![The template open in Strokes: a banner picture of a small train crossing a stone viaduct over a river valley, a hilltop village beyond, above the title “Travel journal: [Trip name]”.](/_next/image?url=%2F_next%2Fstatic%2Fmedia%2Fhero-light.885d699f.webp&w=3840&q=75)
![The template open in Strokes: a banner picture of a small train crossing a stone viaduct over a river valley, a hilltop village beyond, above the title “Travel journal: [Trip name]”.](/_next/image?url=%2F_next%2Fstatic%2Fmedia%2Fhero-dark.428cb0e4.webp&w=3840&q=75)
When to use it
- A trip of any length, from a long weekend to months on the road
- Writers collecting material for a travel essay, a memoir chapter or a book
- Keeping the route, bookings and spending of a group trip in one place
- Study abroad or a gap year, with a short entry for each day
- A printed paper journal, with one copy of the day page for each day
How to use this template
- Fill in the trip details before you leave
Dates, route and companions take two minutes. The line that matters is Before I go: what you expect, what worries you, the one thing you most want to see. Write it at home, while you still don't know. On the last day you'll set it beside what happened, and the gap between the two is often the most interesting thing in the journal.
- Jot during the day, write the entry at night
Nobody writes paragraphs at a café table while the light is good. Keep a running note on your phone instead: a name, a price, a phrase someone said, the number of a photo. In the evening, or over breakfast, copy the day section and turn the notes into an entry. Fifteen minutes is plenty. Don't let the gap grow past two days, or the details of one day leak into the next.
- Log money the day you spend it
Write each amount in the currency you paid, with a category. For cash, convert at the rate you got when you withdrew or exchanged it. For cards, fill in the home column later from your statement, which shows what the bank actually charged. At the end, the daily tables add up to the Expenses summary in a few minutes.
- Close the journal before you're home
On the last day or the trip back, fill in Places, People, the expense totals and the Last day questions, after rereading Before I go. Once you're home, laundry and email take over and the answers get vaguer.
What each section is for
Each part of the template answers a question someone will ask you later, usually you. That decides when to fill it in.
| Section | Fill it in | Answers later |
|---|---|---|
| SectionThe trip | Fill it inBefore you leave | Answers laterWhy did we go, and what did we expect? |
| SectionRoute and stays | Fill it inWhile booking | Answers laterWhere were we on the 14th, and how did we get there? |
| SectionDay sections | Fill it inEach evening | Answers laterWhat actually happened on Thursday? |
| SectionPlaces | Fill it inThe day you go | Answers laterWhat was that café called? |
| SectionPeople I met | Fill it inThe day you meet them | Answers laterWhat was the guide's name? |
| SectionExpenses | Fill it inDaily, totaled at the end | Answers laterWhat did the trip cost, and where did it go? |
| SectionLast day | Fill it inBefore you get home | Answers laterWas it worth it, and what's the story? |
Names are the first thing to fade, so write them the day you hear them. In the people table, ask before you note a phone number or a handle, and if you might publish from the journal one day, mark who would mind being named. For money, keep the six categories fixed for the whole trip. Totals only mean something when Tuesday's food and Friday's food land in the same row. If keeping a journal at all is new to you, our guide on how to start journaling covers the habits that keep one going.
What to write in a daily entry
Photos keep what a place looked like. They lose almost everything else: the name of the woman who ran the guesthouse, what the soup cost, the joke the guide told twice, why you missed the bus. The day section is built to catch that. The day in brief is the record, a few plain sentences in order. One scene is the writing: a single moment told in full, with what you saw, heard, smelled and tasted, and what someone said in their own words. On a night when you only have energy for one, write the scene.
Specific: worth rereading
- Rui at the guesthouse drew the route to the market on a napkin
- Rain until three, then we crossed the bridge on foot
- Pork sandwich and green soup, €14 for two, cash only
Generic: could be any trip
- Amazing day, so much to see
- The food was incredible
- Met so many lovely people
Day 4 — Thursday, May 14 — Porto
- Weather: rain until three, then sun and wind off the river.
- Route today: guesthouse → market → across the bridge → back up the hill on foot.
- Mood: slow morning, good afternoon.
The day in brief. Slept until nine. Rui, who runs the guesthouse, drew us a route to the market on a napkin. Lunch at a counter behind it. Crossed the bridge when the rain stopped and spent the afternoon on the far bank. Walked back up the hill and regretted it.
One scene. The man at the counter put two plates down before we had ordered, as if we were late for a standing reservation. When I thanked him, "obrigado," he wagged a finger, pointed at me and said, "Obrigada." A woman says it with an a. I had been getting it wrong for four days, and he was the first person to tell me.
- Learned: obrigada if you're a woman, obrigado if you're a man.
- Photos: IMG_2207–2231, the river from the bridge around six.
- Tomorrow: train north at 10:40. Buy bread first.
- Spent: lunch €14 (cash), postcards and stamps €6.50 (card).
Notice what the scene leaves out: the view, the history of the district, the word "charming". A moment with a person in it, told plainly, will bring the rest of the day back. That is show, don't tell applied to your own life, and it is the habit that makes a journal worth rereading.
From journal to travel essay
Many travel books began as notebooks. Robert Louis Stevenson walked across the Cévennes in southern France with a donkey for twelve days in the fall of 1878, kept a journal on the way, and published Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes the next year. In the book he admits that one day it was two in the afternoon before he had his journal written up and could set out. In another chapter he is trying to write it on his knee when the eldest daughter of the house lets down a hinged table for him in the chimney corner.
A journal also keeps what you believed at the time, even when it was wrong. On November 7, 1805, William Clark of the Lewis and Clark expedition wrote, "Great joy in camp we are in View of the Ocian." The editors of the expedition's journals note that the party was looking at the Columbia River estuary, not the ocean. So don't correct old entries. Add a dated note underneath. The distance between what you thought and what was true is often where an essay starts.
When you get home, read the journal straight through once and mark three things: the scenes you'd read aloud to someone, any detail that keeps coming back (the same dog outside every café, a word you couldn't pronounce), and the day your view of the trip changed. A recurring detail can become a motif. A single strong scene can stand on its own as a short vignette. A longer piece needs a question the trip answered. For shapes that work, read these narrative essay examples.
Frequently asked questions
What should I write in a travel journal?
The date, where you are and how you got there. A few sentences on what you did, then one moment told in full detail. The people you met and what they said, and what you ate and spent. The full moment matters most, because photos keep what a place looked like but not what happened there.
How do I keep a travel journal when I'm exhausted?
Set a minimum you can manage half asleep: the date, the place, one sentence about the best moment, one name and the day's spending. Five lines are enough to rebuild the day from. Write the full entry within two days, before one day blurs into the next.
Should I keep a travel journal on paper or on a laptop?
Paper suits people who sketch and tape in tickets, and it needs no battery or signal. A document is searchable, holds photos and is easy to back up. You can combine them: print the Word version of this template, fill it in by hand, and type up the best scenes when you're home.
How long should a travel journal entry be?
There is no rule. The day in brief can be three sentences and the logs are short lists, so most of your words should go to the one scene. A long entry on a good day and five lines on a travel day is a normal rhythm.
