-time upfront payment of $299.99 with unlimited access to Journo forever. These prices are for United States customers. Pricing in other countries may vary and actual charges may be converted to your local currency depending on the country of residence. Your Journo subscription will automatically renew and your credit card will be charged through your iTunes account at the end of each term unless you cancel your subscription at least 24 hours before the end of the current subscription period. You can turn off auto-renew at any time from your iTunes account settings but refunds will not be provided for any unused portion of the term.   Terms of Use - https://www.journohq.com/terms Privacy Policy - https://www.journohq.com/privacy    *** Download Journo today, enjoy the FREE TRIAL and start making memories that will last a lifetime! ***

Version 1.6.0

Track & Share Your Travels Like Never Before! * Bug fixes and performance improvements. Update today so you can document and remember your travels and adventures like never before. And as always, we have a full-time support team that’s here for anything and everything you may need. Just hit us up at [email protected] and a member of our client success squad will respond quickly. If you’d like to reach me directly - and I love hearing from fellow travel junkies - email me at [email protected]. Thanks again for all the love and support. We know you’ll just love what we’ve done in this update and, if you do, would you consider leaving us a nice review in the App Store? Because they go a long way and mean a lot! Thanks for considering. Onwards and upwards, Dane & The Journo Team

Ratings and Reviews

520 Ratings

Awesomeness

I write a travel blog and Journo is awesomeness incarnate! Instead of using multiple apps I can accomplish more with Journo in half the time. Its sleek and does Maps, photos, videos and drawings. I can share individually or over social media. It even has a publishing feature if I decide to print a hard copy. Journo Exclusives has suggestions about writing formats in case I’m blocked. I’ve been using the Mapbox to display my journeys on social media! Cropping maps is child’s play. I have a business trip planned for the Philippine next month and Journo has a handy Currency Converter which is gonna be really really helpful. Journo is on a monthly fee schedule, but for me its was well worth the purchase.

Developer Response ,

Thanks, Darwin.e.p ! Much appreciated! - Nic

Almost there

This app is so close to being perfect. The overall layout is eye catching and appealing. I love being able to tell a story and inserting photos and videos where they work. However, this app has quite a few frustrations which cause me to think long and hard before I pay to subscribe. There needs to be the ability to add more than one photo at a time. Adding images is cumbersome and takes too long. My biggest pet peeve is not being able to timestamp my entries. I’ve reached out to support twice and received no answer back. It’s not a huge deal unless you want to create multiple entries for the same day. The map function doesn’t work and neither does the blogging function because the entries are not in the order they should be. I haven’t been able to figure out how to fix it other than opening up my entries, changing something and saving them. Way too time consuming. If this was free, I would live with it. I can’t justify paying seven dollars a month or purchasing a lifetime membership with these issues still looming. Support...please reach out and tell me how to work around the time stamp issue. I want to love this app!
Hey Kelliexpressions! Thanks for your feedback. I'm happy to report that you will be able to add as many photos and videos as you'd like, all at once without having to go back into your photo album. That will be live in the next update, which should be out in under a week. And the timestamping we are working on. We don't have that sorted yet, but we will be adding it soon. About the other issues you have, would you mind emailing me directly at [email protected] so I can help you with those? Both of those issues should not be occurring for you, so I'd like to talk through it. Thanks again for the feedback! We're on all this and work our tails off for you to absolutely LOVE Journo. - Dane

Rating based solely on pricing

When I came across this app I was very intrigued. I downloaded it and the first screen I was met with was the sign-up screen which I didn’t do because I didn’t fully understand it and I wanted to research it a little bit more by going online to the website. One of the first things I noticed was the pricing so, just out of curiosity, I clicked on it to see what features might be available for a free account. I was very dismayed to find it there was no such thing as a free account. I understand a organization needs to make money, however a limited function free account may draw more people into purchasing the service to get full functionality. $12 per month is a little outside of my budget and sadly I can’t speak on the usability of the app as it it pertains to the price because 14 day trial, in my opinion, is insufficient to get a full feel of what appears to be a very detailed and in-depth app. So my suggestions to the developer is to consider a free account that is very limited and tease with the more sophisticated features.
Hey RedBearMich. Thanks for your honest feedback about our pricing, and glad to see you think the app is detailed and in-depth. We know it's not for everyone but we still want to give everyone a chance to use it without any risk, which is where the 14-day trial comes in. It's usually long enough to our travelers to see if it's for them but if you just weren't quite ready to make the decision and needed more time then please message me at dane @ journohq.com and we can sort that out for you. Also, we built the subscription as a come-and-go kind of thing... activate when you're traveling and cancel in between trips. Your account stays secure while you're not using it so it's easy to pick up where you left off or start another Journo anytime. Thanks again for writing and I hope to hear from you so we can get you the full experience. Cheers, Dane

App Privacy

The developer, Journo Inc. , indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy .

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English, Japanese

  • 1 Month $19.99
  • 1 Year $189.99
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Travel Diaries Review [2024]: Is a digital diary anything helpful?

Travel Diaries Review [2024]: Is a digital diary anything helpful?

Dabbling between digging out your pen and paper or simply trading it all in for an all-in-one, online space? If this sounds like you, read on for a review about Travel Diaries and if it's right for you!

online travel diaries

Cherished memories hold a special place in our hearts, but with the influx of information on social media, it's becoming increasingly difficult to remember every detail of your best travel moments. 

Thankfully, apps like Travel Diaries give us the ability to save and highlight the memories we don't want to fade and instead create a funky format to paint the picture. But how does it compare to the other options out there? 

In this review, we'll be covering how to create your own travel diary, what features you can use to your advantage, how this specific diary app differs from others on the market, and everything else in between. 

Let's get the ball rolling! 

Travel Diaries App Logo

What is Travel Diaries? 

Travel Diaries is an online platform where you can transform all of your favorite holiday memories into your very own unique storybook. 

After signing up online for free, you can write about your trip abroad's highlights. 

Using the  online editor , you can design just about every last detail of your digital diary, like your preferred font, style, format, layout, photos, maps, and more. 

What's great about this app is that you can even share specific pages from your diary with friends and family or take it one step further and print it into a book. 

Travel diaries with friends.

How to use the Travel Diaries App

Compared to other apps like  FindPenguins ,  Journi , or  Polarsteps , the Travel Diaries App is simple and straightforward. 

  • First things first, you need to download the free web application and create an account. 
  • Then, create a title that summarizes your trip. 
  • Begin by uploading a cover photo, and select the specific style you want in your digital diary. 
  • Break up your journal into chapters (blocking using highlights, a timeframe, different destinations, etc. can help you to structure the journal). 
  • Start to format your diary using three steps: write the content, format the pages, and then preview your diary. 
  • Share your favorite adventures with family and friends. 
  • Place an order for your very own, personalized journal. 

Features of the Travel Diaries App 

Completely free.

Yes, the Travel Diaries app is free for you to download and start using! Simply download the app and create your account! 

Digitizing your travel memories

The Travel Diaries hones a different software that showcases your journal as an actual book on the screen. 

Design your online diary

Using various fonts, titles, dates, locations, photos, text, and maps, you can create anything according to your taste. 

Add as many pictures as you please

This app has no limit on photos, so you can fill up page after page with images if it appeals to you. Simply select a layout, click on the gray box, and attach your picture. 

Allow some extra space in your digital diary for keepsakes

The app allows you to set aside space to paste special things like plane tickets, polaroid photos, train tickets, cards, and notes. Online, it shows a simple, empty box, but the edges disappear when you print out the journal. Easy! 

It's backed up automatically to the cloud

You don't have to worry about losing your data, as all digital journals are stored safely in the cloud. 

You can switch effortlessly between devices

You can create with your mobile, tablet, or computer. 

travel diary app

It's 100% online

The Travel Diaries app is entirely online, so you don't have to waste time or space downloading any program. 

Customize the final product of your travel diary 

You can choose between the book size (small – 14.8 x 21cm or large 21 x 29.7cm), cover type (softcover or hardcover), and the type of paper (standard matt or mohawk matte). 

There's a multi-copy discount available

If you order multiple copies of the same travel journal, you can score up to a 30% discount. 

You can get the final product in a PDF version too

For a small extra fee, you can order an online, easily-accessible PDF file of your diary. 

They offer worldwide shipping

Along with affordable worldwide shipping, the app uses secured payment and has relatively fast production times averaging around five days. Delivery times are approximately one week for soft covers and two weeks for hard covers. 

travel diary apps laptop

Cancellation & Refund Policy of Travel Diaries

Because each digital diary is made in a unique, personalized manner, exchanging or returning the printed version is not at all possible. 

But, if the final product arrives damaged or contains errors, Travel Diaries will fix it if the consumer contacts them within seven days. 

If there are any shipping delays or an order cannot be fulfilled, the consumer has the right to cancel the order and get their money back. 

What are people saying about Travel Diaries? 

Customers across plenty of platforms have commented on how easy creating your own digital diary can be. 

The fact that you can compile it all online, and customize it to your preferences, seems to win over most people. 

The majority rave about how printing out the final product makes it more unique and leaves them eager to share it with friends and family members. 

Some of the only complaints are centered around shipping delays or extra waiting times, depending on the country. 

travel diary van

Benefits & Drawbacks of Travel Diaries 

The fact that the software is easy to use and completely free to download is a major benefit of the app. 

With clear, customizable options on display, you have the freedom to create as you please. The option to leave additional blank space is handy, especially if you have many keepsakes from your trip that you want to save. 

Also, the unlimited number of pictures means that you can fill your digital diary with as many as you please. Having your data stored to the cloud ensures you peace of mind and that you can easily change up your editing process between devices. You can also share your travel diary with other people online. 

Compared to other online travel journals, the price is fairly affordable. The multi-copy discount makes it even more economical if you plan on ordering various copies. 

One of the drawbacks of the Travel Diaries app is that ordering a PDF version comes at an extra cost. Worldwide shipping can take up to one to two weeks, so if you're in a rush or need the travel diary by a specific time, it could be frustrating having to wait so long. 

travel journal app canoe

Is Travel Diaries worth it?

If you're a fan of piecing together your favorite memories from a trip abroad, then creating a digital journal with this app is worth it. 

Compiling all the highlights into one travel diary makes it easier to relive the experience and share it with your loved ones. 

Our Rating: 4.4/5

  • Easy to use, simple design layout 
  • Free to download 
  • Unlimited number of photos, images, and maps 
  • Data is backed up to the cloud 
  • Switch between different devices (mobile, computer, tablet)
  • Affordable prices and a multi-copy discount 
  • A PDF version of the final product costs extra money 
  • Slow Worldwide shipping.

Make memories with Pilot

If you're interested in creating a compilation of your most cherished moments abroad, then the Travel Diaries app is a standout option on the market. But before you create memories, start planning your trip with Pilot! 

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10 Best Travel Journals for Digital Nomads 

online travel diaries

10 Best Travel Journals for Writing Lovers Digital Nomads 

Best customizable travel journal , 1. voyager notebook peter pauper press.

online travel diaries

Travel notebook details overview: 

  • Page Count : 180 (60 x insert)
  • Page Format : Dotted, lined, and blank page inserts
  • Dimensions : 4.8 x 0.9 x 7.9 inches
  • Ideal for : note-taking, designing, bullet journaling, lettering, and creative planning on the go

Best Leather and Refillable Travel Journals

2. robrasim refillable vintage leather travel journal.

online travel diaries

  • Page Count : 96 (32 double-sided pages x insert)
  • Page Format : Lined, blank, or kraft page inserts
  • Dimensions : 5.2 x 4, 6.7 x 4, and 8.5 x 4.5 inches
  • Ideal for : note-taking, travel planning, bullet journaling, lettering

3. Wanderings Leather Travelers Notebook

Wanderings Leather Travelers Notebook

  • Page Count : 90 double-sided fountain-pen-friendly pages
  • Page Format : Lined or blank page inserts
  • Dimensions : Multiple options
  • Ideal for : note-taking, travel planning, drawing, bullet journaling, lettering

Best Travel Journals For Long Trips 

4. lemome classic travel notebook with pocket + page dividers.

online travel diaries

  • Page Count : 180 double-sided fountain-pen-friendly pages
  • Page Format : Lined pages
  • Dimensions : 8.4 x 5.7 x 0.9 inches 
  • Ideal for : writing, note-taking, travel planning, bullet journaling, lettering

5. Siixu Colorful Blank Notebook 

  • Page Count : 192 pages
  • Page Format : Colorful blank pages
  • Dimensions : 5.3 x 7.2 inches 
  • Ideal for : scrapbooking, painting, bullet journaling, lettering

6. Conda Hardcover Spiral Sketchpad 

online travel diaries

  • Page Count : 80 pages
  • Page Format : Blank pages
  • Dimensions : 0.85 x 1.1 inches
  • Ideal for : painting, bullet journaling, lettering, travel planning 

Best For Short Trips 

7. parks project x field notes three-pack.

online travel diaries

  • Page Count : 48 pages
  • Page Format : Graph Paper 3-Pack
  • Dimensions : 3.5 x 5.5 inches 
  • Ideal for : field notes, drawing, travel planning, bullet journaling, lettering

8. Moleskine City notebook

online travel diaries

  • Page Count : 220 pages
  • Page Format : Blank and lined pages 
  • Dimensions : 3.54 x 5.51inches 

9. Moleskine Hard Cover Travel Journal

online travel diaries

  • Page Count : 400 pages
  • Dimensions : 5 x 8.25 inches 

Best Waterproof 

10. best weather-resistant: rite in the rain weatherproof side-spiral notebook.

  • Page Count : 64 pages
  • Page Format : Lined pages 
  • Dimensions : 3.94 x 6.69 inches 

Last Thoughts About Travel Journals

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  1. Create your own travel diary online

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  4. Create your own travel diary online

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  5. Travelettes » » Travel Diaries review: the app that’s a blog, online

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  6. Create your own travel diary online

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  1. Create your own travel diary online

    Capture your adventures in a digital diary that you can share with friends and family. You can switch between any of your devices anytime. Get started in our online web application. Start capturing memories. Create your own travel diary to capture and share your travel experiences! Travel Diaries is a tool that allows you to work in an actual ...

  2. 8 Best Digital Travel Journaling Apps

    Best Travel Journaling Apps. 1. Day One. The Day One travel diary has robust editing and also some solid cross-platform functionality and syncing. Day One tops most of these lists because it's actually that good—and it's been around since 2011, so you know your travel memories are safe with this online diary app.

  3. The Best Apps for Travel Journaling

    The Best Digital Tools for Travel Journaling. When it comes to logging your travel memories, the modern era poses a unique set of problems. You don't want to upload a hundred vacation photos to ...

  4. 6 Top Digital Travel Journals & Travel Log Apps

    How to Choose an Online Travel Diary App. Every trip is different, and so is every traveler. If you're headed out for a short two-week trip, you may choose a travel diary app that offers features to integrate into your life as well—more of an online journal. But if you're traveling around the world on a one-year trip, perhaps a dedicated app ...

  5. 6 Free Travel Journal Apps to Create a Beautiful Trip Diary

    5. Travel Diaries (Web, Android,iOS): Create an Actual Diary and Optionally Print It. Travel Diaries is a free app to design what a travel journal of your trip will look like and optionally print it too. The app is a virtual open book where you can write beautifully formatted entries.

  6. Travel Diaries: Journal, Blogs

    From a secret travel diary to a beautifully printed travel log book, our app ensures your travel memories are not just captured but shared and preserved for a lifetime. Customizable Travel Journal: Tailor your travel diary with diverse fonts and layouts. Add travel photos, maps, and more to create a visually stunning record of your journeys.

  7. Travel Diaries

    Online travel diaries give you the option to share your entries with a select group of people or even publish them publicly. Sharing your travel diary with others allows you to connect, inspire, and engage with fellow travelers, and it can also provide a platform for tips, recommendations, and advice. Photo by Priscilla Du Preez 🇨🇦 / Unsplash

  8. traveldays

    traveldays lets you create your own online travel diary - for sharing, reminiscing and inspiring others. Showcase your best travel memories in a beautiful album with a map of your travel route. traveldays de. Home Get started About ©2020 traveldays. ...

  9. Create your own travel diary online

    Travel Diaries is a tool that allows you to work in an actual online diary. Travel Diaries: dé dagboekapp Create your own travel diary to capture and share your travel experiences!

  10. Travel Journal

    A travel journal can be used to plan your upcoming trips as well. Using the journal travel template in Journey, you can add the places you would like to visit, followed by itinerary plans, tours, and more, creating a travel wishlist! 2. Write about your expectations of this vacation. Before you set foot in the first city, you can write about ...

  11. 5 Travel Journal Apps To Document Your Dream Journey

    Image source: Perzu. With Penzu, you can organize posts into categories as a private diary. And, you can connect posts with locations. The trip journal app allows sharing your posts via mail or publishing with a link for others. For: iOS and Android. Cost: From free to $49.99/year (Penzu PRO) Pros.

  12. 10 Best Travel Journal Apps to Organize Your Travel Memories

    Traverous is an automated travel journal application that uses GPS data to track and record your trip. It also records media and location to create a personalized animated travel diary. The app is free to use but to unleash its full potential, you will need a premium account that costs $4.99 a month or $54.99 a year.

  13. 6 Best Travel Journal Apps for Your Next Trip (Updated 2024)

    Check out this post for my absolute favorite travel journal apps to help you document your adventures through slide shows, photo collages, timelines, maps, photo books, and more. 2. Day One Journal. 3. Grid Diary. 4. Momento.

  14. Travel Journal: Ideas, Tips, and How To Write a Travel Diary

    5. Write about the food. Just because you call it your travel diary, doesn't mean it can't double as a food diary. If there are any foods you loved, dishes you hated or recipes you can't live without, write them down to remember them all. Maybe some new fare you tried will influence your tastes when you return home.

  15. Free Travel Journal App

    6 Reasons To Use Penzu's Travel Diary App. There is no better software for a traveler or a writer. And certainly no better app for someone who is both. 1. Accessible. Penzu's mobile app software lets you access and write in your travel diary from anywhere, whether it is from a five-star hotel in London or an internet-free tent in Patagonia. 2.

  16. Travel Journaling Guide: How to Write the Ultimate Travel Diary

    6. You want to save ideas for an online travel diary or social media posts. Whether you're a content creator, a digital nomad, or simply someone who likes to share your travels with friends and family, travel journaling can be a great way to fine-tune ideas for future stories, whether written or visual.

  17. Online travel journal and travel planning tool

    A revolutionary new kind of online travel journal! Plan and manage your trip before it even starts. Capture and remember your travel experiences forever. Share your travel experiences with family and friends as you travel. Upload photos and map views of your journey as you go. Store and organize your travel journals forever on bookshelves ...

  18. Travel Journal & Trip Tracker 4+

    We offer the following Journo subscriptions: - $11.99 per month. - $65.99 per 6 months. - $99.99 per year. Journo also offers a Lifetime subscription which is paid for by a one-time upfront payment of $299.99 with unlimited access to Journo forever. These prices are for United States customers.

  19. Travel Diaries Review [2024]: Is a digital diary anything helpful?

    The Travel Diaries app is entirely online, so you don't have to waste time or space downloading any program. Customize the final product of your travel diary You can choose between the book size (small - 14.8 x 21cm or large 21 x 29.7cm), cover type (softcover or hardcover), and the type of paper (standard matt or mohawk matte).

  20. 10 Best Travel Journals for Digital Nomads

    5. Siixu Colorful Blank Notebook. Siixu is one of the best travel journals for scrapbooking, pasting your tickets and pictures and looking for a blank page to make draws inspired by your impression. Blank and colorful pages alternate, making it ideal for gratitude pages, notes and reminders, and tons of beautiful drawings.

  21. 22 travel journals for documenting your next adventure

    From $15.39 at Amazon. Compendium Everywhere You Go: A Guided Travel Journal. Amazon. If you're hoping for a travel journal that won't take up a lot of space in your travel backpack, this small ...

  22. About us

    At Travel Diaries, we know discerning travelers have access to several sources of information when planning a trip, but we also know that it takes more than secondary research to make a trip truly unique. We leverage our expertise and industry contacts to create unforgettable memories for our clients. We are all passionate about travel and it ...