thanks!

Pointsandtravel – Yes, I LOVE pictorial and creatively designed journals like Mary’s. Unfortunately I just don’t have an eye for it, and try as I may have done to keep unlined journals designed for both drawings and words, it doesn’t resonate as much for me. My journals continue to be relatively utilitarian, but still useful nonetheless – despite my also now owning an iPhone.

As for Gravtars – I believe this site is what I used: http://en.gravatar.com/

and what Luaay, how can add avatar to my post? I am signed up with my image, but usually nothing posts!

Hey Luaay – Awesome! Then keep your journals handy and write prolifically! 🙂

I used my notebooks for anything and everything: to keep my grocery and to-do lists, addresses and phone numbers of people I meet, directions, my thoughts and feelings, spur-of-the-moment poetry, short stories, story ideas, packing lists, doodles, etc. Very often, my writing of the day ended up as my blog posts that night.

When traveling in Europe, I used the pages at the back to write down every town or region suggested to me by people I met along the way and most of the time, I amended my itinerary consequently (and never regretted it!) When I arrived in Greece, I realized that very often, road signs (and maps) didn’t have a Greek translation so I found the Greek alphabet online and wrote it down in my notebood and studied it. I also jotted down any foreign language phrase that would be useful where I was at the time.

I love the idea of keeping stubs and stuff: I usually just threw them in an envelope or Ziploc and never looked at them again. An idea: how about glueing an envelope to the front or back cover to put stubs in? Scrapbooking them among your musings is also a very interesting idea.

As a mixed-media artist and writer, I’ve always kept detailed visual journals — and I am often on the move, so I’ve experimented quite a bit with the “perfect” journaling set-up for travel. It’s a not-so-mild obsession, I guess.

On my last trip, I tried an absolute minimalist approach: just some very small wire-bound notebooks (two to start out) which I supplemented as they filled up along the journey. I was going for extreme traveling light, but I write daily. I mailed my notebooks back to my po box in the u.s., along with whatever ephemera I collected: ticket stubs, etc.

Having a notebook to write in kept me company on a solo journey, and the tiny size made it very convenient to jot down logistics, addresses of new friends, and such.

I also did another form of portable journal: I sent myself a postcard from every city I visited. This became sort of a game for me, as I had to find out where to buy stamps and select a card that represented my mood or a memory in the moment. I made a quick journal entry and sent it off.

Stamp buying tip if you’re in Paris: The underground mall in the Louvre has a post office open 7 days a week (!) with very beautiful stamped envelopes, a huge selection of pretty stamps, flat-rate mailing boxes to send home stuff. I collected a lot of paper in Paris…so this was brilliant!

I’m a always on the computer for work stuff, so I am a firm believer in going analog to give our creativity a place to stretch out and just scribble on the fly. Plus, like you and others mentioned: it’s not a target for theft. Although I consider my journals almost more valuable to me than a passport: which can be replaced.

I do hope you’ll share more about other gear you travel with (or not). It’s a great topic.

cheers!

@Lisa – I still tend to do most of my chronicling on my computer itself, but that’s because I always have it with me and am posting updates regularly…as a full-time traveler it’s kind of a necessity. But I love your idea of mailing the journals back to yourself to review when you get back….in addition to the postcards, which are fabulous!