Travel Journaling is a very personal experience; it’s all about logging your own thoughts and feelings for posterity, whether it’s for the public, for your children, or for yourself. Because of this, it’s a very personal style which you will be writing, but sometimes it can be helpful to break out of your comfort zone and spice things up a bit. There is nothing inherently wrong about listing all the things you did and your thoughts on the matter. But trust me; future you will thank you for taking the time to spice things up and make re-reading your tales interesting and a memorable experience in-and-of-itself. So here are four things you can do to spice your next travel journal up.
Wordsmith
Wordsmithing is defined as the ability to craft entertaining things to read. But Wordsmithing, like any smithing, takes practice and skill. Spice up your descriptions by trying to make a puzzle out of it; what’s the most unique, non-cliche metaphor you can use to explain how good that sushi was? What’s the most powerful adjective you can think of to describe the spray of the sea on your face? Make it a game; make it your craft!
Snapshot Pages
Take a break from the day-to-day journaling and just pick a place to sit quietly and just write about what you see. Jot down some thoughts about what you smell, what you taste, what you hear. Try and fill an entire page with musings and ramblings about a single moment in time so that you can look back on that snapshot as if you were sitting there all over again.
Doodle
Take a break from the day-to-day journaling and just pick a place to sit quietly and just write about what you see. Jot down some thoughts about what you smell, what you taste, what you hear. Try and fill an entire page with musings and ramblings about a single moment in time so that you can look back on that snapshot as if you were sitting there all over again.
Write a Friend
One way to jazz things up is to write as if you are writing to someone specific. It can sometimes feel impersonal when you’re writing “Dear Journal” or “Dear Diary”. Perhaps try writing “Dear Sam,” or even write to an older, wiser you. You’ll be surprised how something as simple as that can change the entire way you write something!
Journaling can sometimes seem daunting, but adding these four items into the mix can help ramp up your creativity and make journaling FUN again.
