Whether you keep it simple or more complicated, making a creative travel journal during your trips is great fun.
My mother used to make scrapbooks when she was back from a holiday. It was in the pre-digital days, so she had to wait until the film rolls were developed. When time passes we might forget things.
Nowadays we are fortunate to have access to smartphones and small digital printers so we can work on a travel journal during the trip. It is one of my main creative travel journal tips: work on it every day.
Some of the links are affiliate links. As an affiliate associate, I earn a small commission when you purchase any of the products offered through the shared links at no extra cost to you. This helps me to maintain this website and I thank you for supporting me.
Table of Contents
Creative travel journal tips
- Plan in advance;
- Have your journal in the back of your head during the day;
- Take photographs or scribble down some keywords;
- Make your pages every day;
- Use images and text;
- Collect meaningful images but also decorative elements;
- Have fun, you’re on a holiday.
Preparation is part of the fun
My husband and I have travelled from the moment we had a relationship. During the year it is fun to ponder about places we want to go and what we want to do there. Maps are often on the table, either paper ones or Google Maps.
When the paper cards are no longer up to date or fall apart from too much use, they make great material for my journals.
I also make decorative papers as supplementary material, because there will always be days when it has been more difficult to collect stuff.
You can also look for specific images that match your way of travelling. Collect some photos of trains or buses if you travel on them. Will you go by car, photos of traffic jams, roads or traffic lights are useful.
What kind of journal
For a couple of years now, I have made my own books, including journals. This makes it possible to achieve a tailor-made end result.
One of my journals had a couple of signatures that were bound together before travelling, which had some disadvantages:
- There were too many pages so at the end empty pages remained;
- The collages made it quite bulky, causing the journal to no longer close properly.
This time, I made separate signatures that weren’t bound together. A sturdy cover ensured that the contents were protected. Later I bound the various sections into a book.
You can of course also use purchased notebooks or journals. In that case, I would tear out pages to create space for what you collect and want to glue inside.
Related: Making a Creative Travel Journal while Travelling Doubles the Fun
Tools to bring
Most of the supplies I took with me for another travel journal, I packed again this time. I made some alterations to the colour palette (green and brown instead of blue, red and green) and I hadn’t made stickers and paper tape beforehand.
Before, I had a plastic pencil case and loose things like jars of glue, my printers and lots of paper in my computer bag.
The plastic pencil case was swapped for a self-made roll-on pencil case made of fabric.
And I dedicated an old beauty case to my toolbox. Everything fitted in perfectly. In my view, it was a coincidence, my husband said it wasn’t. 😉
The tools I brought with me
- Black pens, 0.1 and 0.5;
- Brushes;
- Clips;
- Copic markers;
- Date stamp;
- Decorated paper;
- White gesso;
- Highlighter;
- Instax printer for polaroids of 4,5×6 cm;
- iPhone;
- Liquitex matte medium;
- Magazine photos and text;
- Pencil;
- Pilot pens, gold, silver, white;
- Poooli printer for black&white images;
- Posca markers;
- Pritt glue stick;
- Roll-up pencil case;
- Small cutting mat;
- Small scissors;
- Small triangle;
- Snap-off knife;
- Spray bottle with water;
- Tissue paper, coloured or copied with patterns;
- Washi tape;
- Watercolour paint box.
Materials for the pages
Lots of businesses don’t have business cards or folders anymore. Their reasoning is that nowadays everyone has a smartphone with an internet connection, so (potential) customers should just look there.
It wouldn’t be my consideration. A business card that is put in a pocket or bag will come out again at some point, which would be a second moment of attention.
Yet, there is still lots of material you can gather during the day.
- Go to the tourist office. They have free maps and other information material;
- Bills, parking tickets, train tickets and stuff like that;
- Decorated napkins. Peel off the top layer and glue it with matte medium;
- Placemats;
- Business cards or folders, if they have them; 😉
- Hotels often have an information stand with small cards about the environment;
- Postcards in souvenir shops and museums;
- Entrance tickets;
- Packaging, such as bread bags or wrapping paper;
- Stickers;
- Leaves or flowers, dry them or press them.
Some printed placemats are great but if you had lunch they will probably be greasy. In my experience, people are happy to give you another one if you explain what you’re going to use it for.
My working method
As said, I wasn’t pleased with my other bulky journal. So I made a cover of an old photo canvas that I decorated with Silk and Sizzix papers.
In a tray, I put some watercolour paint and water on which I pressed Canson 200 grs multimedia paper for a moment. That way the pages were slightly coloured and I wouldn’t be bothered with the ‘white canvas syndrome’!
Each signature consisted of 4 A4s that had their own cover of coloured tissue paper and made 7 spreads for one week of travelling. I might change the number of spreads next time.
No matter how tired I was at the end of the day, I made my page. Sometimes it would cost me half an hour, at times more, but I got energy and satisfaction working on my journal.
There wasn’t always space enough in the hotel room, so I would sit in the lobby or the cafe, which at times resulted in great encounters with the staff of other guests.
Do you make journals when you are travelling? Tell me in the comments below.
