“Then something Tookish woke up inside him, and he wished to go and see the great mountains, and hear the pine-trees and the waterfalls, and explore the caves, and wear a sword instead of a walking-stick.” – The Hobbit
Who amongst us hasn’t wished for a trip to some far off land at least once in their lives?
The best trips continue long after we’ve returned home: in memory, in the stories we tell, and in the ways we reorient our lives. But how do you catch in words the light above the Pacific, an evening with new friends at a fantastic pub, or the way the Hawaiian morning sun feels on your skin? How do we turn sights into lasting insights and use the landscape around us to unlock the treasures within? By keeping a travel journal, we can deepen our experiences and increase present-moment awareness. Journaling and collaging can help us become our truest selves.
You do not need to be a writer or an artist to make a meaningful collection of thoughts, memories and ticket stubs into a treasured keepsake you’ll enjoy for many many years.
On our Quests, we will use our experiences, periods of silence, exercises, and spirited discussions to explore how to catch the smells of native flowers, the spaciousness of the dramatic landscape, and how to give life to the way they make you feel. We will make an intimate exploration of your inner and outer worlds through the lens of travel journaling and collaging.
You don’t need me to make one for yourself, however!
If travel is recorded vividly and searchingly, it can be a way of waking up the senses and bringing us back to our deepest home. Invoking our inner Bilbo Baggins, you can discover how every trip can be a kind of transport and how writing about your travels can be the first step toward transformation.
What do you need? Mostly things you already have plus a few additions.
~A notebook. I like a spiral bound medium sized one.
~Your favorite pens.I love rollerball pens because they write without a drag on my hand. You can get a few different colors if you like!
~Glue sticks. They travel better!
~Scissors.
~Little watercolor case. Look for The Winsor & Newton Pocket Box set – about $15.00.
~Markers of beautiful colors.
I like to include a map of some kind for the front pages of my journal. Something that shows where I am.
Some topics to get you started:
Why did you pick this destination, retreat, adventure?
What are you looking forward to the most?
Are you overcoming anything to be there?
What are the unknowns and how can you prepare your mindset?
Do you have any personal goals?
What are your intentions for the overall journey?
I mentioned collaging. What we will do is collect cool little random things that will help you bring back the memory of the event, meal or place. Write down what you did, where you were, who you met, how you felt and what you saw, smelled, tasted and add something to it like the train ticket, or matchbook cover from the restaurant.
Some ideas to help you:
- Matchbooks and Napkins with a logo from a memorable place.
- Postcards- awesome because they are usually the best photo in light that is hard to get, or location. I love retro ones.
- Travel tickets (plane, train, bus & metro)
- Itinerary!
- Photographs, cut from magazines or brochures
- Tourist maps & brochures
- Paper bags w cool labels
- Flat sea shells & sea glass, press leaves & flowers & herbs
- Sand from the beach (place in a small plastic or glassine bag)
- Candy wrappers, amusing or unusual food wrappers or labels
- Business cards from people, or places you want to remember
- Museum, art gallery, movie & theatre tickets
- Menus from restaurants and cafes
- Flattened bottle caps
- Luggage tags and stickers
- Drawing, doodle or sketch you do when somewhere, or that someone else does!
- Wine bottle label
- Money (small coins and denominations of foreign currency)
- Rubbings of interesting textures (graves, paving stones & metal grates)
- Receipts
- Tags from clothes & souvenirs
- Coasters & beer mats
- Find random objects of specific colors and group them together on a page
- Smudging the bottom of your drinking glass with a candle and press on the paper to remember a cup of tea or glass of wine.
- I have flattened pennies and local coins in those tourist machines
- Maps
- Stamps
More ideas:
- Make a list of all foods tried at restaurants (I sometimes go back home and find recipes and cook for the whole family so they get a taste),
- Pictures of all the food
- You can pick up a postcard for each day in a place you are staying and write a journal entry on the back, string them together at the end and voila!
- I pick up small rocks I think are pretty. I keep them in cool glass jars.
- Another thing I collect is recipes. It’s cool to share and swap recipes, along with stories!
- You can cover the pages with folded maps. When opened, put photos with arrows to the place where they were taken, plus a little info. Also ticket stubs, etc., anything small enough to fit.
- Don’t be too concerned about how it all goes together! Be free with it!
On my Quests, I am scheduling in reflective time for journaling, and we spend time together as a group putting together small collages. You might not have time. You can bring a mini notebook with you during the day an make some notes. Use your phone! Take photos of signs and markers to help you remember. That way even if you run out of writing time, you can catch up later and still remember the day! If you know you want to journal later, it helps you to actually find cool things to put in your journal and make it even more remarkable and transformative.
Daily Journal Notes– keep some notes about every day and fill in later.
Dates
- Today’s day and date.
- If you want to, you can also add the time to your journal notes, or any time differences from traveling (i.e. the time at home).
- How do you feel about the date? Is there a special event happening?
Spiritual
- What are you grateful for today?
- Did you have any dreams? Be sure to write them down! They might mean something more to you later.
- What’s your spiritual and personal growth feeling like today?
- How connected do you feel?
- What is today’s intention?
- Are you trying anything today? Asking for something? Guidance, a sign?
- Any random acts of kindness?
Weather
- How was the weather today?
- What does it smell like today?
- How does the air feel?
- Does the weather make things look differently today?
- Is the weather affecting you at all? Do you notice en emotion?
Location
- Where are you?
- If you want to, you could also add the GPS coordinates. Take a picture of anything that will help you identify the place.
- Note interesting markers, flags, buildings or land features.
- Note historical elements, happenings and how you feel about it.
- Is there something unusual such as language, accent, dress, occupation for today?
- What is your inner impression?
Itinerary
- What is the name of the place you stayed at? How many stars ( or wands) would you give it?
- What are the names of the restaurants, cafes, or bars you visited today that are worth remembering?
- What local attractions did you visit or see today?
- Did you do any traveling today? Add your starting destination and your final destination to your journal notes, as well as approximate travel time. How is the pace going for you?
Thoughts
- Who are you traveling with today?
- Write down some stories of the important things that happened today.
- What did you and your traveling partners talk about today?
- \What did you overhear people talking about?
- Did you meet some new people?
- Best food today? Worst!
- Funny story, unusual happening?
- What was a win today?
- How would you like to make tomorrow better?
As you adventure forth, you can pour your thoughts concerns and worries into a page, and then be refreshed for expanding into possibilities. Writing things down has a kind of alchemy. All students of magic know this! There was a reason Bilbo felt the need to share his story. I beg you, don’t worry about being a master wordsmith. Just play with ideas, and use found objects to help tell your tale. I have found relief in collaging that then opens me up for being able to write a bit more than I thought!
Some places in my journals are little more than annotations for the collage. Then in other places I have been moved to share a story or a dream or a new series of thoughts. This is for YOU after all. And if you give this a try, you’ll find that you change a bit. Maybe a lot. The act of honoring your journey brings magic forth. Taking some time for think about your day, your adventure, help to deepen it’s meaning into your heart. And it’s most likely not the meaning you thought it would be but something you needed even more!
“There are no safe paths in this part of the world. Remember you are over the Edge of the Wild now, and in for all sorts of fun wherever you go.”- The Hobbit
