We're about to take what will be my first ever trip to Europe. We're going to visit family in Sweden, the fjords in Norway and friends in Iceland. I'm thrilled to death and I'm already panicking because we leave in 2 weeks and we've still so much to do! Anyway, I've never kept a travel journal so I thought this would be a good time to start. I've been looking at the ones on Amazon, but nothing quite fits the bill. I'm also terribly scared of using just a blank book! Am I nutso? The thought that I'd miss writing about something, or looking for something, etc., just scares me to death. Then I did a search on Pinterest, and the ones I saw there were AMAZING! But I keep on thinking, did these people do anything else but write/draw/paste/smash in their journals on their trip? They are terribly intimidating, to say the least. I'm more of a scrapbooker than a journaler. Make sense? But I also want to make sure to record what I need to, even those things I might not think of doing! Any suggestions? What have you done, or what would you do?
I used a lined paper journal. Or rather, the front was lined like school paper but the back was blank so I could glue/tape stuff that accompanied the page to the right. It was spiral bound so it was easy to add little ticket stubs or even small store bags (to remember where I shopped) to it. I also left some blank pages blank so I could glue pics in when we came back and got them developed. That worked for me. HAVE FUN on your wonderful vacation! ETA: this was about 14 years ago, way before phone cameras and that sort of thing, so I wrote my thoughts about the day and where we went. I didn't want to bring a bunch of "stuff" with me (like a smash journal) cuz we moved from location to location. Plus that's a lot of work to do, imo, on a vacation!
I just used a cheap lined paper journal from the dollar store in fact. It had a cute travely cover so I said what the heck. Every night I recorded just a very few thoughts about the day, maybe stuck a receipt or menu or something I picked up that day between two pages.. I made notes referring to pics on my phone so I could scrap when we got home. Also notes on stuff we ate and recipes I'd like to try, what we brought that we didn't need and what we didn't bring and realized we should have. I didn't fill the book by half - but used it as a good reference for the next years trip, and continued along the next years notes. It was fun to make notes on our day then go back and read my thoughts on the same subject from the year before. This became a nightly ritual with my husband, like our personal bedtime story, and we didn't need a fancy journal for that. - I kept it closed against my inserted finds with a sturdy rubber band, but finally added paper clips to my list for next year. Maybe a glue stick from the dollar store too...
I love making travel journals/albums! I have done them a couple of different ways now and lean toward the second option I'm going to show you for most trips now. At one point, I questioned why I would do one given that some of the photos go into my PL book and all of them go into a trip album as well. But to me, they are an invaluable resource for when I put together my final trip album (usually the last thing to get done) and since the trip album is more public, my journal gives me a more private place to write out my thoughts on the trip. Here are links to my previous projects... 1. A travel smash album... this was my first foray into travel journals. My daughter and I each had one and we worked on them together during the trip. This trip was unique, as we were traveling with my parents, so we were at the hotel early each night and had time to work on things. Also, it was a road trip so we had room to bring some supplies along. 2. A travel snap album... this did not go exactly as planned. I had planned on taking my printed journal cards and jotting note throughout the trip. However, I lost them somewhere in my house before we left (I had actually just put them away... gasp!). I decided against the smash book route this time because I knew we would be out late and would not be working on the album until we were back (plus I'm currently obsessed with snap albums). Given that it was just a three day trip, it was okay that journaling was done once we got back (and I did it right away as not to forget too much). My daughter and I recently went on a mother daughter spring break trip and I did something similar to #2, but this time I didn't lose my journal cards! I also added a small accordion file to get everything organized during the trip... I could pull a blank card from the collection in the front, jot some notes and file it under the correct day. I LOVE my travel journals/albums. I'm not much of a journaler, so blank pages freak me out. Plus I've always been a postcard, brochure, ticket stub collector. These books give all of that junk a home. These books also help so much when I scrap my big trip album as I have all of my info all in one spot for reference. I'm not sure if
not only are you not a nutso, but I would most definitely go for the blank thing!!! so that way you can personalize as much as you want? I think it was Danyale who posted a good one kinda ready made that was interesting, I was going to copy the idea so I think I bookmarked it but in the other computer... I'm not sure if the post was here or on Facebook, but that one looked great... but as I said I would go with the blank book and make it mine!!!!
I was going to post the folder idea but I see Tracie already did!! You might consider one the size of regular paper. That way you stuff brochures, menus, etc. in there too. Just file them under the appropriate day. Also - when you are visiting a place and they have a plaque or something, take a picture of it too. That way you will remember which pictures are at which place. Often too, it has all those dates and facts you might want to include on your page. Or is it just me that does that?
I used to be organized, before I was a scrapper, when traveling and digital photos were something out of the Jetsons LOL I would have to go develop the photos so then made notes and put them in albums when possible.... I have always kept a diary kind of thing. In Brazil,in the 70s and 80s planners where a huge thing, everyone had one, we called it "agenda" and would treat is a bit like a scrapbook, I stapled cinema tickets, menus, sometimes a photo, candy wrappers...and would write about it if the event had something special I wanted to remember.... I lost most of my first 28 years of life in photos, plus all the agendas ... just thinking about it makes me so sad... I was lucky my parents kept some photos... that's why I am so passionate about the scrapping, I want Sarita to have a good record of her life
Thanks so much for the ideas. And Cynthia @MrsPeel, Thank you for saying I'm not nutso! @Lindzee, great idea. I think I'll try that. But I think I'll also tell my family they have to write in it, too. That should be a hoot! Tracy @tkradtke, Wow. You are totally organized! I've tried doing something like that in the past and I get so caught up in the moment that I totally forget about it. And I must admit that I've never heard of a snap album. Something else to look at! If I don't do something like that this trip, I'm definitely going to use it for the next one. Bev @BevG, I am planning on bringing a tyvek envelope with a manila folder inside to stash things found along the way. Maybe I should have a manila folder for each country. And I always take photos of plaques, signs, etc! My family has gotten used to it by now, but they put up with me. Especially when I take photos of our food. heh heh. I love the idea of a smash album just because that style of scrapping hits home, but I'm going to be carrying this thing around with me and I need to keep my bag as light as possible when were on our day trips. The other thing is that we're doing all our traveling with carry-on luggage only, the convertible kind (backpack/handle carry) with no wheels. We're taking a total of 6 flights (only one is connecting), two trains, and two busses in our travels, so we just don't want to take the chance of loosing something. So I need to keep things as compact as I can. I've been thinking about bringing along a glue stick to attach small things into the book, and maybe colored pencils. But it all depends upon how much room we have to spare.
I usually use an accordian file like Tracie posted and write notes on whatever paper I can find, then do the album when I get home. I have tried predoing albums to fill in on the trip but it never works out for me.
I never have time to do much recording while on vacations. I tend to rely on my photos to help me remember what we've done each day. I am very good at taking pictures of signs of the places we visit, or if we are hiking I try to remember to take a picture of the trail number/name, so I can remember later. I also will sometimes email myself at the end of each day with a quick run down of where we went, where we ate, what we did, etc. That's about all I ever seems to find time for. I used to take a lined notebook with me and tried to write about the day, but I found emailing myself to be faster and then I wouldn't lose the info! Your trip sounds awesome! I hope you have a wonderful time!
I used to hand write in a blank journal and take a folder with me for memorabilia. I still take the folder, but now I use my netbook to record my travel journal. I find the writing flow works much better for me with typing than with handwriting. When I get home, I copy my journal onto my other computers, then I have it available to me for scrapping at any time and can cut and paste the information.
@QuiltyMom Jan, I love @Karen's idea of emailing yourself! In case you're not able to do that (stupid international data plans lol), you could maybe write that info on your phone's calendar app, or maybe just on a "sticky note" (or whatever iPhones have. I am an Adroid girl myself).
I usually just try to enjoy vacation. I have a folder or accordion file to keep bits and bobs and receipts and tickets and such. If you are an Android user, I recommend the Journey app. You can include photos and write notes about the day. I would even take photos of your memorabilia, so you know where to insert them when you're assembling everything upon your return. There is a Chrome app as well, so you can use it on your computer. If you an iPhone user, there are a number of apps, but since I'm an Android girl, I haven't used any of them.
I love the idea of a travel journal. I can never seem to keep up with one. LOL. I would bullet a little list in a tiny little purse-friendly notebook and then gussy it up later. Can't wait to see what you come up with and all of the fun you are going to have.
Just had to pop in here to read everyone's thoughts. I am intrigued by the travel journal as well - although sadly I am not going anywhere travel journal worthy this summer. One of the girls on the scrap gals podcast was discussing her travel journal for an upcoming trip to Spain and I believe she said she was going to try to journal on the left side of the journal and then include room for artwork, photos, ephemera, etc on the right side for each day. That sounds doable. Love the organizational ideas in this thread! Have a great trip!! Be sure to share some photos of what you make!
