• 03/14/2022

8 Benefits of Keeping a Travel Journal

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Traveling is a thrilling hobby. You can spontaneously leave for a weekend getaway or plan a month-long retreat that lets you dive into a new culture. No matter where you go or what you experience, keeping a travel journal is an excellent way to start a new hobby without disrupting your travel schedule. Check out the many benefits that you’ll get by writing about your experiences and your upcoming plans.

1. Save Every Tiny Memory

After coming home from a vacation, you’ll likely remember the greatest highlights or worst moments. It’s more challenging to remember the more minor details that made you smile. Journals provide a safe place to record different types of memories, like those that involve your senses. You may look back more fondly on a trip when reminiscing about the welcoming aroma in your rental home or the exact flavors in the wonderful food you tried.

2. Release Your Travel Stress

Even if you love taking trips, you may experience travel stress. It’s a type of anxiety that can settle in while planning a vacation or moving through an airport. This common stress shouldn’t ruin your big plans, so journal about your thoughts and feelings. You’ll release them onto each page and walk away with a lighter heart. It’s an excellent addition to taking care of your mental health because it compliments stress-relief resources like crystals or herbal teas.

3. Daydream About Future Travels

Travel ideas come and go, so you might think of a great idea while driving home from town and forget it before pulling into your driveway. Your travel journal can fit in your car or purse so it’s ready to save your daydreams whenever they occur. You can always look back on your list of ideas and potentially plan a getaway that you wouldn’t have thought about otherwise.

4. Learn What You Love

Write all about your travels while they happen or after you get home. Each entry will record examples of things you specifically loved about a region, city or activity. You’ll remember why you enjoyed each part of your vacation and learn more about your interests.

Instead of thinking about a restaurant that positively impacted you, you can write about the exact meals or ingredients that captured your heart. You’ll know exactly what to look for during your next travel opportunity to have that experience again. It makes it much easier to plan future vacations that guarantee more fun.

5. Figure Out What’s Missing

Sometimes people finish a vacation and feel like they missed out on an opportunity. Maybe you skipped part of a theme park or passed on a local restaurant. Instead of wondering why the trip wasn’t very fulfilling, your journal entries can log what you want to do next time. You can also use new entries to match activities to your personality type if you use tools like enneagrams to dive deeper into your likes and dislikes.

6. Record Your Latest Trips

You might love traveling because each vacation is a new experience. If you don’t care to visit the same places twice, your travel journal can become an invaluable resource. You’ll never have to worry about accidentally revisiting cities or tourist destinations because you can check your journal before booking flights or hotel rooms. 

7. Reflect on Travel Details

Other details about your trips could make vacationing easier. You can write about how much a trip cost and if you want to return there someday. Record what you packed in your travel bag if you’re trying a new minimalist packing style and forgot something last time.

Use the details to prevent forgotten personal items during your next trip or save money. You could also reflect on entries to write stories based on your experiences or tell your friends about why you loved a particular vacation.

8. Save Vacation Mementos

Journals aren’t just places to record your memories. You can also save mementos in them. Keep your concert tickets and postcards during your next vacation. If something’s flat and relatively small, tape it inside your journal while writing about the corresponding travel experience.

Many people take polaroid photos for their journals so there’s a physical copy of their memory saved in each entry. Think about what you might want to tape on each page. Find a journal that’s big enough to keep everything and your entries will become tangible.

Start a Travel Journal Today

It’s exhilarating to experience something new, but memories fade with time. Keeping a travel journal creates a permanent way to save your favorite memories from each vacation. Write about things before, during or after they happen to learn about yourself. You’ll tailor future trips to your unique interests and have a physical copy of your best vacations.

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