Travel journal: what to write and how to keep it
A travel journal does not need to be long or pretty. It needs to be yours and regular. Here is a simple template and questions so you never draw a blank.
Paper or app?
A paper notebook is lovely, you can decorate it with tickets and boarding passes and it needs no battery, but it can get lost and is hard to search. An app is always with you, brings text, photos and location together, is backed up and lets you see your trips on a map. Many travellers combine both: quick notes on the phone and a notebook for special trips.
Daily template (5 minutes)
- Date and place: where you slept and where you went.
- Best moment of the day: one sentence.
- What you ate: the dish and the place.
- A person: someone you met or a conversation.
- A detail: a sound, a smell, something that made you laugh.
- A photo: the one that best sums up the day.
Prompts so you never draw a blank
- What surprised you today, and why?
- What would you do differently if you lived this day again?
- What do you want to remember in ten years?
- What did this place teach you about the people who live here?
- Which place would you recommend to a friend?
Tips to keep it going
Write a little but every day, ideally at night or while travelling between places. Do not correct yourself or look for pretty sentences: spontaneity is what moves you later. If you skip a day, that is fine; pick it up the next day with what you remember.
After the trip
Reread the journal when you are back and add what was missing. Put your notes together with your best photos and the map of the places you went through: that way your journal becomes the full story of the trip.
Frequently asked questions
What do you write in a travel journal?
Date and place, the best moment of the day, what you ate, the people you met and a small detail you do not want to forget. Five minutes a day is enough.
What is the best travel journal app?
It depends on what you want. Some apps focus on tracking your route in real time and others on keeping the places you have visited. Turi is the second kind: it keeps each city with dates, notes and photos on a map.
How do I make a nice travel journal?
Mix short text, photos and physical keepsakes like tickets. What makes it special is keeping at it and the personal details, not the decoration.