Travel journal

^{7 minutes read- grab an ice cream or a cold drink and join me;)}
Most of us take days off for a vacation in the summer. I understand not everybody is that lucky but luckily, the majority is:). Most of us spend at least part of those days somewhere else – at least here in Europe, that’s almost a mandate. Actually, I don’t know if I know anybody who doesn’t. That doesn’t mean we necessarily travel to exotic places (although some do) but we usually at least move towns for a week or two – as a rule of thumbs souther, closer to the sea or to the mountains with lakes – the Alps in our case;).

This lake is from my bullet journal not my travel journal but it just seemed appropriate – a lake in the Alps where many people spend their holidays…

Our politics, cultural climate and the fact that a suitable body of water is relatively close no matter where you live all contribute, I think. In our little country we even have a law that mandates us to take at least two week-long vacation – isn’t that awesome?:) I am not so familiar with America’s holiday habits (or laws for that matter) but as far as I can tell, you guys travel to see family a lot because you often live miles apart (unlike here, where 30% of people live in the same house with their parents in adulthood and much more when they are young adults! Maybe that’s why they can afford vacation :D.)

Vacations – my favourite time – I don’t care that much if I have to work while I’m here – I am just happy to be here – no need to explain I guess 🙂

I do hope you get to experience a little bit of novelty or just a break from your daily routine – however, you like it – in the mountains, in the forest, wandering the scenes of old towns, laying on wonderful beaches or bungee jumping – whatever you love. When you do, make sure to document it somehow – photos and videos are very practical but sometimes they can take away from the magic of the moment when you grab your phone or camera at that special moment when you’re all in the flow. It can feel like you’ve disturbed something beautiful. Or you simply don’t remember to grab for electronics when you’re enjoying good company doing something you love:) That happens to me a lot! That is why I don’t have that many pictures of the things we enjoy the most.

We spend our summers on the little island with very expensive food (and limited selection) – so we drag it along… This is not a comic exaggeration – this is exactly how my alpha man came from the boat… So I drew him all loaded in my travel journal later that day – because in the moment he came, I definitely wanted to help him, not take a picture of him;).

Luckily, there’s a workaround – like you are probably already used to here: there is always a but – but there is always a solution as well;). You don’t have to touch your electronic devices to preserve your memories and record your days. Let me introduce you to the almighty travel journal. That is a sketchbook or an art journal (usually small, for practical reasons) where you draw and write about your travels and holidays. Pretty cool, right?

A page from my last year’s travel journal about a little trip (by foot) we take every year on this little island – at that time with our guests – one of them is an ornithologist (can you guess which one he is in the picture? :D)

Unlike photos that have to be taken in real-time, an art journal page can emerge later that day or even after the vacation if your memories are fresh enough. Reference photos sometimes help – if you took any;). Some of us are not so sure about the construction of ferries, lighthouses etc… 😉 But to tell you the truth, I almost never take them – that’s why I prefer to draw when everything is still fresh or as I go when I can look at some things in real life. But if you want realism, references are your friends, it’s easier to draw from a photo. On the rare occasion, I did so, it shows that the proportions are more accurate – but I’m not sure those are my favourite sketches, though.
The less perfect are usually livelier and more meaningful – because when you think about what you will draw down then you really think about your day and extract the most meaningful event. And that’s one of the reasons that travel journals preserve memories better than photos – they filter out the unnecessary clutter and focus on the important details – those that were meaningful to you.

You don’t have to finish the whole page in one sitting – sketch once, then add ink when you get another 10 minutes and colour when you get to it.

I realize it can be a bit hard to find time to do the whole page at once – so I tend to sketch a few key moments, scribble down a word or two that I don’t want to forget and do the inking, writing and colouring another time if needed. You don’t have to do it all at once! Yes, it can happen that you never get to finish them or that they will wait for a long time for their chance to shine – I still have some pages in my last year’s journal that need to be coloured and many in this year’s that lack inking, text and colour! That’s ok! I am not Picasso (and I’m sure he had some unfinished stuff, too;). I do this to record our memories, not to sell. I don’t need to finish everything. Even the bare sketches envoke memories in me (they wouldn’t in others – I sketch very loosely, nobody knows what I’ve scribbled;). But some pages will get finished and it’s worth it for those;).

Here’s a simple idea about what to sketch: food ate, what you did, who you talked to… More on that to come;)

If challenges motivate you, you can join world watercolour month or just give yourself the challenge to finish a page every day, every other day, every week,…
But what to draw and write about? I’ll show you a flip-through of my last year’s travel journal tomorrow and give you a list of ideas on Sunday not to make this post too long, I’m wordy enough as it is;)