Why pack your journal?
Whether you’re more comfortable writing on lined paper or tapping away on a laptop, you should save space in your suitcase to continue the habit while on vacation, whether at the beach, in the mountains, or surrounded by a metropolis.
• Keeping a journal helps you remember travel experiences. Even if you don’t go back to find out the name of that abandoned abbey that made you feel connected to the universe, the act of writing about it will intensify and commemorate that feeling, instead of letting it be forgotten in the bustle of other daily events.
• Journaling regularly changes the pace of activity, giving you a break from a whirlwind of activity, or helping you focus your thoughts and feelings about an experience. If you’re the do-it-all type of traveler, you will be grateful for rest periods, on trains, in a cafe, where you can process all the stimuli of the new environment, leading to a deeper experience of the place. If you are a more free-spirited traveler, you will appreciate having a place to reflect on all the random and serendipitous adventures you are having.
• If you are traveling solo, keeping a journal also has a practical side: it gives you something to do while eating alone, and something to strike up a conversation about when you want to engage with other travelers or locals. If you are traveling in a group, the same can be true: you can carve out your own reflection time from the tours or meals together.
• Finally, journaling while traveling helps connect the ‘you’ of vacation to the ‘you’ of your stationary life. If you are working on changing the reality of your daily routine- for example, by changing jobs or recovering from a traumatic event, you may be tempted to completely divorce the experience of traveling and discovering a new place from your normal life. This could be a missed opportunity because there are many things you discover while on vacation that give you insights about yourself or the world, and incorporating these through personal journaling into your normal life could generate benefits for your happiness and satisfaction with life in general.
How do you keep a personal journal while traveling?
Great places to journal while traveling include:
• train, plane, or boat (in other words, in transit)
• restaurant or cafe
• air-conditioned mall’s food court
• train station or airport
• hotel room or breakfast room
• plazas/ piazzas/ squares
Mostly, live in the present. Continually take stock of where you’re at, how you’re feeling. This will help you to know when you should take a break from sightseeing, visiting, or museum-going, and write down what you feel about what you see, hear, smell, and taste. It will also help you to discover when you are done with being lazy by the pool and could really use a run or a dance party!
Listen to that inner voice that tells you what you need for happiness. Journaling daily helps us to listen, but so does personal journaling when we open ourselves to the world on our travels.
Back home, having trouble finding something to journal about? Download a free e-book on how to use personal journaling to cure writer’s block!