4 Reasons to Take a Travel Journal on your Trip!

Let’s start things off with a small bit of advice. Start using your travel journal before your trip.

Seriously, you’ll realise how important it is, when you are looking back at your adventures, to record even the slightest bit of planning to ensure that your trips have meaning and purpose.

Before all the memories and ticket stubs begin to flood the pages of your journal, make a list of things you want to see, food you want to try, or dedicate a page to language phrases you can use on the daily.

It also helps to carry your journal with you so that you can make sure your trip is living up to your expectations by referring to your original plans.

So now we have our journals ready and our complimentary pens picked out, but what do we even journal about? And hey, sometimes we ask ourselves, why bother?

Somewhere to put your thoughts

Travel journals, like any journal, are extremely diverse and are made simply to be a reflection of you with no other strings attached. With this in mind, you can record your trip in any way you like, don’t feel restricted by words either; you may find yourself more comfortable with drawing and painting, or a different medium entirely.

You may not even know what your style is until you have started; but just remember that even though you may be visiting a place where thousands of travelogues have come before you, a journal is your own personal capsule of thoughts and experiences.

Record what you find interesting, exciting or whatever sparks emotion and thought.

Just as much as photos can preserve the physical experience, its equally important to detail your emotional experience in relation to new environments and in the future, rediscover the many states of mind you experienced on your adventure.

Reflection

Whether your journal is the reason you stopped in front of several buildings just to redraw the intricate architecture, or sat down in bed each night to write about the days adventures, there is no down side to simple reflection.

It’s a good way to unload the mind and release all the memories onto paper so you don’t have to worry about forgetting and you can reopen your mind to absorbing new experiences each day.

Helping others

Who would have thought that your own personal travelogue could become inspiration for the travels of others but one of the best things about traveling is being able to recommend destinations, sights, and experiences to friends and family who may find an interest in a similar place.

However, sometimes our memory struggles to recollect the names and locations of fantastic destinations, but a physical journal is a great way to note the best places and then refer to them at any time as a source of advice and recommendations.

It will make you a better traveler

You can journal any way you want, but you may find it most valuable to create something that becomes part of your soul and something worth looking back on in the future.

This is where your journal becomes your motivation, as the aspiration of a noteworthy journal takes over, you may find yourself inspired to do spontaneous and fun things for the joy of being able to include them in your capsule of memories.

And where you might once have been swept up by the countless experiences, a traveler who journals along the way pays more attention in the moment and truly absorbs their surroundings if only to fill the pages with detailed accounts of thoughts, places and other encounters.

Happy journaling

I hope you are inspired enough to bring a journal on your next trip and thankfully the world has many to offer, but why not stick around and have a look at Tree Tribe's very own Leaf Leather Nature Journals.

Sketches in a Tree Tribe journal by @explore.infinity

Sustainably made and animal friendly, they are the most unique and durable journals out there, and with refillable pages, the best companion on your next adventure and many more to come. Find them here!