4 Reasons You Need to Keep a Travel Journal

 

Before I went on exchange to Copenhagen, Denmark, I made a pact with myself to bring a journal and write in it regularly. This is much easier said than done. Only about a quarter of the book was filled by the time my exchange was 2/3 over so I began to really pick up the pace and jot down everything I thought about; I made lists about my favourite experiences, coffee shops, even grocery stores!

I have been home for over 6 months now and I can honestly say that keeping a journal of my time was one of the best things I could have done. There are so many benefits to keeping a travel journal and I am so happy with myself that I kept up with it even when I didn’t feel like it. Below I’m sharing 4 reasons why you should keep a travel journal while abroad, whether that be on an exchange semester, or simply on your travels.

4 Reasons You Need to Keep a Travel Journal

1. to ensure you remember the little things

You will always remember your time abroad, but you’ll probably look back and remember the places you went and the people you were with, without remembering how you felt in that moment, or the funny thing that happened that day. By taking a little time every day or few days, you enable your future self to remember all the amazing moments that came from your travels. I can’t begin to describe just how many things that I would have completely forgotten had I not written them down in my travel journal!

2. to have a timeline

Other than the time stamps on my photos, there is no way I would remember the order of my experiences and even so, many of the dates on my photos are wrong because I took the photo from Facebook or it was sent to me months later. My travel journal has a concrete timeline of my experiences abroad which has made a few things much easier. It has allowed me a solid way to document my photos in albums, remember weather in different places for future trips, and even remember some birthdays I’ve forgotten (oops!).

3. to have an outlet

Sometimes you need a place to write your feelings down and get them out of your head. You’re away from all the comforts of your life including your friends and family who are probably in a much different time zone than you, that it helps to have somewhere to vent. Travel is about the experiences you make, whether they evoke bad or good feelings in the moment.

4. to have everything in one place

I noticed that whenever there was something I wanted to know about Copenhagen such as my favourite shops, areas or museums, my travel journal never failed to have all the info I needed. I refer to it when I tell other people what to do in my favourite city now that I’m home and I used it while I was there to remember what places were called or when the last time I went was. It has everything to do with my time abroad, so I know that if there’s something I forget now, it will be in there.

There are so many little things that happened while abroad that I wouldn’t have remembered if I hadn’t written them down. Things that looking back now make my heart happy. Little things people said to you or did, or little experiences that seemed menial at the time; looking back at these entries now brings me back into that moment and lets me feel just as happy as I remember being then. I linked a few of my favourite journals down below (this is the one I used), but really anything will do: a document on your computer, your daily planner, or a journal, all are great places to write about your time abroad!

xx Victoria