Journaling is something I personally saw other travelers doing, while I was in Mexico, Belize, Bali.. I kept seeing people curled up in their hostel beds, scribbling away in their notebooks, at the end of a long day of adventures. This was new to me, (I mean, since keeping a diary of which boy bands were cute and which girl bands I loved at age 12!). But yes, this was yet another thing I was set to learn from travelling solo – just how valuable journaling can be throughout a trip, not just for documenting memories but for a peaceful mindset and even strengthening my own writing skills.
Even if you’re already a blogging pro or journal addict I encourage you to have a scroll through our tips, to ensure that your awesome, empowered, bold experiences are remembered and cherished forever.
1. Write Daily Notes, but don't wait too long to complete it.
When we are experiencing these epic moments, doesn’t it always feel like we could never ever forget them?! Like every detail will be etched into our minds forever perfectly? Unfortunately, the reality is, we are human beings and forgetting details and even super emotional reactions or feelings is something we all do.
Whether you are writing a blog, journal, or both – our top tip is to try to do it on a daily basis. Make it a part of your daily routine, perhaps every morning before breakfast or each evening, sit down and write about the events of the day.
If you don’t have time to fully complete it every day, at least jot down bullet points of the highlights, but not just the activities, but also keywords of how you felt – just enough notes to help you remember specifics later.
2. Be descriptive, you'll thank yourself later
If part of your blogging or journaling is to share your experiences with others or perhaps even turn it into a book later – remember, no one wants to hear a flat, dry record of what you did every day.
A list will never conjure up the detail or realness of what you experienced. In order to make it more palatable to other readers, or even for yourself at a later date, think along the lines of ‘diary’ rather than ‘schedule’.
Include a little of everything, but be sure to spice up your account by including your genuine thoughts, opinions, humour, things that went wrong and generally, the realness of a place!
3. Include photos... ummm obvs!
I mean its the era of social media, do we really need to say it?! But let us not forget – that a picture speaks a thousand words. No travel journal or blog is complete without photos. Try to include at least a few pics from every day, and more if the day was full of new experiences. From my own experience I can sometimes take SO many photos that at the end of a trip, it’s almost too overwhelming to even look through them all and find the ones which are ‘worth it’.
So this is the ideal way to make this more manageable. Again at the end of each day when you’re making your notes, and scribbling in your journal, take a moment to work through your camera album and ‘favourite’ say 10 pics from the day. You could even make an album ‘DAY 1’ for example. Also side note – you know that feeling where you’re somewhere awesome and you want a selfie or photo but you feel so embarrassed or awkward about doing this with people around?!
Well trust me, when you’re home / old / somewhere else telling the story, you’re never going to regret taking that photo. You may well regret not taking it. So squash those awk feelings and embrace being the empowered creative traveller that you are and snap that shot, sister!
4. And keepsakes...
One thing I love to do, as a long-term traveler because I don’t have much space for buying lots of stuff along the way, is to keep hold of the small things. Stuff like air plane tickets, postcards from the small villages I stay in, cards from the restaurant I ate at and tickets to the museums I explored. If you’re making a journal by hand, saving things like this can add such a happy touch to your memories. If you are doing it as a digital blog, take photos of these keepsakes in order to post them online. But of course – safety first ladies, don’t post anything that includes personal information, of course!
5. But don't let documenting take-over...
As much as you want to remember your trip forever, and to share your travels with friends and family, remember the purpose of your trip. Don’t get soooo caught up in your blog that it becomes the sole focus, or an obligation that brings you stress or means you miss out on doing ‘the stuff’ that you want to write about! Try not to sit on your computer while the country you are visiting sits waiting for you to explore it!
There will be plenty of quiet or even dull moments to write, blog and create an account of your travels. Solo travel is the adventure of a lifetime and one you will want to remember forever. Keeping a record of it through blogging or journaling as you go, takes it with you beyond your travel dates.
Your friends and family will also relish this chance to get a taste of what you experienced while traveling alone. Enjoy your travels, and then record it so the experience can continue to bring joy to you and others always.
PIN IT FOR LATER!
