Traveler's Notebook, Take #1
During last month's trip to Seattle and Portland, I took along stationery supplies with me for the first time for travel journaling. I was excited to try it, but was a little uneasy at the same time at the prospect of finding the time to write about my experiences and having the right supplies. In the end, I finished my travel journal about two weeks after I got home with a few pages to spare! Here is my recap of the whole journey and what I did that worked best for me.
What I Brought
- Olive edition Traveler's Notebook (available at Baum-kuchen, Maido, JetPens, etc.)
- One insert
- Uni ball signo pens in black, magenta, green and brown
- Faber Castell Pitt artist pen
- A set of Mildliners
I chose to keep my Traveler's Notebook light with just one insert from Webster's Pages. Its thick pages could take anything I threw at it and the smaller number of pages made the idea of travel journaling more approachable.
I kept things simple with my pen choices and packed no stamps, stickers, or washi tape(!). I was out for most days and evenings according to my itinerary, so I knew that I wouldn't want to bother with decorating when I was there. Plus, if I really wanted to add more to the pages, I could always do so when I came back home.
I also don't own a portable photo printer and forgot to buy Instax film before I left for the trip, which meant my Instax camera stayed behind as well. I discovered that my bag often got heavy with my purchases and collected ephemera throughout the day, so in retrospect, I'm glad I didn't bring the camera with me.
What I Gathered
Since I didn't bring much from home to decorate my journal with, I amassed a collection of ephemera wherever I went. I took business cards from restaurants and shops, I snagged brochures from markets and events, I even bought a $1 sticker from Molly Moon Ice Cream so I could put it besides my writing. They all made an appearance in my finished travel journal and made it much easier for me to plan the layout of each page.
The hotel key holder and the Museum of Pop Culture brochure both made perfect slots for little cards.
When I Journaled
I travel journaled whenever I had some downtime. I wrote on the plane, on the train, and at the end of every evening when I was feeling up to it. I saw it as a fun thing to do in order to pass the time when I was waiting for something, or a nice way to remember the day before I went to bed. I never held myself to a deadline - if I didn't finish writing for the day, I would simply catch up another day.
Travel Journaling Style
Because of the limited supplies I had, I ended up doodling more than I expected to add a personal touch to the pages. I tried my best not to worry about how each page looked, and drew the sights I saw in pen so I couldn't fret over the details like I would if I were using a pencil. After all, why travel journal if it's not fun, right? It's going to be my keepsake, so there was no use in obsessing over how good it was going to look or comparing myself to other journalers who got everything right on a page down to the color scheme.
There was a point during the trip where I inevitably fell behind. Instead of turning it into a chore by forcing myself to continue, I jotted down the details I wanted to remember on a separate piece of paper. It made for a handy reference when I returned home and kept me free of worrying that I would forget the taste of a dish, or a fleeting feeling I had about a place I visited.
My sketches are barely passable, but I tried to capture what I saw to the best of my memory.
In the end, I had fewer than ten pages left in my travel journal. I imagine I'll fill out the rest of it nicely on my next trip in December. I was proud of myself for not only finishing my own log of the trip, but also for keeping it low-key and easy. Now I'll have a completely different way to relive my memories - by flipping through a journal and through the flavor of words.