Does your family take a vacation or trip every year? During every vacation, you and your family make special memories (good and bad, funny and frustrating). The whole family usually looks forward to an annual family trip and loves to remember the great stories and great memories from years past.
Note: I would like to thank Promptly Journals for providing this Travel Journal for review. This post features the Promptly travel journal. All opinions here are my own. If you purchase a Promptly Journal, I will receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. Read my full disclosure policy here.
Growing up, we didn’t go on many family vacations. But, I remember one summer right after I had graduated college and before my sisters started college, we went on a family vacation to my dad’s home state/town in Wisconsin.
On the way, we stopped in Chicago for one night (because I loved big cities). I remember my sisters and I got our own hotel room (it was adjoining with our parents, but it still felt cool to have our own room). We also stopped in Memphis on the way home to go to Graceland because I loved Elvis.
As we plan family vacations now, we frequently mention this vacation. How all five of us were cramped into a small Saturn. When we tell the story, we say we must have looked like the clowns at the circus getting out of the tiny car – yes, the car was that small.
These are great memories!
Last summer my parents, my sisters and brothers-in-law, nephews, me and my kids all went on a family vacation to the Georgia mountains. It was so much fun. Every night I would journal about the activities and stories of the day. I can re-read those pages and remember our vacation.
The best way to save your vacation memories is with a travel journal.
Tips for Keeping a Travel Journal
Write your memories daily
The best way to capture your travel memories is to write them daily in a travel diary. When you write your travel activities each day, you are best able to capture all the details of each day and each place. If you try to summarize after you get home, you will likely forget important details.
Save receipts and tickets
Ticket stubs and receipts make great souvenirs of the places you have been and the things you did. I love saving ticket stubs and receipts in my travel journal.
These small papers make great memories. You can also take them out from several trips and make a collage board or take a big picture.
Include the small details
Your best memories will be in the details. As you write your journal, be sure to take time to write all the details. Write about the weather, was it sunny or rainy, was it hot or cold? Write about what you saw and describe the colors vividly so when you read this journal in 10 years you can still see the images in your memory.
Write like you are telling a story to a friend
When I write in my journals, I love to have a conversational tone, like I’m writing to a friend. As you describe your travel adventures, write them like a story.
Add your favorite pictures
After you get home, add a few pictures to your journal. I always like to include my favorite pictures from the trip in my travel journal.
Review of the Promptly Travel Journal
The Promptly Travel Journal is one of the best travel journals I’ve found. It is a beautiful, hard bound guided journal to help you record and remember your travel experiences. It’s also small (about 5″X8″) and lightweight so it’s easy to carry in your travel bags.
The Promptly travel journal is designed in 13 chapters so you can tell your travel story one adventure at a time. Each Promptly Travel journal records your memories from one trip.
The chapters include:
- Planning
- Trip Itinerary
- Experiences (divided into chapters as memorable moments, highlights, transportation, accommodations, food and mishaps)
- Travel companions
- Travel mementos & photos
- Takeaways
I love how this journal guides you with prompts that will help you include all the details from your trip in a travel diary format.
As you write your way through this journal, it’s divided in the sections noted above.
You start with planning your trip (how long, what inspired this trip). Share why you chose this trip and how you planned it.
Next, you have the itinerary section allows you to briefly describe each day of your trip up to 30 days of travel.
After the itinerary, you’ll write about your memorable moments, you can write about your favorite memories. You will be asked questions like, “Where were you when this experience happened?” and “Why was the moment unique?” You can highlight 5 of your favorite travel memories.
You can also share highlights of your trip. In this section, you pick the “best of”. Some of the prompts include “favorite sights”, “memorable people”, “favorite shops” and more. Don’t forget to add a few pictures here from the breathtaking views.
You also have sections for transportation (how did you get from place to place) and accommodations – where did you stay and what did you think about it. A section for pictures is also included here.
Next, you can write about the food from your travels. You can write about the venues, what you ordered, and if you liked it. There’s a photo section here, too. Who doesn’t love a good food picture?
Every trip has a mishap or funny moment. This journal as a special section for these funny and unforgettable moments that make your journey memorable.
You definitely want to remember who you traveled with. Share all about your travel companions in the travel companion section.
Next, you can add in your mementos and ticket stubs from all the things you did. Then, you have more pages for photos.
The journal closes with cultural observations and takeaways. The last few pages of the journal are blank pages to include anything else you want to remember about this trip.
After you complete the Promptly travel journal, you will have a complete of account of your trip and will be able to read it and remember all the amazing memories.
This travel journal is perfect for all your travel memories including annual summer vacation, a bucket list trip, and the trip you have dreamed of taking all your life. Each time you read this travel journal, you will be ready to plan your next trip.
Grab your Promptly Travel journal here. Be sure to check out the many other guided journals offered by Promptly.
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