Road-Tested Journaling Exercises: How to Keep a Travel Journal
Posted by Mari L. McCarthy on Tue, May 10, 2011 @ 09:16 AM
Traveling is one of the best antidotes to writer’s block. Whether you are heading to a faraway, exotic land or to the next town over, a change of scenery can be just what you need to kickstart new ideas and get you scribbling furiously in your journal.
Keeping a travel journal is just as easy as maintaining your regular journaling exercises: all you need is a notebook, a pen and a little inspiration. Customize your writing practice so journaling becomes an enjoyable part of your vacation experience and not an annoyance or obligation. You can spend hours writing on a long plane, train or ferry ride or jot down a few quick morning thoughts as you soak in some rays at the beach.
Pack-and-Go Travel Journaling Exercises
1. Watch and write.
One of the simplest ways to get the words flowing in your travel journal is to write what you see. Go to a place that interests you – whether it’s a crowded café, a scenic park, or an awe-inspiring museum—and observe what is going on around you. What are the people doing or saying? Are they speaking a foreign language? Are there local customs that are different from those in your hometown? What sounds, smells and tastes are you taking in? Focus on the observations you find most intriguing and describe them in detail.
2. Make a list.
Don’t feel that you have to write pages and pages in your travel journal about every place you visited and every person you encountered. Keep it short and sweet with creative list-making journaling exercises. Record the top five meals you’ve eaten, the activities you are most looking forward to doing or the most unusual fashion statements you’ve seen.
3. Let it all out.
Sometimes your vacation doesn’t go exactly as planned. Maybe the airline lost your luggage or left you stranded halfway to your destination. Maybe the cute little bed and breakfast you booked had not-so-cute bedbugs. Channel your frustration and other negative emotions into writing material for your travel journal. If you give it enough time, it will be a funny story someday.
4. Cut and paste.
Save yourself the trouble of sorting through ticket stubs, postcards, boarding passes and other mementos from your trip when you get back home. Bring a small pair of scissors and a glue stick, and simply paste your souvenirs in your travel journal as an ongoing collage (and use your new art as a journaling prompt).
Do you keep a journal while you’re traveling? What journaling exercises do you enjoy the most? Please share your ideas and experiences.