Setting up a travel journal
From inspiration to setup to personal process
As I gear up for a trip to the Pacific Northwest to soak up the last bit of summer, I want to share with you my approach to travel journaling.
Through my years of drawing and documenting my travels, I’ve cycled through the phases of bringing too many materials and not enough materials. I’ve gotten frustrated by how overwhelming it feels to document a busy place, and I’ve felt the peace that comes with being fully attentive to the scenery around me.
My journals have shifted from sketching from life whenever I had downtime to creating layouts of observations and memories I most want to remember.
For those of you completely new to travel journaling, I recommend you read Petya Grady's first-time travel journal experiment! It was my pleasure to help consult on supplies to get Petya started on her recent trip, and I think her account will inspire you to give the practice a try.
And if you'd rather try creating a travel journal from home using a past trip, I'm developing a workshop for that—join the waitlist if you're interested!
Whether you're an avid visual journaler or are just starting out, here are three steps I recommend for setting up your next travel journal.
1. Collect inspiration
There are so many different ways to document your travels. You could have zero words and all drawings, or all words and no drawings. You can collage ephemera on every page, or skip it altogether. You can use one pen for the whole thing, or go maximalist and use all your mixed media.
Though I’ve often skipped this step in the past, I would now recommend gathering inspiration as the first step to planning your travel journal. This way you can see the wide array of possibilities with journaling and consult your saved inspiration for layout and topic ideas. You can do this step via screenshots and photo album, physical moodboard, or Pinterest board.