Writing a Travel Journal:
Memories the Old-Fashioned Way
Writing a travel journal is a major part of my travel - my journals are among my most prized possessions.
Thick, slim, colorful, dreamy, lined, spiral or bound, the cramped handwriting that fills them contains my memories - what were just my first impressions when I wrote them.
Why a travel journal?
These days there are so many other options - create a blog, social bookmarking, email, phone...
But there is something special about turning the pages of a new notebook on the first day of a trip, writing my name, the date, and the name of the place I'm in.
When I'm on the road, my thoughts and feelings still flow better with pen and paper. Somehow writing a travel journal sitting on a beach or under a jacaranda tree feels more 'foreign' than the Internet Café (although don't get me wrong - I use this option too, writing fanatic that I am).
The simple action of opening that new notebook is almost ritualistic - it tells me my trip has really begun.
People have many reasons for writing a travel journal. There is the reportage function - simply recording the facts, such as the location of a great food stall or a particular train timetable, for future use or just to do it. If you decide to sell articles for profit or become a travel writer, you'll need all those first impressions.
Writing a travel journal is also a way of sharing your journey - with new friends along the way, or with family and friends back home when you return.
Your journal can also be intimate and private, never to be shown, to be guarded preciously.
For me a journal is a friend. I mostly travel alone so putting my thoughts and feelings down on paper is often the only way I have to discuss them with anyone.
And my travel journal is a mirror. When I write, I'm at my most honest. Since I can't really erase or delete what I've written (tear one page out and a dozen may come loose), once my words are on the page, that's it.
Finding the best travel journal
Not just any notebook will do.
Of course I'm a stationery addict and could go on for hours on the virtues and vices of each different kind of writing tool - but I'll spare you.
Still, your choice of notebook is important. Your travel journal should be:
- Inspirational - and mean something to you, with a design that makes you want to write
- Hard backed - you won't always have a table to lean on
- Flat - you'll know what I mean if you've ever tried to write on a curved surface
- Lined - it makes it easier to write straight on bumpy buses (though some people swear by unlined pages)
- Not too large - you don't want the extra weight or space in your backpack
Then you might want to think about the pen...
I know you can pick up cheap ones nearly anywhere in the world but if you're traveling a lot and packing light, you might want one that won't leak, like the space pen, bullet pen or similar - not only don't they leak but you can get them wet, hot, greasy and they still work.
And now you're ready!
You've landed at your destination, you've begun your discovery, you've got your diary and even a special pen. Writing a travel journal will be your next step.
What do you write about?
This is the harder part. Sometimes when I travel everything seems important. Only when I reread myself do I realize how much more I've written than I should have.
Here's what writing a travel journal is about for me:
- What I see when I look around: colors, textures, people, houses, nature, cars, children, anything out of the ordinary or that sticks in my mind
- People I meet: what they look like, what they're wearing, what they say, what gestures they use, their language and customs
- What I hear: opinions, stories, random conversations
- Where I stay and eat: memorable hotels, huts, coconut vendors
- My day-to-day occurrences: what I do that's different from what I would do at home - take a shower outdoors in the tropical rain with a bottle of baby shampoo as soap would qualify, as would sitting through a Bollywood movie - in its original language
- My feelings: am I lonely, tired, happy, curious, homesick, exhilarated, recently showered (you'd be surprised how high this one can rate if you've been on the road for a while!)
- My thoughts: how things are different, what upsets me and why, new things I've learned
You, of course, will write how and about anything you want. That's the beauty of writing a travel journal - there is no set way of doing it. Every way is correct.
The actual writing part
I like to have a routine.
When I'm on the road, I always dedicate my first hour of the morning to writing my travel journal (and drinking coffee). I gather my thoughts, write up the day before, test my thoughts or feelings for the coming day, and just look forward. Others prefer writing a travel journal in the evening, or perhaps once or twice a week, or irregularly.
What kind of tone should you use? How should you write?
I tend to alternate between structured notes (it's the journalist in me speaking) and freeform, which is a bit more liberating.
Sometimes I make an outline in my head and know exactly what I'm going to write. Other times I just sit for fifteen minutes (or however long I set myself) and write - about anything that comes to mind, with my heart and soul rather than my mind. They both work for me.
I like to try out different tones when writing a travel journal - I use dialogue, humor or a specific point of view, depending on my mood. I can be serious or flighty, political or naive. They all work and I like the variety.
And what about the writing itself?
Here are a few basic writing tips that I try to keep in mind when I make the effort to write well (and I admit I don't always):
- Write like you speak.
- When in doubt, read out loud. You'll know immediately how it reads if it sounds cumbersome or unclear.
- Keep it simple. No convoluted ideas. One thought, one sentence.
- Use active verbs: He bought the bag - NOT the bag was bought by him.
- Use evocative words. Rather than 'the sun was very bright', try 'the sun was luminous'. Rather than 'my clothes were very wet', try 'my clothes were soaked'. You get the picture.
- Speaking of picture, draw them in your mind. A sentence that paints a picture in the reader's mind is a strong sentence.
The only way to write well - is to write. In this case, practice really does make perfect.
Beyond writing
For me the written word is only the first step in writing a travel journal.
Equally important are the nuggets and bits and slices of life that I add to it.
I always carry a glue stick. This means I can stick things into my journal that remind me of the day or event - business cards, leaves, a feather from a chicken that was plunked on my lap on the bus, a photo...
I also print out emails and snippets from web pages - like local news - and paste them into my journal too.
Writing a travel journal can at times be more like keeping a scrapbook - some are so fat they need rubber bands to keep them together. I'll cut out magazine ads, add bills from hotels or restaurants, glue in bits of local cloth, the corner of a banana leaf I used as a plate...
I also like to use colors. I carry a highlighter pen and colored pencils. This allows me to mind map (I love these!) or draw (I'm really bad at this) or add graffiti or doodle.
Finally, if I meet someone special, I might as them to write something in my journal - not a dedication or an autograph but a few words about their own world or thoughts.
Whatever notebook or pen I use, however I write, my travel journal is the one thing I never part with, either on the road or when I return home. And writing a travel journal is part of my every journey.
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