travel diary diy

Free printable travel journal template: One Question A Day Diary

Are you going on a trip soon and do you want to keep track of all your fun memories? Great news! In today’s post, I’m going to show you how to make a simple DIY travel journal. It’s really easy, low-key, and fun! Plus, if you’re not feeling crafty, you can even download my free printable travel journal template that I made just for you.

Like many travelers, I used to forget the small, fun details of my trips. So, I started keeping track of memories with this one-question-a-day journal.

The idea is simple.

You just answer one fun question every day for a week. And the week after, you’ll answer the same one. It’s not like those big, heavy journals that are hard to carry. And you won’t have to write a lot, just one interesting question each day. This way, you can remember all the neat things that even photos can’t show, without any effort.

So stick with me, and I’ll show you how this easy idea can make your trips even more memorable. Let’s start making your very own travel journal!

In This Post:

Save this free printable travel journal template

Don’t forget to save this template on Pinterest so you’ll know where to find your downloads for your next trip!

Why you should keep a travel journal

Alright, I know you are dying to get started with this DIY travel journal, but just before you grab your crafts and head off, allow me to share a few more reasons why journaling is a game-changer for your travels.  Trust me, after reading these reasons, “forgetting” to journal will be a thing of the past!

• Document memories: Revisiting your adventures through a journal is super fun. Those quirky anecdotes and hidden gems you discovered? They will all be in your journal waiting to be re-lived.
• Record thoughts and ideas that you might otherwise forget: Ever had a brilliant idea or a profound realization while traveling, only to forget it later? A travel journal ensures those thoughts are captured forever.
• Reflect and learn: Journaling allows you to ponder over your experiences, offering insights and learnings that can be transformative.
• Unleash creativity: It’s not just about writing; it’s about expressing your creativity. Doodle, paste ticket stubs, or write a poem – your journal, your rules!
• Enhance your journey : A journal adds depth to your travels. It encourages mindfulness and helps you appreciate the journey on a deeper level.

Ready to make your travels more memorable and meaningful? Let’s get started and make your own travel journal!

A question-a-day: How does it work?

If you’re unfamiliar with the one-question-a-day format, let me give you a quick rundown, so you can make the most out of our free template.

Traditionally, these journals are used for an entire year, containing 365 unique questions – one for each day. The idea is to keep the journal for five years, answering the same question on the same date each year. This way, you end up with a fascinating record of how your thoughts and experiences evolve over time.

What I love about this format is the ease and simplicity. Answering just one question a day is a breeze, making it effortless to maintain a consistent journaling habit – often the biggest challenge for many travelers who want to keep a travel journal.

I adapted this concept for travel. Instead of spanning years, it covers your trip’s duration, with the same set of questions repeated each week. This approach is perfect for travelers who start journaling with enthusiasm but find the task daunting as their journey progresses. With just a short question to answer daily, it’s easy, fun, and incredibly rewarding.

So now that you understand the concept, let’s find out how to make your own travel journal.

I will share two options below; A DIY version and a free printable one . Neither one is better, just pick whichever one suits you best!

Option1: DIY travel journal

The first option I’ll share is a true DIY travel journal. You start with an empty paper or notebook and craft your own.

If you are looking for the free printable, scroll down to the free printable travel journal template section.

Materials needed

• Paper (A4 that you fold in two to make a booklet or any type of notebook)
• Crafting materials (if you want to make it look nice, but this is not necessary)

How to make your own travel journal

Step 1: find a notebook.

Honestly, it doesn’t matter if you just fold A4 paper in half and use a stapling machine to bind it. If you buy a simple notebook, or if you go all the way and buy a beautifully designed travel notebook.

I’m a big bullet journal fan, so I just make a collection and dedicate a few pages of my daily bullet journal to this Question-a-day journal. That way it’s integrated with all my other work and travel notes.

But feel free to do whatever fits you. All that matters is that you actually start and that you enjoy working on it. If you need a beautiful design to feel inspired, then by all means go for it. But the design should not be a reason to not get started.

The size of the notebook doesn’t matter either. I usually prefer an A5 format, because it’s small and easily fits in my backpack. But really, anything works. Lined, dotted, squared, or blank paper, all is fine.

Step 2: Make the pages

At the top of each page write one of the questions below, followed by a prompt for the right date. So weeks 1, 2, 3, etc (depending on how long you’ll be traveling)

• What did you eat today?
• Who or what made you smile today?
• What did you do today?
• Did you learn something new today? What was it?
• What is the most beautiful thing you saw today?
• Did you come across any challenges today? What was it? How did you overcome it?
• What was your favorite moment of the past week?

Of course, there are many different variations of questions you could ask. I found these seven the most interesting ones. But check the section about other prompts below for more question ideas.

I usually don’t add the answer sections for each week yet (I only showed it in the example above to give you an idea), because I don’t know how much space I’ll be needing for my answers. But you could add those if you want to make sure everything fits on one page.

Step 3: Decorate your travel journal

Now, I’ll admit. I am not the most creative person out here.

I can’t draw and I have the handwriting of an 8-year-old. So when I get crafty with my journal without any template, stickers, stamps, or premade anything, it will look like a mess. And that’s why I go for simplicity,

But if you are nothing like me, this is where you can get crazy. Get out your markers, crayons, glitter, and whatnot to make this travel journal feel like you. You could even add more blank pages so you have more options for photos, doodles, and other fun keepsakes from your trip.

Step 4: Start answering the questions every day

Now that your journal is finished, all you need to do is answer one simple question a day. No endless essays, writer’s block, or not feeling inspired. You’ll know exactly what to write and it will only take a few seconds.

What I like even more, is that even if I forgot to journal one day. I can easily trace back and still answer that one question from yesterday.

Option 2: Free printable travel journal template

Alright, if you’re looking for a printable travel journal, then I’ve got you covered too. Find out how to make your own travel journal from my free printable PDF below!

• Paper (white A4 that you fold in two to make a booklet)
• Printer (that can print in a booklet, though most printers nowadays have this setting)
• A free printable cover
• Free printable questions

How to use the free printable travel journal pdf

Step 1: choose and download your cover.

For you to use this journal every day and make the most out of it, you need to be super enthusiastic about it. And one way to get you excited is to help you find a design that matches your personality. And that’s why I came up with five different covers so that you can pick one that matches your spirit best.

Choose your favorite down below, or head over to Canva and make your design, as long as you print it on the right side of the paper in landscape shape, it will work too.

Step 2: Print the cover

Print it on an A4 paper and fold it in two. I deliberately put it on landscape and on the right side of the paper, so you can fold it in two and use it as the cover.

Step 3: Print the questions

Now that we have your cover, it’s time for the questions, which you can download here .

They are in A4 PDF format, but you can easily print them as a booklet by using the right printer settings, I explained below.

Print instructions

• Click print once you’ve downloaded and opened the PDF on your computer
• Go to printer settings and select booklet
• Print double-sided

With these settings, your printer will automatically put them in the right order, so that when you fold it in two, you will have a book from question 1-7, and extra notes in the back.

The settings might look slightly different on your computer, but it works the same for every printer.

Feel free to add more blank paper so you’ll have more notes. Or simply print more of the last “notes” page.

DIY travel journal tips

There are a few things that can help you to make the most out of this travel journal.

• Make this journal your own: the more it feels like your own project, the more enthusiastic you will be to write every day
• Set a specific time or moment when you will answer the question
• Start each answer with your current location followed by “:” and the answer. As travelers we visit so many different places that sometimes just seeing the name of a city you were at helps you set the mood and remember the content when you’re reading your travel journal years from now

DIY travel journal variations

As you probably already noticed, there are about 1000 different ways in which you can style your travel journal.

I just shared five printable travel journal templates with you, as well as my super simple but effective handwritten method. But remember. This journal is about you. It should be a design that invites you to write every day and create a beautiful travel memoir for your future self.

So go wild and use which ever design you want.

Besides differences in designs, you can also add different questions that are important to you, or that you want to remember from your trip. I’ll share a few of my other questions below.

I use these when I make my monthly travel journal for longer trips (more about this monthly journal below).

• Who did you meet today?
• Did you travel with someone today? Who is it?
• What was the weather like today?
• When was the last time you did something kind for someone else?
• What surprised you today?
• When was the last time someone did something kind for you?
• Did you fall for any tourist traps this week?
• What was your favorite accommodation up until now?
• Did you do something that scared you this week?

The printable travel journal prompts I shared with you today are for a five-week trip, but of course, you can also use them for a two-week vacation or any other duration.

If you’re traveling longer than 8 weeks, I would advise you to make a journal with a question for each day of the month. That way you’ll have more variation in the types of questions asked and the things you will remember from your trip.

Just check out my list of questions above for more inspiration. And if you want more help, or if you’re not feeling creative, Shoot me a message and I will send the full list of monthly questions as well as a free monthly printable that I use as well!

More DIY travel ideas

Did this project release your inner Martha Stewart?

Then you’re in good luck! We’ve got more super DIY travel projects for you to try.

• The 45 best DIY travel projects
• Homemade voucher book for your loved ones staying behind

Save these free templates

Did you save these free printable travel journal templates on Pinterest yet?

Final notes about this simple DIY journal

Whether you’re a seasoned traveler or a first-time explorer, I hope that this free printable travel journal template will make your adventures more memorable.

So, grab your pen and start capturing those precious travel moments, one question at a time!

You May Also Like

© 2024 The best travel gifts

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Just as most sites nowadays, The Best Travel Gifts uses affiliate links. Meaning that we will earn a commission each time you purchase something from a site we link to. Of course, this is at no extra cost to you. But it's a great way for us to keep this website going for more awesome gifts!

How to Make a Travel Journal? DIY Tips and Must-Have Supplies

Posted on Last updated: June 5, 2024

During my travels, I’ve always kept a travel journal – but they always have been different in style. If you ask me how to make a travel journal , I’d say that the only limit is your own imagination .

You can organise your journals by destination (country, or city), by itinerary or for by date, for example in weekly or daily logs, the possibilities are endless.

There are some tips and supplies that might help you get started on your first travel journal. Today I share them with you!

TIP: For a complete list of our favourite travel journals, have a look at the bottom of this article!

1. TRAVEL SKETCHBOOK

2. travel scrapbook, 3. travel notebook, 4. travel logbook, 5. friends travel journals, 6. themed travel journals, 7. local travel journals, 8. city travel journals, 9. travel photo album, journal sizes, binding types, paper thickness, extra journal features, what should a travel journal include, travel writing tips, prompts for travel journaling, travel journals with prompts, travel journal examples, how do you start a beginner travel journal, travel journaling supplies, travel journal decoration ideas, travel without leaving home, want to be a travel blogger, which book to read, our favourite travel journals, our favourite travel notebook covers, travel journals for kids, discover unique travel gear & gifts in our shop.

HOW DO I MAKE A TRAVEL JOURNAL?

OUR TOP 6 TRAVEL JOURNALS The Adventure Book (prompts + scrapbook per country) Moleskine Passion Journal Travel (blank paper) Duncan & Stone Travel Journal (prompts + scrapbook) Promptly Journals X Kelli Murray (prompts + scrapbook) Clever Fox Travel Journal (prompts + stickers) Wayfaren Travel Journal (lined paper)

What is a Travel Journal?

Let’s start at the beginning and go over what makes a travel journal. There are just so many different types! It really depends on how you would like to use your own journal to decide the best one for you!

Perhaps you first think of a simple lined notebook where you write down your travel stories, but there are so many other ways to keep your memories from on the road.

Just to name a few:

You don’t have to be a master artist to have fun with a travel sketchbook . Just take a notebook with blank pages and start drawing (or painting!) what you see. You can use pen, pencil, markers, crayons, watercolours or other paint, whatever you like!

There are some great travel journals specifically made for making watercolour drawings, such as the Tumuarta journal and the Seawhite journal .

Here are some other journals with blank pages perfect for sketching: the Moleskine Passion Journal and this personalized monogrammed leather journal .

Bookishly sells cute A5 (6×8″/15x21cm) travel journals with vintage world map covers featuring an inspirational quote on Etsy. The books have 244 blank pages, you can choose gift wrap, they have free UK delivery AND even upgrade to a “Journal for Life”, where you can send them a photo of a full travel journal and they send you a new one free of charge!

You don’t always need to be physically on the road to enjoy the beauty of destinations from all around the world!

From vintage travel posters to beautifully displayed souvenirs and home decor items inspired by your favourite places and from travel journals and crafts to exploring world recipes, music and dance.

With our creative articles you’ll get some fresh ideas on how to bring the world closer to the comforts of your own home.

If you aren’t a fan of drawing or painting, then perhaps making collages in a travel scrapbook is more your thing.

Nothing calms me down faster than ripping inspiring images and words out of magazines and flyers, or collecting little scrapbook items such as ticket stubs, napkins, packaging, etc. Simply arrange them in a nice way, add some text or embellishments like washi tape and you’ve got a great page!

I love using Project Life as a scrapbook , this is a system by Becky Higgins where you slide cards and photos into plastic pockets. It’s not widely available anymore, but I still love it.

Another great book to use for scrapbooking is The Adventure Book , which comes in two sizes.

Ok, I kind of already mentioned it in the intro, but some traditional travel notebook ideas / travel diary examples couldn’t miss in this first roundup.

You can choose lined, dotted or blank paper and write down anything you want to remember from your trip.

Of course you can combine it with elements of the above, for example by adding little doodles, papers, perhaps flowers or feathers, or any other flat trinkets you collect.

The Robrasim refillable leather travelers notebook has a mix of different paper types (and also a handy pocket)

Wayfaren on Etsy sells Weekender travel journals , which measure 6×8.5″ (about 15×21.5cm) and feature 28 lined pages (56 front and back) with a pre-printed box for location and date. The covers come in ivory and navy.

My favourite dotted journal is the Leuchtturm1917 .

If you love to write, but don’t feel like you have the time or energy to fill entire pages with text whilst on the road, a travel logbook might be something for you.

Just write down short little things that stood out about your day, so you won’t forget them. Think about what you did and who you met, what the weather was like, what you saw, heard, smelled, felt or tasted. Use all your senses!

The Everywhere You Go journal by Compendium let’s you take a quick snapshot of a place.

The Trip Passport by Letterfolk is a small, 48-page pocket-sized journal. Each entry page is accompanied by a blank page and there is space to record the date, location, who you went with, first impressions, sights, wildlife and more! It measures 3.5×5.5″ (about 9x14cm), roughly the size of a travel passport.

There is a lot that goes into running a profitable blog and there’s so much that goes on behind the scenes than you might not realize at first.

I’ve been blogging since 2006 and have a ton of tips to share! From brainstorming ideas to creating content all year round and from posting on social media to maintaining your website, tracking what’s working, networking at events and eventually working with brands…

Another cool idea might be to start a friends journal . What is a travel journal for friends? Let me tell you!

I actually did this on my first solo world trip, where friends gifted me a journal to take with me. Instead of writing in it myself (I already kept up a digital journal in the form of a blog) – I let everyone that I met on the road write a message in the book for me!

That made the journal super unique and personalized. And it’s still amazing to read back and remember all these people.

I also own a road trip journal , which I think is also such a fun idea! Usually on a road trip, you don’t have much time to keep up an extensive diary, so this pre-printed book is an easy way to keep track of all everything along the way you would like to remember.

Here you can find Axel & Ash Life’s a Road Trip Journal >

The Brand Clever Fox has a few fun themed journals, such as the Camping Journal and the Bucket List Journal >

You can really add a personal touch by choosing a journal that has a relation to the kind of trip that you are taking.

For example, you can buy a travel journal locally (like I did with the albums below, that I bought in Nepal and India from the market).

On markets across the world, you can also find amazing leather bound journals that right away give a whole explorer-vibe to your journal. You can also turn them into a personalized journal by having your name or the date engraved in the cover.

Here is a beautiful refillable handmade leather travelers notebook by the brand Robrasim >

Some great customizable travel notebooks are these from bamboo by Ruben & Jule of CamperVanStore on Etsy, this beautiful leather travel diary with a compass monogram by TealsPrairie on Etsy and the leather notebook covers by family-run business Galen Leather (their journal covers are compatible with Moleskine , Leuchtturm1917 , Field Notes and Traveler’s Notebook – and they also sell refills )

I found these fun city journals by Moleskine that also make for a great travel journal if you’re visiting these specific places.

I haven’t found many of these, but here is one for London , Paris , Hong Kong and New York >

Moleskine also has a great general travel journal and traveller’s journal in collaboration with National Geographic >

Any finally, the good old photo album . When I grew up, the albums that could stack all the images from one film canister (*ugh*grandma*ugh*) were very popular – you would usually bring the album to parties for people to flip through! Nowadays, they come in all different shapes and sizes.

Here you can find all kinds of albums for those little Instax photos .

Did I already mention I’m a huge Project Life fan ?

How to choose a travel journal?

After choosing your type of journal, there are a few other things to consider when selecting your perfect paper trip companion, such as:

What size is a travel journal? Well, that depends on what you use it for! Personally, I am most happy with an A5 size when it comes to travel journals. The smaller ones I find hard to write in and don’t fit all my keepsakes, the bigger ones just take up too much space in my backpack.

Perhaps you only want to take quick notes, or want to travel real lightweight, then an A6 travel journal (with pockets) might be best for you. And if you only create your final travel notebook at home and want to go all-out, a bigger size, such as A4 , or even larger, makes you happiest!

If you’re only creating a photo album of your trip, then you could for example also look into 1:1 sized albums, like the typical scrapbooks that are 12″ (30,48 cm) x 12″ or the 1.33:1 albums, for example 6″ (15,24 cm) x 8″ (20,32 cm).

I love this A5 Bullet Journal , also perfect for travel.

Incredible A4 travel journal .

Here are some cute Field Notes books – National Parks-themed!

This leather cover fits a 6″ Field Notes notebook perfectly .

The type of binding of a notebook is the material that is used to make the upper (front) and lower (back) covers of the journal, also taking into consideration how the pages are attached to the covers/back of the notebook.

For example, a saddle-stitch bind is when paper is folded with a staple or thread through the fold. PUR binding uses a paperboard or heavy cover stock to attach pages to the spine with glue (like in a paperback book). With spiral binding , there is a loop wire going through holes in the cover and pages (Nick hates these, as he’s left-handed and somehow always finds the wire in his way when writing), and with section sewn binding or coptic stitch binding , you get a flexible spine so you can lay the pages flat to work on.

As for the cover, you can choose between a hardcover or a more flexible, soft cover .

There are so many more types of binding that the ones I’ve just mentioned. Which do you prefer?

I mentioned them already briefly: are you most comfortable to work on lined/ruled paper (and how close do you like the rules to be?), blank paper, dotted paper, or perhaps paper with a grid or pre-printed boxes or prompts to fill in?

What type of page type for a travel journal you choose all depends on how you’re going to use the notebook. Are you going to write in it with pen or perhaps print typed text? Would you like to use markers or paint? Make drawings? The possibilities are endless.

This is a great example of a travel journal with prompts .

The Promptly journals are filled with custom prompts and also have plenty of space for mementos & photos.

Super handy pre-printed pages in this Camping Notebook by Clever Fox. And they also do a cool Travel Bucket List journal that’s fun to fill out!

Paper thickness is measured in weight, which varies from country to country. In the United States for example, you have “ U.S. basis weight ” (in pounds), where they look at a 500-sheet stack of the paper at its original, uncut “basic” size. But this can be confusing as a consumer, because different paper grades have different basic sizes, so even when the weight in pounds is higher, it doesn’t automatically mean the paper is thicker, because the basis size can be different.

It probably makes more sense to look at GSM (“ grams per square meter “). The weight is now determined by one sheet of paper at a size of 1 meter by 1 meter, measured in grams. All different grades of paper are measured at the same size. So a higher GSM always means heavier paper.

For reference, the standard weight of most A4 copy paper for your printer is 20 lb. / 75 gsm.

If you don’t want your pens, markers or paint to bleed through the pages, the thickness of your paper definitely matters, so make sure to test this!

Are there any other features you need when choosing your perfect travel journal? For example, I love notebooks with little pockets to keep my receipts and tickets. Or when they have a bookmark or pocket for a pe n!

Tips for extra features in a travel journal could also be page numbers , dividers or dedicated room to write dates . What extra features can you think of that you might need?

TIP ! Unique is The Travelogue by Luckies . This 64 page notepad journal also has check lists, travel tips and 8 miniature scratch maps, each representing different regions of the world. You can simply scratch off where you’ve been!

I believe there should not be a hard rule on what a travel journal should include, as the beauty lies in the fact that you can so easily customize it to your specific taste and type of trip!

Besides the obvious elements such as date , location , some highlights of the day and perhaps additional information about the weather, people you’ve met, things you ate and activities you did, you can add anything to your travel journal or scrapbook that’s important to you.

If you are looking for some inspiring examples of things to add to your travel journal, make sure to check out our blog about creative travel journal ideas >

How do I write a travel journal that is worth reading?

Travel writing can quickly become repetitive if you just list things you did in chronological order. So what can you do to make a story more interesting?

In a separate blog, I’ll give you my best tips on how to write a travel journal .

For more writing tips, check out “ The Soul of Place: A Creative Writing Workbook ” by Linda Lappin, “ Lonely Planet Travel Writing ” by Don George and “ On Writing ” by Stephen King.

If you’re looking for a bit of travel journal inspiration, then check out this blog in which I’ve handpicked some fun travel journal prompts for you.

There are also several travel notebooks out there that already have printed prompts in them. You can find the best travel journals with prompts at the bottom of our blog about travel writing prompts.

Spoiler : Some of our favourites are “ The Adventure Book ” by Nicole Nagelgast, “ Life’s a Road Trip ” and “ Swept Away by Wanderlust ” journals by Axel & Ash and the “ Travel Journal “, “ Bucket List Journal ” and “ Camping Journal ” by Clever Fox.

Other travel journals with prompts we encourage you to check out is this one by Compendium , this one by Promptly , this one by Moleskine , this one by OneLineVoyage and this one by Duncan & Stone .

Perhaps you’re not so fond of writing – but you love to craft, draw or paint. That’s amazing! With the following inspirational accounts on Instagram, you’ll get plenty of travel journaling ideas that don’t involve writing:

• Here are some creative travel project life scrapbook pages >
• Writer & sketch artist Candace Rose Rardon makes amazing (travel-related) sketches >
• Same goes for artist Kathrin Jebsen-Marwedel a.k.a. ( Illustrated Journal ), Andrea Muñoz , Alicia Aradilla and Meera Krishnadas ( The Little Black Journal ) on Instagram >

So far, we’ve looked at: all the different types of travel journals (sketchbook, scrapbook, notebook, logbook, friends travel journal, themed journals, local journals, city journals and travel photo albums), how to choose a travel journal (by looking at size, binding types, page types, paper thickness and additional features such as pockets and bookmarks) and what to include in your travel journal .

I also shared writing tips , journalling prompts , and creative examples of travel journals without a strong focus on text.

Ideas enough, but how do you get started?

It depends a bit what type of travel journal you’re keeping, but my system for creating a (travel) scrapbook is as follows:

• I collect photos, notes and items while on the road (I keep them on a separate hard disk for the photos, my notes in a simple lined notebook or in my phone and the items in a plastic folder I can zip closed)
• At home, I organise my photos on my computer in folders by date and location, and I keep all loose items (brochures, ticket stubs, etc.) in a plastic folder in a box – for when I’m ready to start the scrapbook.
• Before I get started on the journal, I plan where all photos and notes are going to go in the album. If I’m working with project life , I already slide the loose items into the pockets they’re going to go and also write on little papers (that also slide into the pockets) which photos I want to put where – I keep these in a separate folder on my phone.
• When the planning is done, I print all the photos I want to use in the album.
• Then I write all the notes that go with the photos.
• If that’s all done, I collect all scrapbooking supplies (list follows below) and I cut, glue or write where necessary.
• And FINALLY – I embellish the pages with extra stickers , stamps or other decorations.

We’ve written an extensive article on all the travel journaling supplies we recommend, but here are a few that shouldn’t miss in your own travel journal kit:

• colouring pencils
• felt tip pens (love these from Stabilo and Paper Mate )
• pens (love this Fisher space pen , the PILOT Rolling Ball Gel Pens and the Stabilo sensor pens )
• highlighters
• sharpie markers and pens
• hole puncher
• cutting mat and ruler
• glue stick or glue roller
• project life album , pocket pages ( type 1 / type 2 ), lined cards and more items …

If you’re wondering ‘how can I decorate my travel journal?’ then I’ve got a handy list for you with some ideas for travel journal embellishments:

• travel photos / vintage photos
• polaroids ( fujifilm instax mini camera, film and printer here )
• travel journal stickers (for example: travel sticker set , planner stickers , world landmark stickers , passport stamp stickers , US state stickers , travel around the world stickers , US national park stickers , outdoor stickers )
• stamps (big fan of these wooden travel stamps and silicone travel stamps )
• magnetic page markers
• some fun digital printables: travel stationary and country flags
• origami paper or scrapbook paper
• coins, sand, pressed flowers , pressed leaves or feathers
• paper ideas: drawings, rubbings, food / product packaging, food / product labels, menus, ticket stubs, postal stamps, receipts, maps, postcards, boarding passes, business cards , letters or notes from friends, written/printed local language, cuttings from (travel) magazines , brochures
• …what else can you come up with?

And there you have it! This is how I make a travel journal from scratch. I hope you found these DIY tips and inspiration helpful. For our favourite travel journals, please look below. And for a full list of travel scrapbooking supplies, check out this post !

The Travel Tester loves to review books that teach you something about yourself or the world around us.

From travel guides and stories to books about business and self-development and from cultural stories to cook books from kitchens around the world… if it looks interesting to us, we’ll test it!

No matter where you’re going, with our reviews you’ll know exactly what to read next!

• The Adventure Book – Original Edition (prompts + scrapbook per country)
• The Adventure Book – Europe Edition (prompts + scrapbook per country)
• The Adventure Book – Ultimate Traveler’s Edition (prompts + scrapbook per country)
• Moleskine Passion Journal Travel (blank paper)
• Moleskine National Geographic Traveller’s Journal (tabbed sections + prompts)
• Moleskine Journey City Notebook – London (pocket)
• Moleskine Journey City Notebook – Paris (pocket)
• Moleskine Journey City Notebook – New York (pocket)
• Moleskine Journey City Notebook – Hong Kong (pocket)
• Duncan & Stone Travel Journal (prompts + scrapbook)
• Everywhere You Go: Guided Travel Journal (prompts)
• Promptly Journals X Kelli Murray (prompts + scrapbook)
• Robrasim Refillable Leather Travelers Notebook (mixed papers + pockets)
• Clever Fox Bucket List Journal (prompts + stickers)
• Clever Fox Camping Journal (prompts + stickers)
• Clever Fox Travel Journal (prompts + stickers)
• Axel & Ash Life’s a Road Trip Journal (prompts)
• Axel & Ash Swept Away by Wanderlust (prompts)
• Field Notes: National Parks Series (pocket, graph paper)
• Bookishly Travel Journals (blank pages)
• Wayfaren Travel Journal (lined paper)
• Oakdene Designs Personalised Motorhome Travel Journal (prompts + scrapbook)
• Oakdene Designs Personalised Travel Journal (prompts + scrapbook)
• Oakdene Designs Personalised Caravan Travel Journal (prompts + scrapbook)
• Oakdene Designs Personalised Wooden Journal (lined pages)
• Oakdene Designs Personalised Hiking Journal (prompts + scrapbook)
• Oakdene Designs Personalised Road Bike Journal (prompts)
• Oakdene Designs Personalised Wooden Adventure Journal (prompts + scrapbook)
• Oakdene Designs Personalised Camping Journal (prompts + scrapbook)
• CamperVanStore Bamboo Travel Journal (lined paper + pen)
• Personalized Monogrammed Leather Travel Journal (blank pages)
• OneLineVoyage Faux Leather Travel Journal (prompts)
• Luckies Scratch Off Travelogue (prompts + scratch maps)
• Letterfolk Trip Passport (pocket + prompts)
• Galen Leather – Leuchtturm1917 Notebook Covers
• Galen Leather – Moleskine Covers
• Galen Leather – Field Notes Covers
• Galen Leather – Traveler’s Notebook Covers
• I Was Here: A Travel Journal for the Curious Minded
• Go!: A Kids’ Interactive Travel Diary and Journal – RED
• Go!: A Kids’ Interactive Travel Diary and Journal – BLUE
• Go!: A Kids’ Interactive Travel Diary and Journal – YELLOW
• Kids’ Travel Specialty Journal
• Lonely Planet Kids My Travel Journal
• Lonely Planet Kids The Travel Activity Book
• The Ultimate Travel Journal For Kids
• Road Trip Activities and Travel Journal for Kids
• Travel Journal for Kids
• Here I Go!: A Kid’s Travel Journal

MORE ABOUT TRAVEL JOURNALLING

• How to Make a Travel Journal ? Tips and Supplies
• How to Write a Travel Journal ? Best Writing Tips
• 65+ Travel Journal Prompts to inspire you
• 10+ Travel Bullet Journal Ideas you’ll love
• Best Bullet Journal Tips
• These Travel Journal Covers will amaze you
• Explorers’ Sketchbooks Review
• A Short History of Travel Writing
• 15 Signs you are born for Travel Writing
• Our Okinawa (Japan) Project Life Album
• Must-Have Travel Scrapbooking Supplies

In The Travel Tester shop, you will find our favourite travel products and original gift ideas.

Whether you’re looking for the best travel gear, gadgets, electronics, packing solutions, clothing, shoes, travel books, health- or beauty products… we’ve made a personal selection for you!

We’ve also included our favourite tech items used to create this blog, as well as material that can help you in your self-development, such as interesting books and courses.

Saturday 9th of March 2024

Creating a travel journal is a wonderful way to capture memories! Your DIY tips are spot-on, especially the emphasis on personal touches. Including must-have supplies like a sturdy notebook and colorful pens enhances the experience. Thanks for inspiring us to document our journeys with creativity!

Friday 21st of July 2023

Creating a travel journal is such a delightful and personal way to preserve the memories of our adventures. I love how the article emphasizes that there are no rules when it comes to making a travel journal, only the limits of our imagination. It's true; each travel journal can be as unique as the journey itself!

The tips and supplies shared here are truly helpful for anyone looking to start their first travel journal. I particularly resonate with the idea of incorporating various embellishments into the journal. Adding travel photos, stamps, and even pressed flowers can truly bring the memories to life and make the journal visually captivating.

Cheers, Femi.

How to make a DIY travel journal or travel scrapbook

Since the age of 14 when I went on my first big trip without my parents (a week hiking in the Tauras Mountains of Turkey), I’ve kept a DIY travel journal or made a travel scrapbook for every trip.

I have an India travel journal from a month’s hiking in the Himalayas aged 17, and travel scrapbooks from trips to Montreal, Australia , South America and a more polished travel photo book from a 3-month trip around the USA including our visit to Austin (& how we lost our passports).

That’s not to mention the travel diaries I’ve kept from these trips and others such as the Trans Siberian Railway trip last year.

I think it’s fair to say that when it comes to travel journals and travel scrapbooking, I’ve got a lot of experience. I love looking through the travel photos in particular and remembering the experiences I had.

The diaries are sometimes harder to read (can be a little embarrassing), but I love them too and remembering how I felt at the time; even when that means remembering the pain of hiking up a mountain with the soles of your feet as one big blister!

If you’re thinking of creating a DIY travel journal, want to jot down memories of your trip in a bullet journal, or are wondering what to do with all the photos on your computer, here’s how to do some travel journal DIY projects!

Types of travel journal

There are many different styles of bringing your travel journal to life and creating a personalized travel journal to bring your travels home.

I have a mixture of travel diaries, bullet journal entries with little sketches (not very good ones either!), travel scrapbooks and fancy travel photobooks.

I find photobooks and scrap books are the best for sharing with others, and diaries and journaling with travelling are best for your own amusement.

Travel notes: Just the facts

If you take a notebook with you while travelling, you could jot down ‘just the facts’. Where you went, what you did or eat, where you stayed and whether you liked it or not. You can leave it at that or, if you’re a travel blogger, this can act as a good prompt for writing fuller blog posts once you’re home.

This form of travel journaling works great in a DIY bullet journal and there are so many travel bullet journal layout ideas on Pinterest!

Travel diary and storytelling

I have so many notebooks full of stories and diary entries from various travels. It’s basically an expanded version of the above where you can go into more detail. Include stories calling on the 5-senses (taste, sight, sound, touch and smell) you experienced that day or amusing interactions you’ve had with people. Don’t be afraid of including the less glamorous side – they’re great to look back on with hindsight too!

This is the method of travel journalling that I use for shorter trips 0-2 weeks to create a DIY travel notebook.

Travel sketchbook

If you’re artsy you could create a travel sketchbook . This could be added to a bullet journal that you already keep, or in a sketchbook per trip that you take.

Perhaps you’re hiking on your travels and want to capture the beauty in front of you or some wildlife like a moose in Jasper National Park . Maybe you’re in front of a famous attraction like the Golden Gate Bridge or it could be food that grabs your attention.

Whatever it is, pack a smaller version of the medium you’d usually use and get creative!

Travel journal envelopes

Not exactly a travel journal on its own, but great for adding to one of the above forms. Adding an envelope to your travel journal, or getting one with this included already ( this one has a storage pocket at the back !), means you can put ticket stubs, receipts, postcards and other souvenirs inside it as keepsakes.

For some reason, I’ve always loved hanging on to flight ticket stubs and my scrapbooks are full of them along with tickets to various museums.

DIY Travel scrapbook

This is best done once you’ve returned from your trip as it takes quite a bit of time to put together. If I’m honest, I don’t usually get around to making a travel scrapbook until a few months after I’ve returned from a trip but I love making them! I use this method for trips that are longer than 2 weeks.

The way I do it is to hang on to receipts, ticket stubs and other bits and pieces from our travels. Then, I go through photos from our trip, apply a few edits and narrows them down to those that I want to print out. I like to use Photobox to print out my photos as the quality is great and they usually have some discounts available too.

Then, once I’ve got the photos I take a big scrapbook, some glue and some pretty pens and start sticking, doodling and adding other annotations!

One of the best things about creating a travel journal scrapbook is that you can also make your own DIY journal cover by sticking maps, photos and ticket stubs on the front. You could also include polaroid pictures if you’ve got a polaroid camera like this .

Fancy travel photobook

One of my favourite (but more expensive) ways of keeping travel memories is to create a travel photobook . My favourite one if the photobook we made through MILK books. It’s absolutely beautiful and their website was easy to use with layout ideas and they check your photos are a high enough quality for printing.

Ours comes in its own box to keep the book safe and I love remembering our three-month road trip through these photos.

The hardest part was choosing which photos to include!

Lots of other companies offer photo books too but the quality of the ones from MILK is amazing! If I do another photobook of our time in Vancouver, I’d definitely use them again!

How to make a travel journal – what do you need to start a travel journal?

The supplies for travel journaling you require depend on the type of journal, or journals, you’re deciding to make. If you’re doing more of a journal or travel diary then you’ll only need a notebook or a pen.

If you’re sketching you’ll probably want something else. Travel scrapbooking is something I recommend making after you’re back from your trip so while you’re travelling, all you’ll need is a camera!

What you should take to keep a travel journal on the road:

• A journal/notepad: There are  so many different options out there nowadays. I usually just take whatever I have at home (since I’m usually given 1-2 of them each year). However, if you want a specific bullet journal then I recommend Leuchtturm notebooks (they come in so many colours!) and for the enveloping method, this journal has an envelope included.  Moleskine travel journals are great for longevity but they’re a bit more expensive. The benefit of leather travel journals is that the cover will keep longer and not get messed up from cramming into backpacks!
• Pens/pencils
• Camera: A polaroid camera is fun for travel scrapbooking but not necessary.

How to keep a travel journal while travelling

You might be wondering where you’re supposed to find the time to keep a travel journal while you’re busy exploring. Don’t worry it’s actually a lot easier than you first think!

Usually, I end up writing in my journal at night. This might be while my travel partner is getting ready to go out for dinner, or right before I go to sleep. Sometimes it’s first thing in the morning for the previous day as I’m usually the first awake.

Other options include writing while you’re doing some long-distance travelling. I wrote a lot during our train journeys in Mongolia, and on the buses in South America. Sure, this means your writing is sometimes a bit funky as the bus goes around a corner or the plane hits turbulence but that adds character!

Sometimes I’ll even write up what I remember in the first few weeks of returning home!

DIY travel Journal ideas and prompts

Wondering how to format the pages in your travel journal? Luckily there’s no shortage of travel journals out there.

Here are a few different forms and ideas for travel journal layouts when creating your DIY journal of your travels.

Personally, I like a combination when I’m scrapbooking or journaling! But ultimately this is your travel book diy project.

Travel bucket list layout

You’ve heard of a summer bucket list and life bucket lists but what about a travel bucket list? This could be at the start of the year and a bucket list of places to visit, or perhaps it’s more specific to a journey you know you’re taking.

I like putting together bucket lists for the things I simply can’t miss on my travels. You could have your very own travel research journal, or just add a page to your usual journal.

Bullet journal packing list

Put together a packing list to make sure you don’t forget any essentials! Do it a couple of weeks before your trip to build excitement and get prepared. Take a look at these travel journal examples below.

Map tracker for long term journals

You’ll probably have seen scratch maps in recent years that you can put on your wall.

Create your own version for your travel journal by adding in a map tracker page.

This is great if you keep a bullet journal or diary regularly and want to add in some travel goals!

This could be done as a world map, or as a country-specific map to plan where you’re going to go with a travel journal map page. It’s such as fun idea for how to make a travel journal scrapbook.

Attach polaroid photos to scrapbooks and journals

When it comes to how to make a travel scrapbook, adding polaroid photos looks super cute take a look at the below travel journal template ideas.

Draw your journal

If you’re artsy, draw some sketches in your travel journal for extra colour and flair. I’m not much of an artist but these DIY journal ideas give me some inspiration of things I could include.

Keep your travel itinerary in a journal

These travel itineraries help you plan your trip before you go. And, planning is a big part of the fun! Or you can use this kind of layout to write in what it is you got up to if you’re not much of a planner.

Hold on to those travel ticket stubs

This example of travel journal pages with ticket stubs is a great way to hang on to keepsakes from your trips.

This idea helps create a scrapbook travel journal while you’re on the road.

When it comes to how to create a travel journal, start by sticking down some ticket stubs and get creative with drawings, doodles, and notes around it.

Top Tips for Travel Journalling and getting travel scrapbook ideas

• It’s not about it being perfect – bad handwriting and wonky photos add character!
• It doesn’t have to be top-quality travel writing – write for yourself and the things you think are important. No one else has to read it!
• The best travel journal is the one you stick to – there’s no point in just writing one day and forgetting about it!
• There are no rules when it comes to how to write a travel journal. Just write what comes to mind!
• Make your own travel journal with any notebook you have and have fun!

Last Updated on February 2, 2024 by Hannah

Hannah started That Adventurer after graduating back in 2013 and has documented all of her adventures since then. From backpacking South America to city breaks in Europe , a 3 month road trip across the USA in a self-converted van and 6 years living in Canada , you’ll find posts on all of this.

Hannah specialises in active travel and on That Adventurer you’ll find hiking, walking, biking, skiing and all sorts of active travel guides to allow you to see a destination in an adventurous way.

Now back in Europe, you’ll find new guides as Hannah and her husband spend the next year ‘digital nomading’ from Norway to Portugal, Switzerland to Scotland and places in between.

Leave a comment Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Some wonderful ideas here! Did you do the drawings? If so, they are amazing!!! I struggle to even draw stick-men. Happy travels 🙂

Very cool! And the drawings are great! I feel I would make a complete mess if I tried this.

hai im jasa buzzer from Indonesia, this is good article, thanks you..

• PRO Courses Guides New Tech Help Pro Expert Videos About wikiHow Pro Upgrade Sign In
• EDIT Edit this Article
• EXPLORE Tech Help Pro About Us Random Article Quizzes Request a New Article Community Dashboard This Or That Game Happiness Hub Popular Categories Arts and Entertainment Artwork Books Movies Computers and Electronics Computers Phone Skills Technology Hacks Health Men's Health Mental Health Women's Health Relationships Dating Love Relationship Issues Hobbies and Crafts Crafts Drawing Games Education & Communication Communication Skills Personal Development Studying Personal Care and Style Fashion Hair Care Personal Hygiene Youth Personal Care School Stuff Dating All Categories Arts and Entertainment Finance and Business Home and Garden Relationship Quizzes Cars & Other Vehicles Food and Entertaining Personal Care and Style Sports and Fitness Computers and Electronics Health Pets and Animals Travel Education & Communication Hobbies and Crafts Philosophy and Religion Work World Family Life Holidays and Traditions Relationships Youth
• Browse Articles
• Learn Something New
• Quizzes Hot
• Happiness Hub
• This Or That Game
• Train Your Brain
• Explore More
• Support wikiHow
• About wikiHow
• Log in / Sign up
• Education and Communications
• Journal Writing

How to Make a Travel Journal

Last Updated: February 24, 2023 Approved

This article was co-authored by Archana Ramamoorthy, MS . Archana Ramamoorthy is the Chief Technology Officer, North America at Workday. In 2019, she went on a three-month sabbatical from her work and solo traveled throughout Southeast Asia. She is a product ninja, security advocate, and on a quest to enable more inclusion in the tech industry. Archana received her BS from SRM University and MS from Duke University and has been working in product management for over 8 years. There are 8 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. wikiHow marks an article as reader-approved once it receives enough positive feedback. In this case, several readers have written to tell us that this article was helpful to them, earning it our reader-approved status. This article has been viewed 140,679 times.

Travel is a time for growth, new experiences, and seeing more of the world. If you're taking a trip, you want to remember everything that you did for years to come. Keeping a travel journal will not only help preserve your memories of the experience, but can help enrich your trip in the moment as well. Check out this super useful list we’ve put together about travel journaling! We’ll start off with some tips on what to put in your travel journal, how to write entries, how to pick a journal type, and more.

Travel Journal Entry Template

Write about more than just activities to make entries interesting.

• For example, instead of just talking about a hike you went on, describe the meal you ate at the end of the day and how good it was after exerting yourself physically all day long.

Engage all senses to transport the reader to the time and place.

• For example, describe the scent of the flowers on the table in the cafe where you have lunch or the feel of the breeze when you're relaxing on the beach.

Find a theme for entries to help make them feel coherent.

• If you're having trouble identifying a theme for an entry, start by asking yourself a few basic questions, such as: “What made me smile today?”, “What surprised me today?”, or "What did I learn today?" Write down the answers, and you may see a theme start to emerge.

Write about people you meet to bring their characters to life.

• For example, you could describe how the old lady who sold you fresh produce at the market looked and acted to bring life into the story about your trip to the market that day. Or, you could talk about fellow travelers you’ve been hanging out with and what you like or admire about them.

Collect mementos to add visual interest to your journal.

• You don't necessarily have to glue or tape the mementos in your journal as you're traveling. Just set them aside in your folder, so you can add them when you return home. However, make sure to leave space among your written entries to add the materials that match up with them.
• If you’re making a digital journal, you can easily scan or take photos of mementos to add to it.

Take photos to bring your journal entries to life.

• If you’re journaling online, such as on a blog, upload a few relevant photos to go with each post and help bring your entry to life.
• You don’t have to print out photos on the road for a physical journal. Just save the ones you like and print and add them to your journal when you get home.

Add some sketches if you like to draw.

• It doesn't matter if you're not a great artist. You can sketch a simple map of the neighborhood that you're staying in or a pretty bunch of flowers that you saw. As long as the drawing helps you remember details of your trip later, it's worth it.
• You could even use watercolors or another type of paint to do some artwork on a separate piece of art paper, then put it in your journal once it’s dry.
• If you’re making a digital journal, you can use a drawing app on a tablet or smartphone to do sketches for it.

Make a physical journal if you’re a hands-on type person.

• A journal with acid-free paper is usually a good investment because it will ensure that your writing and sketches will hold up for years.
• If you want to get really decorative, purchase some additional art supplies like colored markers, gel pens, and pencils.
• Washi tape or a glue stick are handy for sticking postcards, pictures, and other mementos to pages.
• If you like to draw and sketch, take a set of drawing pencils with you to sketch sights you see along the way.
• A small pair of craft scissors can also be handy for cutting out images and things to stick in your journal. However, if you’re flying, make sure you can put them in a checked bag or you won’t be able to bring them with you.

Create a digital journal if you want to easily share it.

• Another advantage of digital journals is that you don’t have to bring much with you. You can use a laptop, a tablet, or even just a smartphone!
• If you want to find different apps for journaling, search wherever you get your apps from with a term like “travel diary” or “journal app.”
• Remember that there’s no right or wrong way to create a journal. Whatever gets your creative juices flowing and helps you cherish those memories forever is perfect!

Get a clear, expandable folder to collect journaling materials in.

• A folder is especially important if you don't want to compile your whole journal while you're actually traveling. You can just write in the journal as you go, and add the mementos after you've returned home because the folder will keep them all organized.

Use a map to track your travels if you’re going many places.

• If you want to find apps to track your travels on a map, just type “travel map app” into the search bar of wherever you get your apps.
• You don’t have to be travelling internationally to track your route on a map. For example, if you’re doing a cross-state road trip, you could print out a map of each state and mark your stops along your route in each state.
• You can also use a large world map to track multiple trips over the months and years to come.

Decide who you're writing for to help guide your journaling.

• If you plan to share your journal with others, consider the details that you plan to include. You may not think it's necessary to write down the address of a restaurant that you enjoyed to preserve the memory, but a friend may find the information helpful. On the other hand, there may be personal details of your trip that you don't want to share with family and friends, so it's best to omit them.

Start journaling before your trip to help plan and get excited.

• You could write about what you imagine certain places to be like, then go back and compare notes after you actually visit them for a fun comparison!
• You can put practical details in the beginning of your journal too, such as contact info for tour operators or directions to get to certain places.

Make entries as often as possible to fill your journal as you travel.

• It helps to set aside a specific time to write in your journal. For example, you might do your entries at breakfast or just before bed. If you're taking a plane, train, bus, or car to another location, the ride is a great time to work on journal entries.
• Remember to date each entry, so you can remember the timeline of your trip. You may want to include the time that you wrote each as well.
• If you're in a hurry, jot down notes about your day on a scrap of paper that you can copy into the journal when you have more time. You may forget some details if you don't write things down as you go, so a rough draft can come in handy.

Expert Q&A

You Might Also Like

• ↑ https://www.nathab.com/blog/create-a-travel-journal-that-youll-read-again-and-again/
• ↑ http://www.wanderlust.co.uk/magazine/articles/advice/how-to-write-the-perfect-travel-journal
• ↑ http://solotravelerblog.com/9-tips-for-those-who-struggle-to-keep-a-travel-journal/
• ↑ http://www.globejotting.com/create-a-more-vivid-travel-journal/
• ↑ http://www.fodors.com/travel-photography/article-creating-a-travel-journal-84/
• ↑ http://www.gonomad.com/2288-tips-on-keeping-a-travel-journal
• ↑ https://www.windstarcruises.com/blog/how-to-make-a-travel-journal/
• ↑ https://penzu.com/travel-journal-guide

About This Article

To make a travel journal, write entries in a journal as you're traveling so you don't forget any important details. Try to engage all of your senses as you're writing by describing how your destination smells, sounds, looks, feels, and tastes, which will make your journal entries more vivid and interesting. Remember to take photos and collect mementos throughout your trip so you can glue them into your travel journal later on. You can also draw or paint different sights you see and include your own artwork in your journal. To learn how to get all the necessary supplies for a travel journal, keep reading! Did this summary help you? Yes No

• Send fan mail to authors

Reader Success Stories

Christine Adams

Apr 11, 2017

Did this article help you?

Joseph Gray

Jun 6, 2016

Namratha Sreedhar

Jul 13, 2016

Jun 16, 2017

Kabir Thappar

Dec 9, 2016

Featured Articles

Trending Articles

Watch Articles

• Terms of Use
• Privacy Policy
• Do Not Sell or Share My Info
• Not Selling Info

Don’t miss out! Sign up for

wikiHow’s newsletter

Trending Post : The Mega List of Free SVG Files

The Ultimate Guide to Keeping a Travel Journal

Create a travel journal for your next adventure.

Let’s talk about creating a travel journal for your next trip that you’re planning.

Traveling starts long before an actual trip begins. 

It usually starts with a dream. 

A dream of a different place, new scenery, a vacation or a getaway.  It can  even just start with a feeling.  We call it Wanderlust….

Planning a trip is just as much a part of traveling as the trip itself.

A travel journal can be start all the way at the beginning of the idea of the trip and then be a keepsake when the adventure ends.

~This post may contain affiliate links.  If you click one and make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no additional cost to you.  This helps us fund creating great content for you! For more information  click here  ~

Why Keep a Travel Journal?

When you travel, you are collecting memories. 

When you bring those memories back home with you it gives you a chance to relive them, and share them, and maybe even learn from them. 

Travel can expand your view of the world around you, even if you don’t go very far from home and it gives you a chance to escape from your daily routine.

I know that we all use our phones to organize things thees days, I love having everything at my fingertips too, but there’s something romantic and special about writing things down in a journal. 

This is your chance to disconnect from your daily habits and try something new.

A travel journal can be a great keepsake and also a great resource after your trip has ended.  How much easier will it be to remember the name of that fantastic restaurant if you’ve got it written down in your journal?

By keeping a travel diary you have a reflection of your experiences that you can revisit anytime.

What is a Travel Journal?

A travel journal is your diary of a trip, or multiple trips.  It’s where you can write about your experiences and how you felt about them.  It’s the place for you to collect your stories and memories of your trip.

Your travel journal is yours.  It’s personal and it can include anything that you want to jot down about your trip or during your trip.  It’s also a great place to store memento’s.

Using Your Travel Journal to Plan Travel

You can use your travel journal before your trip even begins.  Keep a travel bucket list of places you want to see and things you want to experience.  This is a great list to refer to, and to update and see if it changes as you travel and have more experiences.

You can keep your packing list in your travel journal.  Make notes on what things worked best on your trip and what things you didn’t need.  This can help you plan your packing for future trips. 

Remember that one thing you always forget?  Write it down for next time!

Travel Journal Tips

Plan your trip in your travel journal.

Use your travel journal to plan your trip.  Write down your ideas while you’re researching your trip or talking with fellow travelers.  Is there a great hike you heard about or a restaurant you want to try? 

Put them in your planning pages.

This is a great way to keep track of your ideas before the trip to help you plan your time during the trip.  You can keep contact information and planning all in one central location.

If you’re moving around to different places you can keep your itinerary and lodging information in your journal.

Write During Your Trip

You don’t want this to feel like a chore, but you do want to get a few notes down while they’re fresh in your memory.  Try to spend a few minutes each day putting your thoughts on paper.  Even if it’s just a few lines to be able to jog your memory later, getting some notes down will help you put your story together.

Try to use all your senses when you’re writing – how did you feel, what were the smells and tastes  you experienced.  All these details will help you retain a more vivid picture of your trip and experiences.

There’s always an aspect of wonder when you travel too. 

Try to put down a few of your feelings so that you will be aware of how the trip changed you.  Travel is a great chance to experience personal growth.

Add Keepsakes to Your Journal

You can glue in photos, menus, napkins; really anything that strikes your fancy can be included in your travel journal. 

I like to keep ticket stubs and entry bracelets and write about the places that we’ve visited.  After we return home I might add a few photos that go along with the trip.  If we pick up a tourist brochure for someplace we visit I like to keep those too.

Finish Up When You Return

When you get home be sure to take a little time to look back through your journal.  You may have some memories that you want to add or you may just want to relive a few moments from your trip.

It can also be a great stress reliever to review your journal after you’ve been home awhile.

The Benefits of Keeping a Travel Journal

It’s a great way to beat boredom.

If you’re traveling a great distance, or traveling alone, your journal gives you a nice distraction when you need something creative to work on.  You can write anything you want in your journal, it doesn’t have to make sense to anyone but you when it’s all said and done.

But don’t feel that you have to write about every little thing.  You journal belongs to you and it can just be a keepsake of your favorite things, or notes for future travel.  Remember that it’s always supposed to be fun and not a chore.

You’ll Remember More

Writing helps us commit things to our memory. 

By putting down your thoughts and memories in a journal you will remember more about your trip.  It’s also a great place to jot down notes when you visit with the people you meet along the way.

Ask the local’s the best place to eat and jot it down.  Ask a fellow traveler about what they saw that was unexpected and make a note of it.  Sometimes these are the things that will you get off the beaten path and have experiences that you didn’t expect.

It’s a Great Keepsake

When your trip is all said and done you’ll have a live scrapbook about it.  It can be a great resource when planning another trip or offering tips for someone traveling to the same area. 

It’s also a great place to revisit some memories later.

I always like picking up little things, bottle caps, napkins and other small items.  This gives me a great place to hang onto them so that they’re memories and not clutter.  It’s always fun to keep a bit of the local currency and ticket stubs. 

But don’t be limited to that, you can keepsake most anything.

It also helps me keep different trips and places straight.  I can look back and tell my friend where we ate or the name of the hotel.  It’s all written down and easy to find.

Travel Journal Prompts

Do you need some ideas for thing to include in your travel journal?  Sometimes staring at a blank page can be a hard way to begin.  Here are some prompts to help get you writing.

Where are you going and why?

It can be as simple as taking a vacation or it can be traveling for a service project.  There are no right or wrong answers, it’s your trip.  Tell about why you chose the place and what you hope to find there.

Some trips are mainly for relaxation and some are to enjoy a great activity.  They are all equally important.

What are you planning to do?

Maybe some drinks by the pool, or maybe you’re building a school.  Hey Dr. Seuss, what do you want to do on your trip?  This is something you can write about before you leave and then follow up with while you’re traveling.

Don’t forget to talk about the food  you want to try.

No matter where we travel, we always make it a point to eat locally and not at chain restaurants.

Pick something to focus on

I have a thing about doors. 

I love to see all the beautiful painted and patinaed doors and I make it a point on every trip to take door photos.  At this point I could probably publish a book of just those alone, but it’s also something that ties many of our trips together.

If you have a similar fascination it’s a great focus.  Do you visit all the beaches?  Do you collect sand from each one?  It’s amazing how different beach sand can be.

Write about the Food

You can use your travel journal as a food diary too.  Trying new foods can be a great experience when you travel, or it can be a funny tale in the future.

I know that we only eat beignets in New Orleans.  In my mind they are part of that city and the food there is part of the whole experience.  Conch fritters in the Bahamas, Red Stripe beer in Jamaica.  Is there a food that’s native to the region that you want to try while you’re visiting?

Make a Highlight Reel

If a friend was visiting, what experiences would you tell them to not miss.  What restaurants would you send them to?  Where’s the best place to see the sunset, go dancing, etc. 

Devote a page to just your favorite’s from the trip for reference.

Next time you visit

Every time we visit a place we make a list of things we’d like to do the next time we are there.   The best part of traveling is feeling like there are still things to discover when we return.

Where do you want to go next?

Did this trip give you more ideas of places to visit?  Is it someplace that you can’t wait to visit again?  Did it change your mind about other places you thought you were interested in? .

Travel Journal Inspiration

Here’s a great example of a journal spread for your packing list.

Here is a great example of a memory page in a travel journal.

Here’s a map spread so you can keep track of where you’ve been or where you want to go!

As you can see there’s no end to the creativity you can use in your travel journal.

Do you already keep travel journals or are you planning to start? Let us know in the comments below!

Follow us on Pinterest and on Instagram for lot’s more ideas and inspiration!

Similar Posts

The Best Brush Letter Practice You Can Get for Free

How to Easily Create a Dutch Door Spread (Bullet Journal)

Simple Daily Layouts To Make Your Bullet Journal

What is a Bullet Journal and Why Do You Need One?

The Best Journal Writing Prompts to Inspire You

The Best Mood Tracker Ideas for You to Try

This was quite useful for me. I already purchased a nice notebook for my next travel plans. I would like to receive more ideas about this. Thank you very much. Mariana

Mariane: We’re so glad that you found this helpful – I bet your travel journal is going to be amazing! WildOnes

Your post on Pinterest says ‘Hot to make a journal…” instead of ‘How’

Thanks so much for letting us know!

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

12 DIY Whimsy And Cool Travel Journals

If you aren’t familiar with travel journals, these are notebooks that are great for keeping track of expenses, organize receipts, create shopping lists, write down new ideas. This is especially true for long-term travel adventures, where the extraordinary and exotic are daily occurrences and your brain can only easily remember the most remarkable. Keep all your memories and details up with a travel journal! I’ve prepared some cool DIYs to make one , they can be not only a great idea for your future trips but also a cool gift. Let’s start!

DIY travel journals in navy chevron and gold glitter (via 86lemons.com ).

DIY colorful glam travel journal (via www.homecynhome.com ).

DIY bright printed travel journals (via heiterundhurtig.de ).

DIY modern laconic travel journals with city names (via www.nonarrativelines.com ).

DIY colorful gradient beach travel journals (via www.craftsbycourtney.com ).

DIY travel journals of burlap,cardboard and with colorful touches (via helloglow.co ).

DIY watercolor-inspired travel journals with city names (via maritzalisa.com ).

DIY Paris travel journal (via www.ialwayspickthethimble.com ).

DIY colorful glam travel journal with zebras (via lovelyindeed.com ).

How to keep your travel journal super creatively (via vagabondbaker.com ).

Stylish DIY pocket travel journal (via simpleasthatblog.com ).

DIY leather travel journal with colorful floral lining (via stampedinhisimage.blogspot.com ).

FOLLOW ON US

L a t e s t c r a f t v i d e o s.

• DIY Flower Pots Lighthouse Project For A Garden
• DIY Pumpkin Fall Wall Art From Wine Corks
• Easy DIY Wine Cork Pumpkin For Fall Decor
• DIY Paper Olaf And Elsa From Frozen For Kids
• Summer Vacation Memory Craft For Kids

• Skip to primary navigation
• Skip to main content
• Skip to primary sidebar

Diy Craft Projects » 35 DIY Journal Ideas: How To Make A Journal From Scratch

35 DIY Journal Ideas: How To Make A Journal From Scratch

Published: May 28, 2021 · Modified: Jul 23, 2021 by Luke Allison · This post may contain affiliate links · This blog generates income via ads

If you love keeping a journal, do you know you can use at least five journals a year? sometimes more if you write a lot. Now, calculating the amount spent on buying each journal, you will realize it’s a lot.

The good news is, you can save yourself the cost of buying five journals and start making them yourself with little or no cost. Let me show you the best ways to do this!  We have put together 35 DIY Journal ideas that will show you how to make a journal from scratch, you should check it out.

Table of Contents

1. DIY Bullet Journal

It takes only 3 hours to complete making this bullet journal but it will take much more hours to use it. It requires basic steps like folding papers and pinning them together in a cover.

2. Basic DIY Bullet Journal

One great thing about this bullet journal is the elastic guide at the back of the journal to make sure the pages close together very well. It is very simple and straightforward nevertheless the free dot grid printable makes it even simpler.

3. How To Make A No Sew Journal

A very common method of making a big journal is sewing. Though this journal is big, it doesn't require sewing.

What the instructor did was get seven notebooks and glue them on top of each other. Then, she cut a piece of fabric and glued it to the back of the notebooks, securing them together even more.  She then covers the notebooks in cardboards.

4. Making A Journal For Beginners

As a beginner, a lot of things would seem challenging especially when there is no appropriate explanation and understanding. This is on the simplest DIY journal and it provides detailed explanations for the sake of beginners.

5. Homemade Journals

With a paper trimmer, cutting down papers and cardboards for the project become easier. Other materials that make the journal exceptional include printer paper, Crop-A-Dile punch tool, paper, leather, and embellishment for the covers.

Click for more details

6. DIY Journal

Maybe due to your profession, you constantly need to note down some important information. This journal is the best item for you to trap that information. It is made from a notebook/journal. The first thing to do is to remove the old cover from the notebook then make a new cardboard cover for it.

7. DIY Mini Junk Journal

Keeping journals is an amazing way to keep yourself abreast with some moments that are too good or too bad to let go of. This journal was inspired by the video of Johanna Clough. It is very simple and exceptional.

8. Easy DIY Art Journal

This art journal was made by a six years old child. The point is the art of making journals helps to improve kids' creativity. The girl put all her passion into making this art journal from scrapbooks, cereal boxes, paint, etc. You can encourage your kids to make this too. It's super amazing!

9. How To Make Your Journal

In this video, the instructor explains three types of journals. The first one is the bound bullet journal. To make this, you will need cardstock, scrap wood paper, dot grid / regular paper, and Elmer's rubber cement.

10. DIY Notebook

Making a notebook by yourself will give you the energy to cherish the note so much. You'll handle it with care, just like a baby. In making this notebook, you have to fold many plain papers in half and glue them together. Then, cut a brown cardstock for the cover.

11. How To Make A Journal

If you want to know how to bind your journal, this is the best video for you to learn.

Using a hole punch, you can easily bind your journal together within a couple of minutes.

12. How To Make A DIY Book Journal

I love bullet journals! They make journaling more fantastic. In this video, you will learn how to make two different bullet journals using different techniques and materials.

13. DIY Leather Journal

One thing that will always make DIY amazing is the ability to upcycled anything to something new. There is no room for anything to waste. This leather journal was made from recycled journals. Awl, wax thread, leather cords, cardboard, and leftover papers.

14. DIY Customized Book Journal

Once you try making this journal once, you will be hooked to it. Always trying to make more and more. The imperfection in the journal makes it even more exceptional; the uneven edge of the journal gives it a rustic look.

15. DIY Decoupage Journal

Decopodge journal! I'm excited just hearing the name because it's going to be a colorful project. One thing that makes Decopodge journal amazing is that you will be using a plain journal and numerous cut-out pictures, patterns, and logos from the magazine.

16. DIY Vintage Journal

Here is another adorable vintage journal! I found myself liking a vintage journal these days. They look fascinating. The supplies needed for this vintage journal include a leather sheet, scissors, pin, marker, ruler, faux suede cord, parchment paper, chalkboard paper, felt paper, and stapler.

17. How To Make A DIY Journal

You must have come across the word Canva before or probably you've made a design on Canva.com before.

Canva.com is a design website that allows you to create images, logos, and cards. The website supports external images, that is, you can upload your images on it and make a design with it.

The instructor made the front and back cover of the journal on canvas.com by uploading some external pictures into the site. It is very simple and straightforward once you follow the instructions given in the video.

18. How To Make A DIY Travel Journal

There are a lot of things you will need to jot down when you're traveling. Things like basic words in other languages, memorable places you visited, names of things and places, etc.

This personalized travel journal is the best way to make your traveling experience memorable.

Here is how to make one for yourself.

Get a big world map, cardboard, colored paper, glue, and string. Cover the cardboard with the colored paper and cut the map into pieces. Assemble everything and glue them together.

19. Vintage Journal DIY

One thing is common for all vintage journals, that is tea dying and rough edges. Vintage journals are very easy to make and they are exceptional due to the style and texture.

Most of the vintage journals used stitching as a mode of binding while some used glue. This journal was assembled with glue and covered with leather.

20. DIY Journal Notebook From Scrap Paper

Making a journal by yourself means you have your interest under control. You can make it into anything that suits your desires.

This is made from gilded paper with a wood design. Other thick scrap wood papers are equally amazing. Then, download the "room makeover journal" pages to fit into the scrapbook paper. The whole project takes only 10 minutes once the materials are available.

21. How To Make A Handmade Journal

You can make this! Anybody can! The first thing to do before starting this project is to download the free journal cover template. The link to download the template is listed in the link below.

22. How To Make A Handmade Journal

Once you see a handmade journal, you'll immediately know it's handmade. I like handmade journals, they are very exceptional.

You can use any greeting card for the cover, but if you would like to stitch one for yourself as they did in this guide; you can glue the plain paper onto a decorated paper. Then, place them on cardboard and you're good to go.

23. DIY Gratitude Journal

Are you a journal writer? Do you need an adorable journal to keep your moments? This is the best for you. All you need to do is to get a notebook or a sketchbook and decorate it with some mixed media leaves. You will learn how to make your media leave in this guide as well.

24. DIY Sketchbook Journal

DIY becomes much easier when there is no need to stitch or bind. As a beginner, this is the best way to go. First, get some paper. Then, decide on the size of the journal you want to make and fold the paper. Here, the creator folded the paper into four.

The next step is to punch holes on the paper, she punches two holes on each paper. Then, she cut the fold into four individual pieces. She stacked them together and passed a floral wire in each of the holes.

25. How To Make A Junk Journal

This is a one signature junk journal and it uses a simple binding method. Here is the method;

Once you organize the paper, thread a string in a needle. Open the journal to the middle and start a hole at the of the journal. Pass the needle to the other side and prick it back in from the bottom of the journal. Pass the needle through the center again and prick it back in through the top. After this, cut the string and tie.

26. How To Make A Junk Journal

One thing that fascinates me about some junk journals or vintage journals is the tea dye. It gives the journal an exceptional look.

The first step to take in making this junk journal is to fold the papers, then organize the papers and put the signatures together. Then, start making the cover.

27. DIY Vintage Journal Notebook

This vintage notebook stands out among others. Here is how to make one; Fold some plain paper in half and use your hand to tear all the edges of the papers roughly. Then, soak the papers in coffee and allow them to dry. Once the papers are dried, take a needle and thread and stitch the pages together.

For the cover, cut cardboard to size the length of the pages. Then, tear some old newspapers into tiny pieces and soak them in water. Remove them from water and blend them, add glue to it and mash it up. Use it to cover the cardboard and paint it in black, brown, and golden color.

28. DIY Vintage Hogwarts Journal

One thing I like about this journal is the vintage, rusty look. Because of this effect, everything used in this project is either brown or altered to brown. Brown brings out the ancient look.

It is made from scrap paper and cardboard, brown cardboard paper, hardback cover, tea, brown shirt, brown shoe polish, etc.

29. Easy Bound Journal DIY

You've been making journals, but this time you decided you want to use another method. Binding! Learn everything you need to know about this bound journal in this guide.

30. How To Make A Simple Journal

The first step in making this is to cut out the leather and cardboard paper that is needed. Then, Mark the middle of both leather and cardboard. Get a strong glue that will be able to glue leather and glue the cardboard to the leather.

The next step is to prepare the pages and glue them inside the cardboard piece.

31. How To Make A DIY Journal With Tea Stained Paper

If you desire rustic pages, there is no other way to go about it than to soak your paper in tea or coffee. Here are other materials you need to make this! A foam core, fabric for the book cover, fabric for binding, button, embroidery needle, x-Acto knife, ruler, and twine.

32. DIY Bullet Journal

This is another bullet journal DIY. It is very simple and cheap. One very important thing about bullet journals is that you can customize them into anything you want. Learn how to make this in the video below.

33. How To Make Junk Journal Out Of An Old Book

If you're new to junk journaling, this is the best way to start. In this video, you will learn how to repurpose a book into a junk journal. It is very simple, the only place that requires special attention is the cover.

34. DIY Journal

This journal is made from acetate pad, freestyle pen, recollection chipboard, planer disc, disc power punch, recollection farmhouse paper pad, and AC Jen Hadfield sticker books. It is very easy and adorable. All the process involved in making it is clearly explained in this video.

35. DIY Easy Journal

To make this you need papers, cardstock, thumbtack, staple pins, and mushy tape. Fold the papers into half and stack them together, make two holes at both edges of the papers with a thumbtack.

Cut the cardstock to size the paper and punch holes in it as well. Assemble the papers and the cardstock and make sure the holes are in line with each other, fix the staple pins through the holes and you're good to go.

There you have it! 33 DIY journal guides. All you need to know about the process of making a journal is well explained in each guide. The comments section is now officially opened for questions or contributions regarding this post.

Reader Interactions

Ask Me Anything Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published.

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

How to Travel Journal: Tips for Getting Started

Posted on Published: July 19, 2020  - Last updated: April 26, 2023

A travel journal is a powerful way to record your travels. In a time when destinations, souvenirs, and even iconic photo-ops barely vary from traveler to traveler, creating a personal notebook of your trip guarantees you’ll have a treasured souvenir that’s all yours. A journal filled with lists, photos, longhand reflections, ticket stubs, itineraries, doodles, and/or art is sure to be a treasured keepsake long after other souvenirs are lost or forgotten.

In this article, we’ll talk about getting started making your first travel journal or travel art journal. Including: supplies you’ll need, types of travel journals, how to decide which type is right for you, set up, post-trip storage, and a FAQ. It’s a long article, so feel free to use the table of contents below to jump around to find the information you need.

My First Travel Journal

I didn’t start my first travel journal until I was 30. I spent most of my 20’s working so hard I never made space for art and journaling, but after selling my business at 33 and returning to school for a Masters’s degree, I found myself often doodling in the margins of my notes. These margin doodles eventually turned into illustrated notes, so when I took my first big solo international trip the summer after my second year of grad school, it felt like a natural extension to begin the first of many solo international travels cataloged in mixed media art journals.

I created my first travel journal on my inaugural solo trip – a month-long trip from Italy to Croatia , then Bosnia and Herzegovina and back again. It was the PERFECT trip to experiment with my style and practice of travel journaling, since as a solo traveler I had the time to make my own schedule, and my trip included a little bit of everything- including famous art, iconic architecture, awe-inspiring visas, and a few amazing air B&B experiences to illustrate.

Download my Free travel Journal eBook

Get this full article- plus all the information you need to create an amazing travel journal, via my free eBook: The Ultimate Guide to Travel Journaling . Download the PDF + eReader bundle below!

Download the Free eBook

Types of Travel Journals

The way I see it, there are five types of travel journals, explained below. Which style – or which combination of types – that you use is up to you.

How to choose? Consider what style works best for you, what skills you’d like to practice and grow through your travel journal, and what kind of memories you most want to put on record through art and illustrations.

The “Listicle” Travel  Journal

Half article, half list, the “listicle” is a top format for new sites, and it’s a format that works great for travel journals. A photo or doodle, paired with a brief description is a good way to organize a travel journal without spending too much precious travel time writing.

This style of journal works well with a bullet journal style format, and can even be started well before your trip. Using your travel journal before your trip to plot out things to do , itineraries, and points of interest you dream of traveling to can be a helpful way to organize your trip and set up journal pages that can then be filled out in more detail on-location. (Need some inspiration to start? Download my printable Bullet Style Travel Journal Template )

The “Sketch Note” Travel  Journal

In medieval times, scribes who were tasked with hand-copying sacred texts often added complex illustrations in the margins. Over time, these illustrations began to communicate context and tone in a language all their own. These text, which came to be known as “ illuminated texts ” were valued because they offered something that text alone could not- the visual experience of the story.

Similarly, this style of travel journaling draws on the inspiration of the naturalist illustrations of 19th-century environmentalists- who painstakingly recorded botanical or animal details, adding Latin genus and species and common names, to create records that to this day are used in biology textbooks.

The sketchnote style travel journal brings both of these traditions together in a format that combines short-format text mixed with small and medium-size illustrations. The travel journal page shown here describes my unforgettable day on a truffle hunting Airbnb Experience in Italy. It’s a combination of a landscape-style travel art journal page and a sketch note version.

In the illustration above, I capture a broad-stroke memory of the day via the landscape, add words, and include an educational close-up illustration – in this case, a little study of what I learned to look for in a good black truffle mushroom.

Sketchnote Travel Journals are best for:

Sketch note style journal pages are great for taking notes on things you want to remember. They can help illustrate your memory and review what you learned. This type is perfect for remembering details, key points, and specifics of your trip. It’s perfect for using your travel journal occasionally. If you’re in the food business, you can make notes about meals and ingredients to try back home, if you work in tourism/travel, you can take notes detailing what is/isn’t working about your current trip, etc.

How to create sketchnote style journal pages

• REFLECT. When you sit down to work on your art travel journal, think about what sticks out to you from your day – what objects or images are most poignant? What did you learn?
• ILLUSTRATE  2 to 3 of these items. Even if they’re just rough sketches, research shows that the process of translating the memory to a drawing (even a terrible drawing) helps us remember much better than we would if we wrote about it or didn’t record it all.
• ANNOTATE. Once you’ve done a rough doodle – or a full-on finished illustration, add a few notes to the drawing. Draw lines connecting important parts to relevant text and highlight what you’d want a reader to notice or know about the thing that you drew.

My Experience Sketchnoting in my travel journal in Italy

I didn’t actually get the chance to doodle the page above until I was in Croatia. To be honest, it’s not one of my favorite travel doodles but it captures that experience well- and that is what my travel journals are all about. The journal gave me space to capture what stood out about the experience- the texture of a truffle, our guide and his dog, and the views as we hiked through the Tuscan hills overlooking Florence. Space left for text allowed me to record a few things I learned about truffles. You can read more about my adventure truffle hunting in Italy on my post about it .

The architectural record travel art journal

If you’re a student of architecture, an artist practicing perspective, or just appreciate the hard lines of urban landscapes, including architecture in your art travel journal – or even creating a travel journal that focuses exclusively on architectural scenes, may be a fun way to create a personalized, unique record your trip and practice your architectural drawing skills.

The following section may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

Steps to create an architectural focused travel art journal:

• PLAN. Decide if you will dedicate entire pages or if you will split pages to also include journal entries.
• PACK. If this is your focus, your travel art kit may need extra tools or, I recommend, just a goniometer . This fancy word actually just refers to a simple, hinged ruler that can replace packing a ruler, protractor, and a drawing compass. It makes it easy to draw straight lines, circles, and measured angles while weighing hardly anything and flexing enough to not break in your pen case.
• DECIDE whether to sketch live or by photos. Keep your eye out for sketchable scenes as you travel. For travelers with a lot of flexibility, you may wish to stop and find a park bench or café where you can sit and sketch. For others, it may fit better with your itinerary to take photos and later create a sketch from the photographs.
• BE INCLUSIVE. You’ll be tempted to put only iconic, majestic, or famous buildings in your travel art journal, but one of my favorite things to include in this type of travel art journal is ordinary rooms and buildings that were significant to my trip: the interior of an  Airbnb apartment overlooking an Adriatic coastal bay, or the exterior of my Florence Airbnb apartment, shown below, that blended so nonchalantly into the background of shops, vendors, and residents’ doors.

A travel printer is such a cool way to add easy visual elements to your art journal- creating a travel scrapbook as you go. Sometimes, like shown below, I print a photo of the scene I drew live, just to add more depth to my record of the experience.

Studying the Masters with a Travel Art journal

I started my very first travel art journal in Florence Italy. Starting my travel art journal in the city that is home to so many of the art world’s greatest masterpieces was an invitation I didn’t quite expect.

I didn’t start that journey expecting to create studies of these famous artworks, but I couldn’t resist the invitation to sit in the great hall at Galleria dell’Accademia with Michelangelo’s David or stand in front of The Birth of Venus at the Uffizi Gallery  without creating. After a jaunt over to the Dalmation coast of the Adriatic, I ended my trip in Rome and I got a repeat: again getting to create replicas of Caravaggio and the iconic Trevi fountain in my travel art journal.

If you’re a student of art- formal or informal- dedicating pages in your travel journal to creating your own versions of classic art isn’t just fun – it’s an important part of how art students have learned and honed skills for ages. It’s okay if you aren’t a dedicated art student, giving yourself the opportunity to learn in this way can both improve your skills and create a souvenir that’s far more personally significant than any of the replica tchotchkes sold in gift shops in the surrounding area.

How to create a travel art journal focusing on studying the Masters:

• MAKE TIME. Plan your travel itinerary so that you’ll have plenty of time for live sketching. Although you can technically do this through photographs later in the trip, there’s something really powerful about creating the work live. Plan to spend at least an hour creating your own version of the art. Some museums may have seating nearby, and others do not, so be prepared. (When I doodled David, I just had to wait for a bench to open, but the Birth of Venus had no chairs, so was created via a combination of standing-sketching and working from a photo from a bench in the hallway)
• MODIFY KIT. Modify your travel art journal kit for museum rules: NO scissors, NO paint, and ADD a hard-backed drawing surface since you won’t have a table. Although scissors and watercolors are must-haves in my travel art kit , there’s a chance that security will confiscate any art supplies that could damage valuable art – like scissors or, in the case of many museums, even watercolor and pen-style watercolor brushes.
• PREPARE to be, well, looked at. If you choose to sketch in a popular museum, you may become something of a tourist attraction yourself. My advice? Keep focused and let people look.
• PACK LIGHT. Most museums that house priceless artwork will not allow a large purse or even a tiny backpack. On museum days, pack yourself down to a tote bag or even a fanny pack to be sure that the essential art supplies you need will be with you in the museum. (I love Travelon’s travel purses because they are secure/zippered, hands-free, big enough for my whole art kit, but small enough that museum security waves them through without a glance.)

My Experience Studying Classical Art via a Travel Journal

Florence was my first big solo trip- and what a great place to start! I intentionally planned my days without an itinerary, so I had the freedom to wander, to bask, or to explore. On my first full day of my trip, the only thing on my to-do list was to make it to the Academia Gallery by day’s end. Galleria del Academia was built specifically to house their most famous piece:  Michelangelo’s David sculpture.

It was at this gallery that I discovered the best part about solo travel as an artist- the freedom to really pause and take in great art. Without having to be sensitive to a partner or group’s interest or boredom, I could sit for hours with David- and I did! After some study and some people watching I went to work on this little doodle shown above.

I had so much fun doing this sketched that when I stumbled onto Logia Del Lanzi plaza later that day, I sat and doodled one of those ancient sculptures as well:

Making a Landscape-focused Travel Art journal

Landscape travel art journals are perfect for capturing a broad glimpse of what it’s like to be in the place for you are. Unlike architectural-focused urban drawings, landscapes tend to feature natural elements or a combination of natural and urban, like this cityscape of the bay in front of the Diocletian’s Palace in Split, Croatia.

A landscape travel art journal can be fun to create in cafés and restaurants in tourist spots. Often, prime locations with scenic overlooks feature cafes, making them a perfect spot to sit for a bit and rest while creating a piece for your travel art journal.

To create an artistic travel journal that focuses on landscapes:

• PICK supplies accordingly. Landscapes sometimes require different supplies than a basic travel art journal kit. For example, if you plan to get very detailed you may need multiple sizes of pen nibs.
• PLAN. Landscape travel art journaling is perfect to do as a midday break – especially since landscapes sometimes require climbing up to a vista point. A break is much needed and desired by the time I reach the pinnacle of a scenic overlook on foot!

“Self-portrait as a traveler” travel art journal

I’m not sure this exists as a genre outside of my own travel art journal, but some of my favorite art from my travel journal has been drawings of myself experiencing something significant from my trip. In the image below, it’s me wading into the Adriatic Sea on a beach about 20 minutes south of Dubrovnik near Cavtat, Croatia .

A self-portrait in your travel art journal offers the opportunity to create art that represents both internal and external landscapes . It says something about the place and it says something about you. At the time of this drawing, I was doing a lot of processing around what it means to be a human with a larger than average body and to live fully in that body in environments that aren’t always welcoming to it.

This little painting in my art journal is so special to me because it captures not just the beauty of the Adriatic seascape, but also something really beautiful that was happening within me as I waded into open water.

To create a travel art journal that focuses on self-portraits:

• Give yourself permission to represent yourself however it feels right at the time. When we do self-portraits can be tempting to feel that we have to be accurate or that we might be judged if other people look at our self-portrait and don’t determine it to be “close enough”. Allow yourself to create what you need to create, in the way that you need to create it – this is never more true and art and when it comes to your own journal and your own body.
• Work from photos or by feel . When I created this doodle at a little seaside café after my swim, I was looking at the water but obviously not at my own body. Instead, I drew the landscape as I saw it and sketched in my own body informed by feeling rather than what was in front of me.

Where to Start: Materials and Planning your Travel Journal

Best notebooks to use for travel journals:.

The two most important things when you’re looking at journals to use as a travel journal are (1) paper quality and (2) how flat the book lays when it is opened. Although strong binding can be helpful in other journals, for a travel journal it’s important that each page be able to lay completely flat in order for your art not to be distorted and for the paint to dry right where you put it.

The journal featured most prominently on this site is a blank staple-bound Fabriano EcoQua softcover notebook . The staple-bound binding (like a basic booklet) lets the notebook lay perfectly flat with no significant gap- enabling double-spreads. The hardcover spiral-bound version of this notebook offers more rigidity which may be helpful if you expect to create art on the fly without a table or flat surface. The paper quality in these journals is, to me, well balanced between texture, weight, and finish. Read on to learn more about paper quality for a travel art journal.

I like the paper in these notebooks because it’s smooth to write on but not too slick to accept simple watercolor washes. It’s thick enough to prevent bleed and minimize show-through between pages.

The paper that works best for you might favor pen and ink, or lend itself to standing up to more complex watercolor art. If you know you’ll be watercoloring a lot, you’ll want to choose thicker paper, but if your emphasis is pencil or pen sketches – even with a bit of watercolor wash, you’ll want to choose thinner, smoother paper. Notebooks in Canson’s Mixed Media Paper line have paper that is perfect for journaling and mixed art use, but I personally find their notebooks too bulky to make good travel journals.

Gathering & Packing Supplies for your travel journal

Whether you’re creating a traditional travel journal, a bullet journal, or a travel art journal, the supplies you bring will significantly shape the final look of your journal.

Free Bullet Journal Style travel art journal template

It can be hard to know how to get started when you are staring down a blank page. If you find that the blank page can be a little bit intimidating, I recommend starting with templates. A template can be as simple or as complicated as you need or wanted to be. Sometimes, rotating a few basic layouts can be a way to create visual interest while stimulating your own creativity within those blocks.

If you think a template might be helpful for you, you can start with my  travel journal template printable , which you can download and print for free. It includes page layouts for a typical size travel journal as well as some prompts of things that might be helpful to journal about during your trip.

If you like the idea of the support of template blocks, but don’t want to be tied into my single layout in the resource above, you can make your own templates to pack them to use in your travel journal.

How to Pack Art Supplies

My list for making your own travel art journal kit is designed to provide you with all the supplies you might need without triggering any issues and airport security or airline policy. Everything in the travel art journal kit is allowed in your carry-on on an airplane and allowed to be used in the airplane during your trip.

Use a pen case.

The best way to pack art supplies for your trip is inside of a pen case. A pen case often has interior straps that help keep art supplies in place to keep them from getting damaged during your trip.

Keep your art supplies in your carry-on.

Always keep your art supplies with your carry-on luggage. Scissors under 4 inches from the pivot point are allowed through any airport in your carry-on luggage (even if they are sharp scissors) however museums and UNESCO sites set their own rules and may x-ray bags and demand the surrender or paid-storage of scissors, paint, or even permanent markers before entry into their area. Art supplies are generally always allowed on a plane, within reason.

Place art supplies inside of an airtight bag before flying.

Be aware that some markers and pens can do funky stuff due to changes in air pressure (I’ve observed pens ooze ink uncontrollably after being uncapped mid-flight). To remedy this, many travelers carry their journaling supplies in sealed zip lock bags. This method can work to prevent potential issues caused by air pressure changes during takeoff and landing, but you should avoid opening the bag at any point during your flight . 

In years past, simply keeping pens capped helped avoid issues with pressure changes, but with most caps perforated to prevent choking, you’ll need to be a bit more proactive about protecting your pens from pressure changes in flight.

6 Things you should always include in a travel journal

Everyone’s travel journal will turn out different and will include different elements – after all, our journals are a reflection of who we are, where we went, and how we travel! Despite these huge differences, there are a few elements that every single travel journal should include:

• Date marking the day of your visit and the day of the art-making, if different.
• Location  – always identify where you made the piece.
• Location Depicted – if different from above.
• Your Signature – or an @username tag you plan to share on social media
• Something about your experience. If you don’t want to write a block of text about your day, just name something you touched, saw, tasted, smelled, or experienced.
• Anything else that’s important. I love adding Illustrative Highlights: see above in the sketch note style travel journal, it can be fun to add arrows and circles to highlight important things to remember within a larger piece of art in your travel journal.

1 Tip for Bridging Journals and Social Media

Although your travel journal exists as a way to keep the memory of your travel adventures, one of my favorite ways to bridge the gap between a travel journal and social media (which, for many, is a modern format for journaling life events like travel) is by merging the analog journal and the digital. I do this by taking photographs of my journal spreads on location, in front of the icon or landmark they depict.

Taking a photograph of your travel journal entry in front of famous landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower, the White House, or an Iconic mountain scene in Patagonia is a great way to digitize your travel journal – keeping it safe in case something happens to it and making it more accessible.

Why You Should Create a Travel Journal

To enhance memories.

Over time our memories of travel naturally fade. By creating an art journal as we travel, we can not only create an amazing unique record of our trip, but researchers have found that through making art, we can actually experience our trip in a different way- and remember more of it!

Taking photographs, it turns out , makes us less likely to remember an experience than just being present to the experience. Drawing an experience, however, increases the vibrance of our memories significantly. For this and so many other reasons, a travel art journal is an incredible way to enhance any travel experience.

In my professional life, I’m part researcher- so I’ve tracked the research (or rather, lack thereof) of travel-journal related research for a few years.

Finally, in early 2021, a research team from Hong Kong, the UK, and the Netherlands presented the results of the first study centering on how a journaling practice may or may not enhance the experience of traveler. You can read the full pape here , but essentially researchers found that travel-created happiness is generally short-lived, but journaling well (in the case of the study, through a guided journaling app designed by the researchers) increased the memorability and meaningfulness of participant’s travel experiences, which appeared to result in positive long-term benefits from travel.  

To create a totally unique souvenir

Except for the unique, antique souvenirs you can pick up at a good street market , most travel souvenirs are pretty unremarkable. 5-10 years after your trip, you’re probably going to donate that Starbucks mug emblazoned with “London” to a thrift store and toss out those laminated travel magnets, but a well-preserved travel journal creates a unique, quality souvenir that even your grandkids would likely treasure. Journal well and follow the journal preservation instructions below, and you’ll return home with a priceless and enviable souvenir of your travels.

To grow writing or art skills

We are often led to believe that the ability to make art or write well are skills that people are born with. While it’s true that some people are more artistically inclined, everyone has the capacity to develop their skills as an artist. Often, the way that we encourage children based on their natural inclinations determines what they dedicate time to, which determines what they become good at. Whether you are a skilled artist/writer or not, practicing will make you better at your craft .

Travel is an amazing opportunity for practice – it dovetails so well with exhausting days of endless walking as a tourist. Taking a very long break in a café to sip a hot drink and sketch- even very terrible sketches- allows you to experience a location in a completely different way while developing your skills.

To grow through personal reflection

Research is very clear that when we reflect on experiences, our ability to be mindful and make more thoughtful, emotionally mature decisions develops. Journaling isn’t just a great way to grow your art skills and create a cool souvenir, journaling can help you grow into a kinder, braver, more thoughtful human.

To share your experience with others

One of the hardest parts of traveling is not being able to share the experience with the people that we love. Even if we are traveling with a partner, a group of friends, or family, there are people we love back home that are only getting the Facebook version of our experience. Being able to come home and walk our loved ones through a travel journal is a gift both to them and to us. This has been especially true for my elderly grandmother who passed away just after I returned from my Transylvania trip , sending her postcards with foreign stamps and hand-scrawled doodles was an important way that we stayed connected over the many miles. ( Click here to read more about my story and how sending postcards to my grandmother from around the world was a way we stayed connected)

Steps to Make a Travel Journal or Travel Art Journal

How to Make a Travel Journal

Time required: 30 minutes

Pick a notebook and create a kit of supplies

Use our travel journal supply list as a guideline to create your own, compact journaling kit.

Take your journal everywhere

While traveling, always keep your journal in your bag. Use it to fight boredom on long layovers , jot down impressions of a place, sketch loved scenes, collect papers, and even to press flowers or leaves.

Create a routine

Your journal will turn out best if you create- and stay faithful to- a routine. When I’m solo travelin g, I often spend an hour or more after dinner relaxing, drawing, writing, painting, making a bullet list of the day’s itinerary, and printing photos on my travel printer for my journal.

Give yourself permission to make mistakes

Think of your journal like a record of your trip- and embrace the imperfect parts as part of the experience. In a travel journal, like in travel, perfectionism can ruin the fun.

After your trip, preserve your journal

Follow our tips to preserve your journal safely so you can return to it to remember your trip for many years to come..

Estimated Cost: 10 USD

• Blank notebook
• Pens and/or Art Supplies

Flip Through of a Mixed Media Travel Journal:

A travel journal can be an amazing way to record your adventures while traveling, help you grow as an artist, and improve the memory of your significant travel experiences. By creating a travel journal that focuses on- or combines- scenes of architecture, natural landscapes, studying the Masters of classic art, creating self-portraits, or creating a sketchnote styled doodle record of your trip, you can create a souvenir with priceless value that’s totally unique to you and will be cherished for years to come.

Lynli Roman’s unique approach to travel is informed by decades of experience on the road with a traveling family and, later, years spent as a solo international traveler. When she’s not writing about Seattle from her Pike Place Market apartment, Lynli writes on-location while conducting hands-on research in each destination she covers. Lynli’s writing has been featured by MSN, ABC Money, Buzzfeed, and Huffington Post. She is passionate about sharing information that makes travel more accessible for all bodies.

Friday 3rd of September 2021

"It’s ok for your art to reflect your experience of a place rather than create an exact record- you get to make the rules and document what is important to you" - truly, truly priceless advice. So very obvious in retrospect, but the sense of freedom it brings is astonishing. Thank you!

LynLi Roman M.A.

Saturday 4th of September 2021

Thanks for commenting Tammi! I'm glad that way of looking at it was helpful- it's definitely helped me feel freer to make MY travel art, whatever that will be!

The Graphics Fairy

Vintage Images, DIY Tutorials & Craft Projects

Make a Printable Travel Journal!

Written by Heather Tracy

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission, you can find our privacy policy here.

A Travel Journal…everybody needs one!

Hello my Graphics Fairy Friends! Heather from Thicketworks here with a fun and easy Printable Travel Journal Cover. 

After all, even if we can’t fly to Paris or Istanbul tomorrow, we need a place to dream about the day we set sail!

I’ve prepared a set of Four Printables for you.

Each image is sized to print on an 8.5″ x 11″ sheet of plain white cardstock.

Note: Laserjet prints were used in this demonstration. If you choose to use Inkjet prints, be aware that they may smear when Distress Inks are applied.

To get your copy of the image files, click HERE , or on the image below:

{this post contains affiliate links}

Graphics Fairy Source Images used for this project:

• Antique Pen
• Dandy with Moustache
• Fancy French Chair
• Fancy Wooden Staircase
• Fireplace Mantel
• Fancy Banner
• French Garden Structure
• Hair Stylist
• Steampunk Receipt
• Old Fashioned Light Bulb
• Vintage World Map
• Windmill Propellers
• Stock Envelopes
• Classic Garden Urn
• Vintage Dirigible
• Vintage Gothic Chandelier
• Vintage Luggage
• Vintage Metal Frame

Here’s a list of the items used to create this Travel Journal…

• 4 Sheets of midweight white cardstock, printed with the provided image files
• 2 sheets of midweight chipboard
• 3 One Inch Book Rings 
• A Hole Punch
• A Corner Rounder
• Dresden Trim
• Spray Mount
• A Metal Ruler
• A Craft Blade + cutting surface
• A Sanding Sponge
• A small container
• A paint brush
• Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel
• A Heat Tool
• Distress Inks: Black Soot , Salty Ocean , Mowed Lawn , Wild Honey , Ripe Persimmon
• Ink Blending Tool
• A Spray Bottle of Water
• Black Acrylic Craft Paint
• Aleene’s Quick Dry Tacky Glue
• A pencil or pen
• Standard 3-Ring Notebook Paper
• VersaMark Pigment Inkpad
• Your favorite Script Stamp
• Gold Embossing Powder

How to create this Travel Journal:

Begin by printing each of the Free Printable Travel Collage Sheets – one each on an 8.5″ x 11″ sheet of white cardstock.

Use a good quality Spray Mount to carefully adhere each sheet of printed cardstock to either side of a midweight chipboard sheet , aligning the edges as accurately as possible.

When finished, you should have two sturdy covers with printed images on each side – one for the front, one for the back.

If necessary, trim the cardstock to fit the chipboard:

Use a sanding sponge to neaten the edges:

If you like, round the corners: 

For a slightly distressed glossy finish on the “Travel Journal” & “Home Again” labels, try embossing with Glycerin!

Pour a small amount into a container, and paint it onto the surface of the label area:

Moving quickly (to prevent the Glycerin from drying) – cover the area with Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel: 

Tap off the excess , and use your Heat Tool to melt the UTEE , creating a glossy, yet slightly distressed protective surface over the text:

Next, apply Black Soot Distress Ink to the edges of all four pages using a Blending Tool.

Be sure to work in a swirling motion:

Now add intense areas of Salty Ocean Distress Ink!

I decided to use this gorgeous blue for the Oceans on the map…

Color in the Land Masses with Mowed Lawn Distress Ink:

Add touches of variety with Wild Honey Distress Ink:

Continue this process on the other side of the Travel Journal Covers , this time adding Ripe Persimmon Distress Ink to warm up the imagery…

If you like a bit of blotchiness (I do!) – sprinkle or spray large drops of water onto the surface of the blended Distress Inks.

Allow the water to ‘bleach’ the inks for a minute or two, then dry with a Heat Tool. 

Once the surface has dried completely, draw a bead of adhesive along the outer edges of the Travel Journal, and adhere strips of Dresden Trim:

Using the 3-hole notebook paper as a guide , determine where to add holes for the book rings:

Align the paper exactly where you want it to lie in the completed book, then trace the holes: 

Punch the holes , and then use the first cover to determine the placement of the holes in the other cover:

Add splatters of watery Black Acrylic Craft Paint to create more depth:

Tone down the Dresden Trim , and reinforce the darkened edges with the same mixture:

For the final touch, add a layer of wispy gold embossed script in random areas on all four sides:

The 3 Book Rings secure a generous amount of notebook paper inside…and this Travel Journal is now ready to use!

Time to start dreaming….

The splattered and blotched Distress Inks create a glowing backdrop for the delicate gold embossing:

I love the way that the water droplets create organically shaped blotches , adding  subtle complexity on the surface of the rich pigments:

While we may not be venturing to London or Paris anytime soon, we can now record all of the wonders that we dream of visiting one day…

From the depths of the Oceans to the bright shining shores of Africa, the world awaits your exploration!

Thank you for spending this time at The Graphics Fairy today!

I hope that you feel the sweet tug of wanderlust as you ponder all the places you will visit on your travels…

Please visit Thicketworks as you Tour the World, and drop a line of greeting!

Until next time,

It’s finally here! Our first online crafting eCourse! If you’ve always wanted to try the art of Mixed Media , be sure and check out this amazing course by Heather Tracy!

Click HERE to learn more about it.

You May Also Like These

Helen Edwards says

January 27, 2017 at 6:03 pm

So beautiful,Heather.Thank-you very much for these amazingly clear instructions AND also such fantastic creativity.

I have been making some journals for a couple of years and I never get tired of watching other’s ideas.

Thank-you so much again for your generosity.

Heather Tracy says

January 28, 2017 at 6:13 pm

Hi Helen! Making journals of all kinds is bit addictive, isn’t it? So glad that you enjoyed this one, my friend. Thank you for your kindness!

eileen says

January 27, 2017 at 9:47 am

Fabulous project! Thank you.

January 27, 2017 at 10:28 am

I’m so happy you like it, Eileen! It was a joy to create. xox

Sherlene Mats says

January 26, 2017 at 11:38 pm

Just so fabulous! Clever idea to add the light bulb to the hair-do girl! I’m going to steal it.

graphicsfairy says

January 27, 2017 at 9:34 am

Thanks so much Charlene, go for it 🙂

Linda Knox says

January 26, 2017 at 10:12 pm

Thanks big time for the downloadable cover pages; they are wonderful. I will be making this and using as a technique journal….no samples, just written “how to’s”

January 27, 2017 at 9:36 am

You are very welcome Linda, good luck on your journal!

mare williams says

January 26, 2017 at 4:47 pm

Heather, I LOVE your creativity in all your projects!!! It’s the “artist-wannabe” in me, I guess! LOVE the travel journal cover!!!!! Thanks for sharing!!

January 26, 2017 at 6:12 pm

Thanks so much Mare!!!

Paula Mullins says

January 26, 2017 at 4:46 pm

You must have read my mind? We are taking a trip to Alaska his summer for our 50th wedding anniversary and my daughter, son-in-law and three grandchildren will join us. I have been mulling over in my mind how I was going to make a travel journal for each of the three grandchildren so they will remember the trip. Thanks to you I have the tools to get the job done! Thank you Heather!!

January 26, 2017 at 8:59 pm

Yay! I’m so glad this will be useful to your family, Paula! I hope you have the most wonderful trip EVER! xox

January 26, 2017 at 2:00 pm

Oh Heather!! My heart is beating really fast again and it’s all because of your GORGEOUS journal! I have a real weakness for pretty journals. I love, love, love traveling but since I have to earn a living too, I travel in my imagination all the time. This journal embodies all that I dream of. I have seen people create such beauties but given my very limited PS skills, I could only drool. I even bought a printable journal set on etsy last year to satiate my journal obsession. Now, thanks to you, I can create multiple ones with different stamps/color schemes etc. I have scored some pretty paper packs in letter size that could be the insides of my journal. I think….I could even use the designs you shared in your Printable mini-book project without folding them…..wheels are churning fast and smoke is coming out of my ears:) As usual, you just know what your readers love and you know that we love EVERYTHING you create! Thank you from the bottom of my heart for this and everything you share!! PS: If I may suggest….if one doesn’t have the 3 rings, you could take the whole journal (incl. inside papers) to a local office supplies store and they will do ring binding for under $3 in most cases. You can also substitute sketch paper/water color paper etc. inside this journal if you wanna doodle during travels.

January 27, 2017 at 11:56 am

Yay! I’m so happy that this will be of use to you, Rupa! It’s SO exciting to witness your creative excitement! I have such a wonderful time designing with Graphics Fairy Images…it’s as though the entire creative Universe is available to work with…

I love all the suggestions that you have made, from binding, to using WHATEVER papers you choose! I selected Notebook Paper only as a way to make this super-accessible for all. Bless you for your enthusiasm, your support and your Creativity! xoxo

January 28, 2017 at 9:21 pm

The three ring binding though makes it easier to add papers when needed. You are inspiring all of us to try new things, techniques and push our creativity. Most of all, it is giving us confidence and joy everyday. What a journey you are taking us along!

January 29, 2017 at 8:02 am

What a lovely message, Rupa! I like the versatility and simplicity of the Book Rings, but I love your suggestions, too. If you feel inspiration and are growing in creative confidence, then I’m THRILLED! So blessed to be taking this journey with you. xox

January 26, 2017 at 1:58 pm

Heather, I have decided I need a Crop-A-Dile…yes I do! There are several diff hole size punches that come in Crop-A-Dile. Which is the most common size or most versatile if you are able to make a recommendation please? I wish I could get multiple Crop-A-Dile punches but it ain’t happenin’ 🙂 Thank you in advance.

January 26, 2017 at 4:18 pm

Hi Rupa! I’m thrilled you will be giving yourself this gift…I waited for years before investing in one, and I wish I hadn’t waited…I find that I get the most use from the Standard Crop-A-Dile – 1/8 inch and 3/16 inch holes are a breeze to cut through paper, cardboard, plastic, even thin wood and metal. It can set eyelets in these same sizes as well. For my needs, this is perfect.

January 28, 2017 at 12:44 am

Thank you for your recommendation.

January 28, 2017 at 10:00 am

My pleasure Rupa 🙂

June 8, 2017 at 9:03 am

Heather, I finally finished this journal with some Dresden trim directly from dresden ? My sister in law was visiting there in Feb and I got some trim, it is really pretty. I missed using corner punch and had missed gold stamping too but the latter is now taken care of. It adds a gorgeous touch. I should follow instructions every step of the way instead of looking at finished photos at times and doing my own thing. I once again concluded that you are a genius, even in the placement of stamps that makes all layers so cohesive. My stamp had a border and some of that boundary is showing, not desirable. Anyway. Thanks so much for this simple yet gorgeous, useful project, will be making more. I had previously just covered a note book with pretty travel themed paper but this is now ready for travels,

June 9, 2017 at 8:23 am

Wow! Oh, Rupa – I want to see your journal! It sounds divine…and Dresden from DRESDEN?!?! How glorious. I love it that you ‘do your own thing’…that’s always my goal, darling. And yes, the added layers of gold embossed stamping really make it all come together, don’t they? It’s always a joy to hear from you, and I wish you deliriously happy travels – whether Imaginal or REAL! xox

33 Terrific Travel Journal Ideas, Tips + Prompts!

Looking for the best travel journal ideas to help you remember your next trip–plus some prompts to help you think of what to write?

You’ve come to the right place!

As a lifelong lover of both journaling and travel, I have experimented with all kinds of travel journals over the years, ranging from the time-consuming to the simple, from the unique to the very basic.

I absolutely love the travel journaling system that I use now (more on that below), but depending on your habits and writing style, there is no limit to the number of ways to preserve your travel memories on the written page.

Some links in this post may be affiliate links. If you make a purchase through one of these links, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Please see our disclosure policy for more detail.

This guide to travel journal ideas and prompts covers everything from the physical kind of travel diary to use, to tips on journaling effectively, to travel journaling prompts to help you get your writing started.

Remember, though, that the #1 rule of travel journaling is that there are no rules!

Anything that helps you preserve the intense memories of your travel experiences counts.

That being said: here are some of the best travel journal ideas out there!

Table of Contents

Terrific Travel Journal Ideas

Travel journaling tips, inspiring travel journal prompts, planning a trip.

While there are plenty of beautiful travel journals on the market, don’t feel like you need one to keep a memorable travel diary!

I’ve kept travel journals in everything from a $0.99 composition notebook to elaborate leather-bound notebooks to the Notes app in my phone, and I can confidently say that the best travel journals come from the heart–the physical place you put them is the least important function.

That being said, if you are looking for beautiful travel journal examples, I highly recommend these!

One Line a Day Journal

This is my current favorite travel journaling system, and I’ve been using it for nearly 5 years now!

Here’s the format: each page in this diary has a date at the top (say, August 17), and 5 small sections to write 1-2 sentences below it.

For 5 years, keep a daily journal of a memorable moment, and at the end, you’ll be able to look back and, on a single page, see what you did on all your August 17ths.

While this isn’t specifically a travel journal, I absolutely adore using it as one: the tracking of time through both days and years simultaneously is incredible, and the short time commitment is perfect for my lifestyle that already includes lots of writing.

I do still try to keep a long-form travel journal once a week or so, too, but I love my One Line a Day Journal so much that I recently bought two more, just to ensure I have the next decade covered if they stop making them!

Page A Day Travel Journal

Looking for something formatted for you, but with more of a travel theme and more of a long-form approach?

The Page A Day Travel Journal is perfect for that!

In addition to space to write about your day, there are spaces to note your destination and event the weather.

Classic Leather-Bound Journal

What reading-and-writing nerd among us hasn’t dreamed of owning a leather-bound journal to track their travels in?

I have always enjoyed this journal style and have owned a few in my life!

There are tons of similar ones on the market these days, given how popular they are, but I love the compass detail and great reviews on this one .

Postcards To Yourself

Looking for more unique travel journal ideas?

Consider sending postcards to yourself from the road!

In many destinations, you can mail yourself (or someone else) a postcard right from the souvenir shop where you purchase it–so bring a pen along, write some quick thoughts about your day, and drop it in the mail.

By the time you get home, you’ll have a collection of memories delivered right to your front door that you can save forever.

Travel Checklist Journal

If you’re the kind of traveler who wants to make sure they don’t forget a thing, the Travel Checklist Journal is the perfect choice!

With daily prompts covering everything from the restaurants you ate at that day to your most memorable moment of the day, it’s an in-depth log of your adventures.

I’ll be honest: I could never keep up with this much travel journaling on a daily basis.

But, some people absolutely can!

If you find yourself not sure what to put in some sections, though, don’t worry about it–better to skip a prompt than make your journal feel like work instead of fun.

Bullet Journal

A classic bullet journal like this makes a fantastic travel journal idea!

In addition to writing, consider including drawings, hand-drawn maps, charts, and more.

Standard Notebook

You don’t need anything fancy to keep a beautiful, memorable travel journal!

Anything from a simple composition notebook to the back of a receipt will do in a pinch, and I would never recommend putting off writing because you don’t have the “perfect” vessel to store your memories in.

If you’re looking for a fairly standard, lined notebook that is durable without including much formatting to get in the way of your creativity, though, I love these notebooks .

I’ve owned them in various colors and designs for years, going out of my way to replace my old ones with the same brand when they get full.

Buy one on the road!

While I definitely recommend keeping a travel journal from hour one (airports and train stations are great places to write!), there’s also something special about buying a diary on the road.

If you find a journal you love while you’re traveling, consider picking it up and journaling there from then on.

On Your Computer or Phone

I’ll admit, I’m very biased toward analog travel diary ideas–it’s just my style!

But if you prefer typing to writing, or you just don’t want the hassle of carrying a physical journal on the road, you can easily keep a detailed travel journal on your phone or laptop!

Evernote is a fantastic app for journaling on your phone, though a basic Notes app works fine too.

A Word document or Google Doc can work as well.

Alternatively, you can type and send emails to yourself and store them in a certain folder in your inbox!

There is no wrong way to keep a travel journal–whatever works for you, is more than fine.

That being said, based on my personal experience of keeping travel journals over the years, here’s my best advice for preserving your memories!

Try to write as often as possible.

Here’s the sad truth: you will forget much of your vacation.

Even if you remember the basics such as where you went, what you did, and who you were with, the passing years will steal the sensory details from your memory, jumble the order of events, and soften the edges of your stories, making it hard to recapture the emotions of your travel experience.

While some of that is the inevitable result of living a full, exciting life packed with beautiful memories, a travel journal can absolutely help preserve those experiences for you for decades to come.

The period of time that I was worst at keeping a travel journal– the first year of our full-time travels –is also the one where memories have faded the most.

It’s my #1 travel regret that I didn’t keep a detailed travel journal that year!

Imperfection is better than procrastination.

Don’t have time to write pages and pages?

Can’t find the right words to capture exactly how you felt seeing the Eiffel Tower for the first time?

Don’t worry about it: a couple of sentences jotted down that afternoon while waiting for your coffee to arrive will capture your emotions far better than waiting weeks to find the right words.

Write what you can’t see.

Photographs and videos can do a lot to preserve visual and even auditory memory–but they can’t capture scents, or the feeling of the humidity lingering in the air, or how soft the dog you stopped to pet was, or the expression on the waiter’s face as you managed to order lunch in a language that you barely speak.

These kinds of recollections, paired with photos and videos, are invaluable for helping place you back in that moment of travel, even years after it has passed.

You don’t have to be a “good” writer.

Forget the English essays of your youth: whether you consider yourself a skilled writer or not, you can absolutely keep the world’s most perfect travel journal for yourself.

Because travel journaling is nothing but a conversation with your memory, and you know exactly how to talk to yourself!

It doesn’t matter if you wouldn’t want to publish it as a memoir or that other people wouldn’t understand what you’re trying to say, because you’re the only audience!

Trust me, as a professional writer of sorts, the things that I write publicly–even in more personal blog posts like this –are not nearly as unguarded as the conversations I have with myself when preserving my own travel memories.

Don’t edit yourself.

This goes somewhat with what I wrote about being a “good” writer, but it’s a solid tip for travel journaling even if you’re a very confident one.

Each of us sees the world in a completely unique way and will use entirely different experiences and criteria to jog our memories.

If none of the travel journal prompts in this blog post speak to you, ignore them.

Write about literally anything you like–anything that speaks to how you experienced your day.

The uniqueness of how we each see the world is never more obvious to me than when I compare the things that Jeremy writes in his travel journal to what I write in mine–many times, we each remember things that the other person didn’t even notice!

Save more than words.

Ticket stubs, brochures, boarding passes, postcards, even foreign currency–anything small and tactile that you can tuck into your travel journal is a fantastic addition.

If you print out any photos along the way or purchase any of the cheesy-but-fun souvenir photos for sale around the world, those can be great components of a travel diary, too.

Full maps are often too big to save in a traditional travel journal, but you can save them separately–or cut out your favorite section(s) and place them in your journal!

Sadly, the ink on receipts tends to fade within a couple of years, but you can try storing a few memorable ones for a while as well.

Depending on your travel journaling style and how much you collect, you may want to tape these extra items to individual pages or keep them tucked into a separate pouch (cheap and fun cloth zip pouches can be found at souvenir markets across the world–maybe you can buy one along the way!).

For something more fun than basic tape, buy a few souvenir stickers along the way and use those to secure your mementos to the page!

Avoid spiral notebooks.

If you want a very inexpensive place to save your memories, opt for a composition notebook over a spiral one–trust me.

Between the spirals being pulled out of place from being moved around so much during your adventures to the fact that they’ll scratch up anything they’re stored near (like your laptop, for example), they’re just not worth the trouble.

I learned this lesson the hard way and will never use a spiral notebook (without a cover, that is) for anything while traveling again!

Always keep your travel journal in your carry-on.

I’ll admit, I’ve broken this rule before, but it’s terrifying checking your travel journal–especially when, like my current one, it contains years worth of irreplaceable memories.

Much better to keep careful watch over it in your carry-on/hand luggage!

Wondering what exactly to write down in your travel diary?

These travel journal writing prompts will get you started!

Choose any of these travel journal topic examples from below and expand upon it in detail, and before you know it, you’ll find yourself jotting down details of memories that would otherwise be lost to time.

As always, the point of travel writing prompts like this isn’t to limit what you write–it’s to provide a jumping-off point.

If you find yourself veering off in a different direction after a few sentences, just roll with it!

What did you do today that you’ve never done before?

Make a list of everything you bought today, from food items to metro tickets.

Describe the most memorable person you interacted with today.

What was your favorite thing you ate today?

What new thing did you learn today? How did you learn it?

Describe your morning routine in detail: what was different from home?

What was your most memorable form of transport today?

What animals did you see or interact with today?

What was the weather like? How did it impact your day?

What were you wearing today? How did it impact your day?

Did you use any words in a language you don’t speak today? What were they?

What’s the big news where you are right now? Is it the same as at home?

What’s the funniest thing that happened today?

What’s the most memorable thing that you physically touched today?

What did you eat for breakfast?

Look up, and describe everything that you see in detail.

If you took a tour: describe your tour guide, including their name!

What did you do today that you didn’t expect to do before your trip?

What’s an interesting story or legend from your destination?

Describe your route from where you’re staying to your first destination of the day.

What’s your favorite word to say in the language of your destination?

What was your least favorite moment of the day?

What was the most surprising thing you saw today?

What interesting conversation did you overhear today?

None of these travel journal ideas or prompts speak to you?

Have something different in mind?

There’s no wrong way to keep a travel diary–whatever feels right when you’re on the road, that’s the best travel journal for you.

Subscribe to our newsletter to follow along with our travels and to receive tips and new content via email!

We won’t send you spam. Unsubscribe at any time.

About Kate Storm

In May 2016, I left my suburban life in the USA and became a full-time traveler. Since then, I have visited 50+ countries on 5 continents and lived in Portugal, developing a special love of traveling in Europe (especially Italy) along the way. Today, along with my husband Jeremy and dog Ranger, I’m working toward my eventual goal of splitting my life between Europe and the USA.

1 thought on “33 Terrific Travel Journal Ideas, Tips + Prompts!”

Thanks for posting this up , this is a very informative article surely.

Leave a Comment Cancel reply

Travel journaling: 10 tips to create a gorgeous travel journal to treasure for a lifetime

By: Author Monica

Categories Blog

Do you write a travel journal? 

I know, it’s the 21st century and we all take a billion photos a day and share everything online. That’s like a modern form of journaling travel, right? Well…no. Today I’d like to make a case to bring back the lost art of travel journaling.

This post about travel journaling was created in collaboration with Snappy Snaps and I’d like to share some tips to help you create a beautiful and thoughtful travel journal. I’ve got some tips to get started and also tips to keep travel journaling, even on the days you aren’t in the mood!

For me, writing a travel journal or a travel diary is one of my favourite times of the day while I’m travelling.

In my opinion, not enough people write travel journals! Travel journaling is honestly the most therapeutic and creative way to store and reflect on your travel memories. A journal brings back memories in a way a photo never could, and the act of writing helps solidify memories so you’re less likely to forget them.

I’ll usually write in my travel journal before going out for dinner, at that gorgeous time of day when the sun is setting and everything is peaceful and calm. I love to reflect on the day, write about everything I’ve done and jot down notes about things I want to remember. I’ll have a cold beer or a glass of wine and spend half an hour quietly jotting down my thoughts from the day.

Even on the days where I don’t have a lot to say, I’ll just bullet point some thoughts and stick in a few tickets or notes or whatever I’ve collected that day.

I love writing my travel diary but I love reading it back even more. 

I’ve got travel journals from my first backpacking trip in 2009. I’ll admit that many of the pages make me cringe, but it’s a joy to read and it brings memories flooding back in a way that photos never could. It’s interesting to see what felt important at the time and there’s always so much I’d forgotten about until I see the words on the page written in my own familiar scrawl. I’ve written pages and pages about people I no longer remember and destinations that are just a vague blur in my mind.

Here are some tips to help you create travel journals you’ll treasure for a lifetime

#1. Why should you create a travel journal?

• To preserve your memories
• As a fun, creative outlet
• To ensure you have a moment of calm during a busy trip
• As a form of self-care to help organise your thoughts and talk about your feelings
• To give yourself a wonderful thing to read back in years to come
• To help with writing travel blogs and Instagram captions
• To help remember key facts that could help people plan their future trips

#2. What should you put in your travel journal?

The lovely thing about journaling travel is that there is no right or wrong answer here. You can write about whatever you want. You don’t need to be a good writer or be artistic or creative. You just need a notepad and a pen and some thoughts in your head.

I like to play around with different formats in my travel journals such as:

• Brain dump – Just sit and write anything that comes into your head. Don’t overthink it, just write.
• What I did today – A traditional journal style, chronologically following everything you did that day
• All photos – Some days I don’t want to write so I just stick a load of photos in
• Bullet points – No time to write sentences? Just get your thoughts down quickly with bullet points
• Scrapbook style – Stick tickets or other notes into your journal that will remind you of your day

#3. What do you need for your travel journal?

You could keep it simple with nothing more than a notepad and a pen, or you could go all out!

Take a look at craft supply stores like Hobby Craft, Etsy or even bargain shops like Poundland for crafting supplies. You can get things like travel themed washi tape, cute accessories to stick in, stamps, stencils, frames and fancy pens.

Notepad – Personally, I like a notepad where I can tear pages out if I need to. I like knowing that if I make a mistake I can just rip the page out.

A nice pen – Stationary geeks will understand the joy of finding the right pen!

Two coloured pens – I try to stick with a particular colour scheme so I’ll rarely use more than two colours

Photos – More on photos below

Scissors – Remember that you can’t take scissors in your hand luggage!

Pritt Stick – Vital for sticking in tickets and notes

Travel wallet – I also travel with some kind of travel document wallet. I’ll use this to store any of the tickets or notes I want to add into the journal as I often do this once I get home.

#4. Printing photos for your travel journal

I wait until I’m home to print out my photos and stick them into my journal. When I’m writing I’ll leave pages blank to allow space for photos.

For me, photos in a travel journal are SO important. This is mostly because they encourage me to look back and read old journals as it’s more enticing when the pages are broken up with pictures.

For my latest travel journal I used the online photo printing service with Snappy Snaps. I was so impressed with this service. I ordered them at about 2.30pm on Tuesday and they arrived with my postman by midday on Wednesday. I couldn’t believe they came so quickly!

The quality is brilliant and I love the matte effect in my journal.

Travel Hack Tip: When selecting the photos you’d like to print, always choose the best quality ones you have. Avoid filters or heavily edited photos and, if you can, use photos taken on a camera rather than a phone. You often don’t notice the difference in quality when it’s on the screen of your photo but you really do notice the difference once they’re printed. Filters look great on your phone but they don’t look great in print.

#5. Digital travel journals vs paper travel journals

I’m sure you’re aware that there are countless travel journal apps available. Personally, I prefer a good old fashioned paper journal. I find the words flow easily when written with a pen and it’s a more rewarding and creative process. I’m also more likely to read it back in years to come when it’s a paper journal.

If you’re the kind of person who prefers to keep things digital then I’d highly recommend using an iPad along with an Apple Pencil and the app Day One Journal. It’s a lovely, intuitive app and you can add photos into each journal entry. It also gives you daily journal prompts if you’re struggling for ideas!

#6. Travel journal prompts

If you’re struggling for ideas for what to write in your journal then here are some travel journal prompts to get you started:

• What was the highlight of your day?
• Who was the most interesting person you spoke to today?
• Write about an interesting conversation you had.
• Describe the best meal you had today.
• What was the worst thing you did today?
• What surprised you today?
• Did you learn anything new today?
• Did anything scare you today?
• Describe your accommodation.
• What are you missing from home?
• What happened today that you never want to forget.

How travel journaling led to my career as a travel blogger

I’m just going to interrupt these travel journal tips to share how my travel journal led to my career as a travel blogger!

Read more: How I turned my passion for travel into a career as a travel blogger

Passive income and making money as a blogger in 2022

I’ve always been a journaller. Yes, even back in the days when writing a journal wasn’t ‘cool’ and it wasn’t part of every millennial’s self-care routine. I wrote journals about my best friends and my latest crush, my days at school and my hopes and dreams for the future. Yes, it was just as embarrassing as it sounds! It was my way of processing all the confusing thoughts that jumbled around my brain and journaling helped me feel calm and relaxed after a hectic day.

It felt natural to begin a travel journal when I left to go backpacking for two years in 2009.

I wrote a daily journal and eventually typed these handwritten notes up and posted them on the internet in the form of a blog.

I did this for years without anyone really noticing what I was going…until one day people did notice. And quite quickly, lots of people noticed! And, to cut a very long story short, I’m now lucky enough to do this full time! If I hadn’t written that journal all those years ago then I never would have ended up doing this and I just feel so pleased with myself for taking the time to write those journals!

#7. Travel journals + self care

Let’s not forget that writing a journal, even if it isn’t a travel journal, is an invaluable form of self care. Whenever I’m feeling stressed or overwhelmed or like I have too many thoughts in my head, I always find journaling will help. 

Travelling can often be stressful and we often travel when we need to escape things at home. While you’re writing your journal, don’t confine yourself to just writing facts and figures and descriptions from your trip, write about everything. Write about how you’re feeling, what you’re thinking and how the overall trip is affecting you. Observing your feelings and how the world around you is making you feel. No one else needs to read your journal so don’t worry about getting personal because this is only for you.

#8. Should you use an Instant camera for your travel journal?

Polaroids look gorgeous in scrapbook-style travel journals and it is nice to instantly print your photos and add them to your journal as you write. Aesthetically I think they look amazing but realistically I’ve always found it cumbersome.

Polaroid cameras are bulky and annoying to carry. You’ll probably be taking the majority of your photos on your main camera or phone so it’s a big thing to lug around for just a couple of snaps each day. Not only that but the reels are expensive and you’ll have to make sure you’ve got enough for your whole trip.

#9. What if I’m not artistic, creative or good at drawing? How can I make my travel journal look amazing?

That’s OK, I’m not either!

If you’re no good at drawing but would like something extra in your journal then use brochures, maps and tickets to create gorgeous pages.

#10. Travel journal inspiration

I’ve left this tip until the end because it can be a double edged sword. Looking at other people’s travel journals for inspiration can give you so many ideas and inspire you to create your own, but it can be overwhelming and put a lot of pressure on you to create ‘the perfect journal’.

The best places to find inspiration are:

Search for the terms:

#TravelJournal

#ScrapbookingIdeas

#BulletJournal

Tuesday 19th of October 2021

Oh I'd love to try this out when I go on holiday next!

Definitely give it a go! It's a lot of fun and such a nice way to keep a record of your holiday.

Ambica Gulati

That was a very interesting read. I used to keep a diary as a kid, now everything is online. But would love to write again.

That's how I feel too. I love writing blog posts and sharing photos online but it isn't the same or as creative as sitting and writing a journal. It's so theraputic!

This Pilgrim Life

Simple, Creative Living

Stay connected and get all the latest

in DIY & Simple Crafts · Homemaking & Natural Living · Simple Crafts · Tutorials

DIY Traveler’s Journal & Tips

Make your own traveler’s journal with this simple traveler’s journal tutorial, and find tips and resources for using your notebooks! 

The links below may be affiliate links, meaning I earn a small compensation at no extra cost to you.  See my full disclosure policy here . 

My traveler’s journal is my never-leave-home-without planner. It is literally my brain on paper and I use it constantly to keep track of so many areas of my life. After keeping a bullet journal for years, I was so happy to discover traveler’s journals that would allow me to keep different “subjects” in separate notebooks… all in one planner. 

I have four notebooks in my traveler’s journal– one for HOME & FAMILY, one for HOMESCHOOL & COMMUNITY, one for WORK, and one for PERSONAL & COMMONPLACE. I also have switched to a two-year calendar in my traveler’s journal, rather than always writing the calendar pages in my notebooks myself. (Though some especially busy months, I will still create my own calendar pages).

After shopping around for traveler’s journals online, I decided to make my own cover for two reasons–

• Most of the quality options I found were expensive or had a long wait to receive the product
• I wanted my traveler’s journal to include pockets for little papers and pens

I made my first traveler’s journal cover 2 years ago and loooooved it. After 2 years of wear, however, it was time for a new cover, so I made a new one this past week to start the new year fresh and shiny.

You can find a full, printable tutorial to make your own traveler’s journal in my Etsy shop . Only basic sewing skills are needed and the cost of materials is small, especially if you can pull from a fabric stash .

Why a Traveler’s Journal?

• It’s completely customizable . You can use it however you like, add whatever flair you like, embellish it with doodles or stickers or journaling supplies.
• It’s refillable so can be used year after year. The great thing about a traveler’s journal is that when a notebook is full or irrelevant, you can simply take it out and slip a new one in. This is great if you like to have a fresh start at the new year too (I definitely do!)
• It’s inexpensive. The cost of notebooks is small, and besides that all you really need is a pen. Making your own is very reasonable too.
• It fits individual preferences & needs . You can add three notebooks or five. Make one dedicated to drawing comics or nature journaling. Make a gratitude or memory journal. Or, like I have promised my kids, use them in homeschool for narrations, spelling, math, timelines, etc.
• It’s the perfect size to tuck in a bag and carry with you . My traveler’s journal comes with me everywhere. I love that it’s not full-size or fun-size. It fits in almost all of my purses/bags that I use on a regular basis.
• It can be filled with blank, ruled, or printed notebooks. I prefer blank notebooks over ruled, but you can use either one. You can also purchase notebooks for traveler’s journals that are printed and ready to go. (I like Juniper Grove for these).
• It’s perfect for people who want a little more organization/options for bullet journaling. Don’t want to put everything into one journal? That’s what the traveler’s journal is for. This helps not only to distinguish subjects between notebooks, but also means they will last longer.

DIY Traveler’s Journal

Recommended supplies for Traveler’s Journals ::

• Etsy Sewing Tutorial to make your own
• Moleskin cashier journals — lined
• Moleskin cashier journals — blank 
• Blank notebooks bulk
• Juniper Grove journal inserts (really great options here)
• Pilot G2 Gel Pen (Favorite pens!)
• Magnetic Bookmarks
• Post-It notes in all sizes
• Noted Post-Its  (these are so helpful)
• Leather journal cover  (I just figured I would add this one if you wanted to completely skip sewing and buy a cover. Ha!)

Filling the pages :: 

Putting the first marks on the pages can seem really overwhelming, so I have found that making a plan on loose paper or post-its helps me to figure out exactly what I want to use each notebook for, what specific pages I want in each notebook, and then of course, the order that they are included. 

After I get the page numbers in, I can use my notes to create a table of contents for each notebook.

In addition to writing in my own lists and charts and such, I also like to print off resources that I reference often at 50% and tape them into my notebooks. You can do this with any kind of checklist, printable, calendar, etc that you like to use. Here are some of my favorites that are available for free on my site: 

• Kitchen Essentials Checklist
• Freezer Inventory
• Seasonal Menus ( Fall & Winter , Summer Lunch , Summer Dinner )
• Everyday Menus ( Frugal Dinner Ideas , Adventure Day Menu , Lunch Tray Ideas )
• Best Kids’ Book Authors
• Treehouse Schoolhouse Nature Study Seasonal Calendars
• Reading Lists & Plans
• Seasonal Reset Questions

I hope this been helpful. Remember that even though there are some incredibly beautiful traveler’s journals and bullet journals online, ultimately the purpose is that your journal will add value to YOUR life. In other words, as long as it works for you and helps you, it doesn’t have to look any certain way.

Sharing is caring! Don’t forget to pin and share. Thank you!

FOLLOW ALONG ON SOCIAL MEDIA FOR DAILY INSPIRATION

Reader interactions.

July 30, 2023 at 7:21 am

hey Lisa, thanks for sharing the vlog, I appreciate it

February 21, 2023 at 10:37 am

Hi Lisa thanks for sharing this blog, this is very inspiring.

January 25, 2022 at 9:24 am

Where do you source your cover leather?

April 21, 2021 at 11:33 pm

Hello! I have used multiple moleskin notebooks to keep life organized for many years and never thought of keeping them all together in one binder. What a great idea!! Did you write the post about how you set up your bullet journal and your favorite tools? I would really like to read that!

April 23, 2021 at 10:15 am

I shared a video tour on Instagram. You can find the video on my saved IGTV videos (@thispilgrimlife)

January 27, 2021 at 7:32 pm

Oh my, this is sooo awesome, Lisa! I love it!! It looks fabulous to me, but I love that you say that things don’t have to be perfect all the time to do their job, I feel the same! If everything I did had to look perfect, I would definitely make nothing. Haha!

[…] the everyday, I LOVE bullet journaling, and usually have a stack that I keep all together in my traveler’s journal. But during the holidays, I like to have something special–a planner that is extra festive, […]

[…] DIY TRAVELER’S JOURNAL From This Pilgrim Life […]

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

More about This Pilgrim Life

recent posts

Travelers journal ideas– how i use a travelers journal to organize my life, mini cherry pies, three minute homemade mayonnaise, 10 summer mom hacks for better (& easier) family adventures, summer checklists & our summer rhythm, naturally sweetened master muffin recipe, easy vegetable noodle soup in the instant pot, find something, let’s connect.

How To Make A Travel Diary

With summer around the corner, today I show you how to make a travel diary.

So if you’re wondering:

• what a travel diary is
• how to make a travel diary
• what to write in a travel diary
• how to write a travel diary

If you’re looking for amazing but simple travel diary layout ideas, then keep reading.

This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. It means that I may receive a commission if you click a link and purchase a product that I have recommended. It won’t cost you any extra money.

What’s A Travel Diary

Basically, a travel diary is your travel daily log.

In general, there’re a couple of ways of keeping a travel diary.

It all depends on your goals, personality, creativity, artistic techniques, etc.

As a rule, you can choose to make your travel diary as:

• a journal, where you express your opinions, feelings, emotions
• an art journal with watercolor urban illustrations, everyday life sketches, simple travel doodles, drawings
• a travel scrapbook, where you include your travel props (for example, polaroids, flight tickets, receipts, postcards, menu, napkins, tea bags, postage stamps)
• a photo book (see some project life examples as an inspiration)
• a travel bullet journal with planning pages, bucket lists, trip overviews, etc

First and foremost, let’s talk about travel diary supplies.

As the matter of fact, there’s no “one-size-fits-all” answer.

With this in mind, below you can find a list of the best travel diary supplies, depending on the type of travel journal.

Travel Journal

• Blank Paper: No lined feature, you can draw mind maps, sketch ideas or write notes...
• Refillable Notebook: Take out pages that aren't important and swap in for blanks to...
• Leather Journal: Made of high quality PU leather,soft in hands,durable for travel or...

• Ballpoint Pen: Our black ballpoint pens combine the smooth, vivid writing of a gel...
• uni Super Ink: Water- and fade-resistant ink helps you compose long-lasting,...
• Quick-Drying Technology: Our quick-drying black pen ink resists smudging and...

Last update on 2024-09-07 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

Let’s face it, you can easily start travel journaling with a simple school pen and notebook.

However, sometimes you may need a small boost of motivation to keep a travel diary daily.

Definitely, one of my favorite way to stay motivated is by getting a little bit fancier travel journal supplies.

For example, a leather travel journal with a notebook looks so cool.

Not only, do these notebooks have an amazing design, but also most of them are refillable.

Basically, you buy them once. When your notepad is full, you just refill a new one.

Additionally, don’t forget that travel journals should be small enough to fit in your backpack.

Also, in most cases, you can use travel notebooks as a wallet.

Some journals have a section designated for credit cards, tickets, etc.

By the way, this is a great gift idea – if you know any passionate traveler, now you know what to get.

Along with this, don’t forget about your favorite pen that allows you to write fast and cleanly.

Art Journal

• 95LB / 200 GSM WATERCOLOR PAPER JOURNAL - Start your journal creation with this...
• 30 SHEETS/60 PAGES - You'll love that both sides of the paper can be used which gives...
• BOUND IN DURABLE NATURAL LINEN -Each watercolor sketchbook is exceptionally well made...

• 🎨 Adopted High Quality Arabic Gum: The arabic gum can increase the gloss and...
• 🎨 High-pigmented: The set has great color selection, high pigment quality, mixes...
• 🎨 Well-designed Package: Comes with sturdy metal case with easy to open/close lid,...

Imagine sitting in a cute, local coffee shop in Paris.

You want to capture this magic moment in your art journal.

In this case, getting a blank sketchbook and a travel-size favorite medium is the best option.

Travel Scrapbook

• VARIETY OF DESIGNS - 14 piece washi tape set in simple beautiful grid patterns that...
• DIMENSIONS - A full set of 14 rolls with different colors. Each roll of washi tape is...
• HIGH QUALITY TAPE - Made from high quality washi paper with an adhesive that sticks...

• And many more letters, numbers etc
• Sayings are many, some are Let's Take a Vacation, Life is Short the World is Wide,
• Some icons are planes, cars, balloons as well as globes, Big Apple and cameras

• Sheet size: approx 23*14cm (9.0*5.5 inch)
• Made of silicone material,Reusable and durable friendly clear stamps
• Naturally able to cling to gross surface, especially acrylic block.

Definitely, it’s the most light-weighted way of keeping a travel diary during the trip.

Basically, all you need to do is to collect all kinds of tickets, menus, maps, receipts, napkins, and postcards, and take photos during your trip.

After coming home, you get a random notebook (alternatively the fancier one with craft paper) and include your favorite travel props in it.

As a decoration feel free to use vintage stamps, washi tapes, stickers, and other scrapbooking elements.

Also, you can write down your thoughts, and memories or include simple travel doodles .

In case you want to keep your travel memories in one place, but you don’t want to invest your time and energy in creating a DIY travel journal, this option will probably work the best for you.

Unquestionably, having a lot of travel photos may be so overwhelming.

However, turning them into a photo book is a great way to select the best ones and tell your summer story.

Travel Bullet Journal

• The A5 MEDIUM notebooks are the perfect size with a wide range of colors making them...
• Thread-bound to open flat which helps make reading the contents easy and adds...
• Features 80g/m² acid-free paper with high ink compatibility to help prevent bleed...

• Precise archival pens create fade resistant, waterproof, bleed free marks for...
• Includes 6 black ink Pigma Micron pens in point sizes 005 (0.20mm), 01 (0.25mm), 02...
• Pigma Micron ink is pH neutral, quick drying, and approved by ACMI toxicologists;...

• Versatile creative tool! With a broad chisel tip at one end and fine bullet point at...
• Bring your bullet journal or Bible study to life! Zebra Pen Mildliner Highlighters...
• Layer ink for extra creativity! Translucent, water-resistant ink in soft colors...

• Water-based pens ideal for coloring, fine art, illustrations, doodling, journaling,...
• Set of 10 Tombow Dual Brush Pens
• Flexible brush tip and fine tip in one marker.

• Washable & scented.
• Versatile art supplies

Personally, the simplest way to create a travel diary is to make it in an everyday bullet journal.

Basically, you can create travel spreads within your everyday bujo notebook , by using your favorite bullet journal supplies .

Travel Diary Examples

Aesthetic Travel Diary Inspiration

It's amazing how a simple, basic planner can be transformed into an aesthetic travel diary by using stamps, a map, and other scrapbooking elements.

Also, there's enough space to write your favorite travel memories, random thoughts, and inspiration.

Traveler's Notebook Inspiration

Another great example of a traveler's notebook is this minimalist blank notebook, where you can put plane tickets, polaroids.

Along with this, you have a lot of space for travel journaling.

Traveler's Notebook Memories Ideas

On the other hand, you may want to use a blank notebook as a kind of photo album aka project life inspired pages.

In this case, instead of using personal photos, you can collect postcards of tourist attractions.

Additionally, if you add some information, your travel notebook becomes a great source of knowledge.

Also, feel free to use decorative washi tape to keep all photos in one place.

Travel Diary Ideas

Similarly, here you can see postcards as well.

However, the travel journal page was completed by food photos.

In fact, sometimes you can't remember what did you see, but you always remember stunning taste of local meals.

DIY Travel Diary Ideas

As well as that, if you're into monochromatic looks, here's a great example of designing a DIY travel diary with a blue color palette.

You can easily incorporate a monochromatic look by using specific photos, washi tapes, stamps, and other decorative elements.

Travel Diary Inspiration

Besides, there's nothing wrong with combining two kinds of journals: a bullet journal with a traveler's notebook.

Indeed, creating a travel bucket list with photos, cute doodles, craft paper, and washi tapes gives this unique scrapbook bullet journal vibes.

Travel Bucket List Notebook Page

In the same way, these two notebook pages include the "favorite places I've been to" page, "a place I want to go one day" with the "places I'm going this year" page.

For me, it's a combo of travel memories, a vision board, and this year's travel planner.

City Information Travel Diary Page

Alternatively, keeping a travel diary as an art journaling allows you to unleash your creativity, practice doodling, and gather memories.

Indeed, get a pocket-size watercolor set, order coffee in a local coffee shop, and start painting.

Travel Scrapbook Ideas

Moreover, including top-rated tourist attractions, small sketches make your travel diary unique and personalized.

By the way, it doesn't have to be perfect. However, these London's main attractions sketches are amazing.

Travel Journaling

Last but not least, here's a vintage travel journal.

By adding polaroids, tickets, and stamps, you create a travel scrapbook for your summer adventures.

What To Write In A Travel Diary

So now when you get your dream travel diary supplies, you probably get stuck.

Undoubtedly, coming up with what to write in a travel diary can be a real struggle.

Not to mention, the fear of ruining the first page of your brand-new travel notebook.

With this in mind, I gathered travel journal prompts and page ideas you may want to include in your traveler’s notebook.

Trip Overview Page

Basically, it’s a space for all the important information about your travel and the destination you chose.

Firstly, note your flight, and accommodation.

Secondly, write down basic foreign phrases like good morning or thank you.

Definitely, it can be a real icebreaker to communicate with the locals.

Country Fact Spread

Before you start your travel adventure, you should research the destination.

Read more about culture, religion, weather, safety, top places to see, local experiences, and unique things to do, and write them down.

Also, check the currency and exchange rate.

Before You Go Checklist

As a rule, this stage of a trip is my least favorite part.

Do you know this awful feeling that you forget something to do?

That’s why the checklist is a real-life-saver for me.

During a hectic time, you want to make sure you don’t miss a thing.

Write down everything you need to do before you leave home.

Travel Outfit Planning

Is it only me or when you go on a trip you pack just about everything in your backpack?

Not only do you pay additional fees but also you have to carry a heavy bag.

For example, I decided to create a travel capsule wardrobe.

Basically, you plan your outfit ahead.

Therefore, you get rid of a “what-to-wear-today” everyday issue.

Also, you can take photos of each outfit (just like before every fashion show).

Packing List

Along with this, writing the travel packing list keeps you organized when you travel.

Just divide your things into categories like clothing, toiletries, beauty products, electronics, entertainment, and miscellaneous.

Trip Planning

In fact, I’m not a big fan of planning every single hour of a trip.

However, writing down what you want to do and see each day helps to stay on track and better manage your time.

Ok, maybe the term: time management combined with vacation sounds weird, but you want to explore new things as much as you can.

Budget Spreads

Speaking of planning, let’s talk about money.

You can find online many articles about how to travel on a budget.

For sure, creating budget layouts helps you afford to travel without going broke and organize your expenses.

Memories Page & Daily Logs

• SMARTPHONE MEMORIES MADE REAL – Using the Polaroid ZIP is fast and easy. Just...
• STUNNINGLY VIBRANT PRINTS – ZINK ZERO INK printing technology eliminates the need...
• FREE POLAROID MOBILE APP – Take your photography to the next level by downloading...

• Stunningly Vibrant Detail : Premium quality photo paper recreates every Color and...
• Earth Friendly Photos : Zink paper eliminates the need for costly film and wasteful...
• Memories that last a LifeTime : Zink paper is Treated with a glossy, protective...

Last but not least, it’s time for the most fun and creative part.

Here you may want to capture the most amazing moments in a travel diary.

Indeed, fill your travel bullet journal with memories by using tourist maps, flyers, stamps, and polaroids.

You can even get a polaroid zip mobile printer with proper photo paper and keep up with daily journaling.

How To Write a Travel Diary

• include travel journaling time in your morning or evening routine (yes, it’s possible even if you’re staying at the most random places)
• keep your travel diary in an easily accessible place – you never know when your craziest adventure begins
• use your train-bus-car traveling time to complete your travel notes
• manage your inner perfectionism and let all your misspellings, mistakes, etc go
• keep in mind that it’s your travel diary – you don’t have to share it online or show it to anybody so it’s your safe space
• work on your journal – life balance (basically, don’t feel pressure to capture absolutely everything)
• try to add some variety to your travel diary by combining storytelling, doodles, polaroids, packing list, travel maps, etc
• describe how local meals taste, how the air smells, how the streets look like, what people wear – it’s so interesting to get to know a foreign country more than the most popular tourist attractions
• there’s no right or wrong way to keep a travel journal

Download Free Travel Bullet Journal Printables

How To Make a Travel Diary – Final Thoughts

To sum up, now you know what a travel diary is, how to make one that works for you, what to write in it, and how to make a journaling habit stick.

Undoubtedly, keeping a travel journal is a great way to collect memories and save them.

No matter if you choose an art journal, travel bullet journal, or scrapbook, making a travel diary can be so much fun.

Sometimes all you want to do is to write down your thoughts, organize polaroid photos, or simply plan your next trip.

Or mix the different types of travel journaling in the ultimate travel diary you can start even before your travel begins.

And the best part is you can really personalize your notebook.

Just gather your favorite travel journal inspiration, write your moments down, collect props, and put your travel diary together.

I hope you like these few easy tips on how to make a travel journal I gathered in this blog post.

Enjoy your trip and good luck!

What’s Next? Check Out These Bullet Journal Page Ideas:

Bullet Journal Page Ideas Perfect for Your 2023 Bujo

Bullet Journal Self-Care Ideas: Get Your Life Together in 2023

Budget Bullet Journal Layouts To Master Your Finances in 2023

Travel Diary

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.

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:

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Last updated on July 7, 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.

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?

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.

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

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 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.

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.

3. Journalfy

The Journalfy Travel Journal app is a new contender on the market with a lot of potential. It entered the market earlier this year, so the company has a short track record, but it’s beautifully designed with a lot of thoughtful touches—including an analog, old-school travel journal that you can back up using their app.

I love using a physical travel journal, so it’s a neat differentiator that you can use these either together or independently (the paper journal is as beautifully designed as the app). If you use the app without the physical journal, the free plan allows you to upload up to 10 photos per entry, which is plenty for most travelers. The free and paid plans include the same features, however, you can just add more photos and create more entries with the paid plan.

Best app features: The share function is seamless—friends and family can view entries without the app. The writing prompts are helpful, and the intuitive, ad-free layout makes it easy to record travel memories on the go. The PDF export feature is handy, though adding images to the exports would be an improvement.

Cost: The free version is probably enough for most, however, they do have a monthly option for $2/month or an annual plan for $18.65/year.

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.

5. Evernote

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.

6. Travel Diaries

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 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.

8. Polarsteps

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.

9. Waffle Journal

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

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.

31 Travel Journal Prompts + Creative Travel Journal Ideas

This post contains affiliate links to trusted partners. If you purchase through these links, I earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you!

Looking for travel journal prompts and creative travel journal ideas ?

Then you’re in the right place! 

Especially right now as travel is limited and people are searching for ways to travel at home, such as through relaxing staycations , keeping a travel journal can be a great way to relive your favorite trip memories. 

Moreover, it can keep travel alive, allow you to explore the world from home, and help you stay curious. 

Keep reading for a list of fun journal writing prompts related to travel as well as tips for creating something tangible that truly helps you feel inspired. 

Table of Contents

Downloadable Travel Journal PDF

Before we dive into the post, though, I want to offer you the chance to grab my free printable travel journal . 

The trip journal includes 56 prompts in total. 

This inspiring printable and fillable journal is great for exercising your creativity while traveling from home as you remember your favorite trips. 

Grab it, and then feel free to message me on Instagram ( @jessieonajourney ) to let me know which travel journal writing prompts were your favorite and why.

I plan to update the journal in the future — and you’ll get any revisions I make — so your feedback is appreciated!

What Is A Travel Journal?

A travel journal is a place where you can document your trip memories, whether you’re spending 7 days in Cancun , going on a solo USA road trip , off completing the world’s best hiking trails , or something else.

These can be paper or digital, bound or looseleaf, thin or thick. And— when it comes to how to write in a travel journal — it can include just text or a variety of mediums.

The point is, it offers a way to record what happens to you on the road — though you’re welcome to take your entries and give them a fictional twist for fun! 

Choosing Your Travel Journal

I may be a little biased, but if you’re looking for the best travel journal with prompts, I recommend grabbing my free printable journal here . 

Because I made it fillable, you can also use it as a travel journal online!

Additionally, there are loads of inspiring options online if you’d prefer to purchase one. On Amazon, I love this vegan leather option as well as this mindful travel journal .

Creative Travel Journal Ideas

Wondering how to be creative in your journal?

First of all, remember that a journal doesn’t just have to be writing. Use markers, paints, stickers, glitter, and even momentos from your travels to really bring the text to life. 

Of course, don’t forget about travel-themed accents, too, like stamps, tickets, postcards, and maps — you can even cut out sections of a map to showcase your favorite destinations. 

If you’re artistic, you might also consider bullet journaling and other techniques to make your journal more visual. 

In terms of keeping your travel writing fresh, having details to pull from can be a huge help.

When possible, try to experience a place with all five senses so you have more to draw from later. I personally like to take notes right after any experience I think I may write about later. 

Keep in mind, being fully present in this way is also just an overall healthy practice. 

If you’re having trouble remembering details, try to sit in silence and do a visualization. Personally, when I do this exercise I aim to not only see myself in a place, but to put myself back in the place so that I am seeing the scene through my own eyes. 

Feeling writer’s block?

Sometimes all that it takes is a change of scenery to get inspired again. Try going for a walk or trying a new cafe to see if that helps.

If not, put the journal away, give yourself some mental space, and pick it back up tomorrow. 

And if you’re proud of what you’ve written, feel free to post it on social media, share it in an email with friends or, of course, keep it to yourself. 

How To Keep A Travel Journal: Quick Tips 

As an avid journaler myself, these are some of my personal tips for having fun, feeling creative, and staying inspired while writing.

As with travel tips and trip styles, everyone has their own process when it comes to journaling, and something that works for me may not work for you. Feel free to try out this advice, keep what works, and let go of what doesn’t.

Overall, the goal is that you get something beneficial out of these pages.

Tip #1: Journal when you feel most creative.

For instance, you might choose some mindful ways to start your day and have completing daily journal prompts be one of your morning rituals. 

However, if you find you feel more creative in the afternoon or evening, plan your writing for then.

Tip #2: Don’t edit as you write.

Allow your first draft to be all about getting your ideas and thoughts down onto the paper and getting into a creative flow state.

You can always tweak things later.

Tip #3: Remember the power of lists.

This is one of my favorite trip journal ideas!

Writing in lists can be helpful when you’re:

• having trouble getting started
• wondering what things to put in a travel journal
• feeling like your sentences just aren’t flowing together

This way, you can at least get your ideas down and edit them together in a cohesive manner later on.

Tip #4: Write stories.

While this isn’t mandatory, those who are curious how to write a travel journal that’s worth reading should consider writing your thoughts as stories instead of in a stream-of-conscious fashion. 

To write a story, make sure you have a beginning, middle, and end. Actually, if you really want to do it right, you should also consider character, plot, setting, and tension.

For a lesson in storytelling, make sure to check out this video on how to improve your creative storytelling skills for more engaging writing:

Tip #5: Go beyond text.

Wondering what to put in a travel journal?

Realize there is no right or wrong answer to this question!

Keep it text-based, or add paintings, drawings, stickers, momentos from your trip, and more. 

Personally, I’ve started writing out my journal entries and then drawing them to add some additional creativity and really bring the pages to life. 

The Best Travel Journal Apps

Prefer a digital journal option over paper? 

There is an app for that! 

I’ve talked about my favorite travel safety apps before, but here are a few of my favorite apps for keeping a travel journal:

Travel Diaries .  This free app allows you to create both public and private journals. The layouts are customizable, and you can easily add text, photos, and even maps. 

One really neat feature of this app:

You can turn your travel diary into a physical creation to be shipped to your home!

Day One Journal . This is another great travel journal app that makes it simple to record your memories using photos, videos, drawings, and even audio recordings. 

The “On This Day” feature allows you to go back in time to revisit your favorite trip moments, while automatic backups ensure your content never gets lost. 

Unique app feature:

You can handwrite in your journal using your finger or Apple Pencil. 

This travel app has both free and paid premium versions. 

Polarsteps . Dubbed “the personal travel log in your pocket,” Polarsteps is an app that helps you plan your trips as well as record them along the way in a visually-appealing manner.

In fact, this app puts an emphasis on adding experiences to maps and using video to document, so you can really bring your trips back to life later on. 

A feature I love:

You can turn your travel memories into a stunning hardcover book to keep!

Unique Travel Journal Examples

Looking for some travel journal inspiration?

Here are some mood boards with journal examples to help get your creative juices flowing.

These are also helpful if you’re wanting to learn how to make a travel journal.

By the way:

Check out the bottom right photo in the top collage if you’re looking for travel journal layout ideas.

Travel Writing Prompts – Quick Picker 

If you’re like me and often feel indecisive when choosing a prompt, I’ve got a fun little tool that can help:

The above video moves through the list of writing prompts quickly.

To use it as a quick picker, press play, turn your gaze down, and then stop the video at a random moment.

Then, voilà , you’ve got your travel writing prompt chosen for you! 

31 Travel Journal Prompts

Whether you’re physically traveling or at home dreaming of the road, use these travel prompts for your journal.

I love these prompts for when I’m feeling stuck and am searching for things to write in a travel journal:

1. Remember a time when you met people while traveling that felt like family. Describe your time with them in great detail.

2. Write a postcard to a friend from a place you’ve loved visiting.

3. Think about a problem that exists in travel. Now, invent a solution to the problem. Hey, could this journal help you come up with your next million-dollar idea?

4. If you could go on a trip with anyone, dead or alive, who would you go with? Where would you go and what would you do?

5. Share a time you were lost or that you lost something while traveling. 

6. How has travel changed or shaped you? Note: This is one of my favorite self-discovery journal prompts!

7. Start your travel story with the following: “It was a dark and stormy night…”

8. What is the first vacation memory that comes to mind? Come up with your memory in 10 seconds or less!

9. Think back to the most beautiful place you’ve ever been to. Now, describe it using all five senses.

10. Write about a multi-destination trip — from the perspective of your backpack.

11. What is a sticky situation you’ve gotten out of on the road? Hint: Allow this to also be a reminder of your strength!

12. What is a fear you’ve overcome while traveling? How?

13. Take your story from the previous prompt about overcoming a fear while traveling and rewrite it from the perspective of an onlooker.

14. What has been your craziest transportation experience?

15. Write a review of the best hotel you’ve ever stayed in.

16. Write a review of the worst hotel you’ve ever stayed in using humor.

17. Write a letter of gratitude to someone who showed you an act of kindness on the road .

18. Write about the last trip you took — from the perspective of yourself in the year 2600.

19. Write about a hike you loved doing using all five senses.

20. “Travel makes me feel _____.” Why?

21. Write about a trip you took last year from the perspective of your favorite book or movie character.

22. What is the biggest lesson that travel has taught you? Share a story that brings this to life.

23. Pretend that you were given an extra day on a trip you loved. What would that day have looked like?

24. Choose a trip you haven’t written about yet. Now choose a different time period, and write about the trip as if it happened in that time period.

25. In your opinion, what is the biggest misconception about travel?

26. Think back to an interesting conversation you’ve had while traveling and begin your story with that dialogue.

27. Transport yourself to a beautiful beach you’ve visited. Suddenly, a message in a bottle washes up onto the shore. What does it say? How do you react?

28. Here is a road trip journal idea! Write about a road trip you went on, but have someone else from the trip be the narrator. Hint: If you traveled solo, have the car or an onlooker be the narrator.

29. Think of a time you went on a trip that took you out of your comfort zone. Write the end of the story, then the middle, then the beginning.

30. What is one piece of advice you’ve been told by a local while traveling? Have you applied it to your life? Why/why not?

31. If you were to write a travel memoir, what would the first chapter look like?

Bonus: Pair Your Journal Prompts With Self-Care

In my opinion, the best way to enjoy time spent journaling is by pairing it with other self-care activities.

In the video above, I share my top 10 favorite self-care tips and rituals for travelers — though they can also be enjoyed at home!

My recommendation:

Make a day of it! Use the journal prompts and the self-care rituals to create your own DIY retreat .

Want more travel-themed prompts?

Don’t forget to grab my free downloadable Inspired Storyteller Travel Journal — featuring inspiring quotes, writing tips, and 56 fun prompts to help you recount your favorite trip memories and write creatively. 

Do you have any travel journal prompts to add?

What are your favorite creative travel journal ideas, related posts:.

About Jessie Festa

Jessie Festa is a New York-based travel content creator who is passionate about empowering her audience to experience new places and live a life of adventure. She is the founder of the solo female travel blog, Jessie on a Journey, and is editor-in-chief of Epicure & Culture , an online conscious tourism magazine. Along with writing, Jessie is a professional photographer and is the owner of NYC Photo Journeys , which offers New York photo tours, photo shoots, and wedding photography. Her work has appeared in publications like USA Today, CNN, Business Insider, Thrillist, and WestJet Magazine.

Hi, I’m Jessie on a journey!

I'm a conscious solo traveler on a mission to take you beyond the guidebook to inspire you to live your best life through travel. Come join me!

Want to live your best life through travel?

Subscribe for FREE access to my library of fun blogging worksheets and learn how to get paid to travel more!

Turn Your Travel Blog Into A Profitable Business

Subscribe to my email list to snag instant access to my library of workbooks, checklists, tutorials and other resources to help you earn more money -- and have more fun -- blogging. Oh, and it's totally FREE! :) //  Privacy Policy . 

Check your inbox for your welcome email + resource library password!

These prompts are just the inspiration I needed to capture my thoughts about travel. Not only do they tap into my travel memories, but they feed my creative spirit. Who says you have to actually go anywhere to be well-traveled? 😉

I have trouble keeping a journal, but have always want too – these are such good prompts ill have to give it another try!

Wow, what an incredible article! I’m so grateful to have come across this treasure trove of travel journal prompts and ideas. The suggestions provided here are truly inspiring and have sparked my wanderlust even more. From capturing the sensory details to reflecting on personal growth, these prompts cover every aspect of a fulfilling travel journal. The beautiful descriptions and practical tips have motivated me to start documenting my adventures with a renewed passion. Thank you for sharing such a valuable resource that will undoubtedly enhance my future travel experiences. Keep up the fantastic work!

Leave a Comment Cancel Reply

6 Free Travel Journal Apps to Create a Beautiful Trip Diary

Your changes have been saved

Email is sent

Email has already been sent

Please verify your email address.

You’ve reached your account maximum for followed topics.

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.

• Cool Web Apps

Start your online travel journal

Capture every moment of your journey, from breathtaking sunsets to bustling city streets, and seamlessly weave them into a personalized online travel journal.

Create your travel journal online

Journal trip: capture memories anywhere, anytime!

Forget about taking notes on paper, in notebooks, or in your own chats!

Capture your most beautiful travel memories in an online travel journal with the easy-to-use Travel Diaries software. With just a few clicks, you can start your own online travel diary where you can upload photos, stories, and route maps. Share your travel stories online as a blog, and order your travel diary as a printed book once it's finished.

Get your travel journal in a printed book

With just one click your own publication will be printed on beautiful book!

Transform your unforgettable travel memories into tangible keepsakes! Print a beautifully crafted book of your travel adventures with Travel Diaries App. Relive every moment, from picturesque landscapes to thrilling escapades, in stunning detail.

Why choose Travel Diaries?

Easily switch between devices.

Work online in our web editor on all computers and tablets, or download our mobile app for iOS and Android in the app stores. You can switch between devices anytime.

Never lose your data

All your journals with stories, photos and route maps are stored safely in the cloud. We keep it safe for you.

Work directly online

No need to download any large programs or take care of hosting or configuration. Just login to Travel Diaries and start working on your blog online, wherever you are!

Tips to start journaling online

Journaling 18.08.2024

80 of the Best Travel Journal Prompts - Don’t Just Live It, Write It!

The days you spend travelling will be some of the most memorable of your life. Meeting new people, g...

Journaling 16.08.2024

The Many Benefits of Journaling

In a world that seems to move at a pace faster than most of us can keep up with, there's something u...

How to Start a Travel Blog: a Step by Step Guide

Starting a travel blog is a beautiful way to share your adventures, memories, and journeys with the ...

Best Travel Apps

There was a time when preparing for a journey meant figuring out the weight of all the guidebooks an...

Journaling 12.06.2024

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

Not only do they serve as a way of documenting your time away, but they can be a valuable tool for s...

Start your own journal now

Capture your adventures in a digital diary that you can share with friends and family, and order as a printed copy when you're finished. Create an account and get started in our online web application or mobile app today.

Capture Priceless Memories with this Kids Travel Journal Printable (Free PDF Template)

Keeping a kids travel journal is not just a great way for your kids to remember the details of their trip, but it also captures those precious memories that may later be swept away in the fog of time.

Your kid’s travel journal will become an heirloom more precious than any other souvenirs you can bring back from your trip. Plus, a journal is an excellent way to keep the kiddos entertained during road trips, long plane rides, and other inevitable travel downtime!

While any old notebook or journal works, if you want to encourage kids to keep track of their experiences, you need to provide some travel journal ideas.

Kids Travel Journal Printables

One thing I’ve learned from my daughter is that writing is easier for kids if they are given a writing prompt.  To design these travel journal pages, I talked to my girl about what things she likes to remember from her travels and what types of prompts might make journaling easier.

With her input I put together the following kid travel journal printable pages–including a cover, pre-trip overview page, daily travel journal templates, and a trip recap page. So if you are looking for a DIY travel journal for your kids, look no further!

With this free printable travel journal cover, your child can personalize their journal with their name, indicate where on the map they are going, and record the dates of the trip.

Just click here to download the free PDF of the  kid travel journal printable cover .

I’ve also put together a page that your kiddo can fill out before you leave for the trip or on the plane or in the car en route to your destination.

Click here to download the PDF

There are also pages that can be copied for each day of your trip. This page lets your child record the date, location, weather, and how they felt that day. There are also sections for recording what they did that day, the best thing they ate, something they learned, and a word to capture the essence of the day.

Download daily trip report pages.

Lastly, there is a trip recap page to capture the high points of the trip and their overall feelings and rating about the trip.

Download trip recap page PDF.

Before you leave just print out the number of pages you need and staple it, bind it, or put it in a pocket folder with room to save ticket stubs, programs, and more.

If you prefer, you can also download all the pages as one downloadable, printable PDF kids travel journal file here.

When on the road, don’t wait until the meltdown at bedtime to think about writing in journals. Stick it in your day bag along with some crayons and pencils and use it as a way to keep kids entertained while waiting to be served at restaurants or other downtime throughout the day.

By the way, if you really want to get your kids involved in the travel planning as well as the travel journaling, use these vacation planner worksheets for kids !

PIN THIS FOR LATER

Tamara Gruber is the Founder and Publisher of We3Travel. A former marketing executive and travel advisor, Tamara is an award-winning travel writer and recognized expert in family travel. Tamara is a member of SATW and the Adventure Travel Trade Association, and serves on the Board of the Family Travel Association. She is also the publisher of YourTimetoFly.com and the co-host of the Vacation Mavens travel podcast.

Find this useful? Share it!

Publish Date: August 21, 2024

51 thoughts on “Capture Priceless Memories with this Kids Travel Journal Printable (Free PDF Template)”

Many thanks! Sincerely appreciate the free downloads. Your time & talent is appreciated.

These look fab, I’ve pinned to print off in the pre-holiday panic

Thank you for creating theses pages We3Travel, they are beautiful! I’m just seeing this while on a trip in Spain without printing facilities, but will be using thes on our next trips!

I’m so glad you like them! Have a great trip. We loved visiting Spain a few years ago.

My Daughters School (Palm Valley Elem) shared this for as a summer activity! I am so glad they did!! this is exactly what I was looking for for my 8 year old! she needs the writing prompts! I am going to add them to a journal and add a few “pockets” for her to add ticket stubs etc

That’s great!! I made this a few years ago and I feel like I should update it but glad it still works for others!

Love your travel pages, but they would not print for me. Am taking my 10 yr old grand and parents to the Jersey Shore in July and making a list of crafty and fun activities to do with her. Since your pages won’t print, they have still given me an idea of making a simple journal with her and use your ideas as prompts for her to write and sketch. Thanks for the cool ideas.

I’m so sorry to hear they wouldn’t print for you. Were you able to download them or did you have trouble accessing them?

Comments are closed.

SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER & RECEIVE A FAMILY VACATION PLANNING KIT!

We3Travel.com will use the information you provide on this form to send you newsletters. You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of any email you receive from us, or by contacting [email protected] . By clicking below, you agree that we may process your information in accordance with these terms.

Start typing and press enter to search

traveldays is your minimalist travel diary.

See an example or start creating your own album ..