Should You Buy a Travel Journal?

Michael and I have been taking a trip to Europe every summer over the last four years, and each time we’ve brought along a journal each time to capture both the important and mundane parts of every day.

It takes patience and diligence to keep a journal on the road; there has to be a balance between writing often enough to keep everything fresh in your mind and also making sure that you don’t spend your entire trip writing. We record everything we can remember: feelings about the places we visited, the meals we enjoyed (or not…) in restaurants, and those quirky, awkward moments we experience when our culture differs from the locale.

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Keeping a journal while traveling can be immensely time-consuming, but we’ve found that taking turns writing while on trains or while winding down at the end of each day adds value to the trip rather than detracting from it.

At times it grows tiring having to write everything by hand (how did we do this much writing in high school?), but it’s also true that writing things down is linked to better memory recall. And I’ve found that when I am at home and unable to travel, it brings me nearly as much joy to reflect on the places I’ve been by reading back through our entries. When traveling and journaling with a partner, it’s especially fascinating to peek into each other’s minds and read the other person’s perspective on the same events.

So, each year we’ve purchased a new journal to bring along on our extended trips. Up until this year, we’ve always purchased a travel-themed journal to use as both a trip-planning tool and a way to record our experiences. This summer, however, we opted for a plain, lined journal; it worked out well as we cataloged most of our trip itinerary online thanks to the improvements in technology.

Our journals are proudly and prominently displayed in our home and we can’t wait to continue adding to our collection.