When it comes to keeping a travel journal, I always have the greatest of intentions. Unfortunately, what starts off with a bang usually ends in a whimper around day 3 or 4 of my travels. Then it becomes hit and miss. Some days I sit down and write, other days I never even pick up a pen.
The only time I actually managed to journal consistently was during the year I spent working in Saudi Arabia. And it wasn’t even what you could call proper journalng. Instead it was regular, often daily, long and drawn out emails and postcards to friends and family ranting and raving about events, places, and people.
But with a three month travel stint on the horizon, I am once again determined to keep a travel journal. Only this time, I am enlisting the help of two travel journal experts – Dave Fox and Lavina Spalding. Successful travel writers, they have both recently published books on how to write great travel journals.
In Globejotting, Dave Fox hilariously combines his own travel journal excerpts with advice and writing exercises. The book’s first paragraph ‘You’re going on a big trip? Woohoo! The rest of us are very jealous’ sets the tone. And very quickly, without even realizing it, you are pulled into Dave’s travel journaling mind set so that by the end of the book, you have all the tools and understanding needed to create a great travel journal.
So how do you become a journaling super-hero (Dave’s words, not mine)?
Well, according to Dave the first step is to learn the technique of speed journaling, as in ’don’t think. Just write’. Of course, given that we all have inner censors that want us to edit and think, the ‘don’t think. just write’ concept is always much easier said that done. But Dave has that covered with a whole chapter on ‘eluding your inner censor’ – in a nutshell, he suggests you send it on a separate holiday.
That done, Dave highlights the importance of using all five of your senses – touch, smell, sound, sight, and taste – to capture your journey. Mostly, only one or two of our senses are dominant at a time and they are the ones that we end up writing about. But taking a moment or two to focus on the other senses will provide a more rounded, in depth experience.
And for those having trouble with the traditional chronological travel journal, Dave suggests jumping outside the box and using alternative techniques such as verbal verbal snapshots – live action reporting of a single moment in your travels, using all your senses to create a ‘photograph of words’
These are only a few of the many useful techniques that award winning travel humorist Dave Fox outlines in Globejotting. And when I wasn’t laughing out loud at Dave’s own travel journal entries, I was busy scribbling down ideas on how to maintain momentum with my next travel journal.
Who knew writing a travel journal could be so much fun?
(stop by on Wednesday for Part Two of ‘Writing Great Travel Journals’ which will feature a review of Writing Away by Lavina Spalding)
You might also enjoy:
1) Writing Away: A Creative Guide to Awakening the Journal-Writing Traveler (Travelers’ Tales)
By Lavinia Spalding
Awesome book. Great ideas and suggestions there.
2) Journey Journal by Susan Laubach
This is an older book (may be able to find in a used book store or online) but a great idea she suggested was carry a small notebook and write your entries from it in the larger journal left at the hotel. Write in the morning over coffee each day. The first half of the book is how-to the second half is examples.
…dave
Hey Liz — I’m a fairly dedicated journal-er… I make myself write something before I go to sleep every night. If my eyes are really rolling back in my head, I make lists of impressions and details I wanted to write about. I usually don’t get back to them, but they do jog my memory when I look back at them.
Also I totally consider emails and ad-hoc notes and post cards legitimate journaling! 😉
Liz–
Thanks for the flattering interview! Should our paths ever cross, I owe you a beer or a chocolate chip cookie or something! 🙂
May I also humbly mention that I’ve just started offering tours for travel journalers and aspiring travel writers? We explore cool places (Vietnam in October, Botswana next winter) and I teach classes along the way to help people write about their travels. Writers of all skill levels are welcome, the groups are small, and the tours are geared toward independent-minded travelers who also enjoy some free time to explore on their own.
Anyone who’s interested will find all the details at http://www.GlobejotterTours.com.
(And please feel free to delete this comment if it seems too “spammy” but I thought your readers might be interested.)
Thanks again for the review!
–Dave Fox
Hi Dave and Dave,
Agree that Writing Away is a definite must to read – have just finished it and have now posted about it.
Dave Fox, hope you liked the review as much as I liked your book. And good luck with your tours, they sound like a lot of fun.
Alison, sounds like you have much more discipline than I. It’s obviously a learned thing – they say that if you do something continually for at least 2 weeks then it soon becomes routine and ingrained. Aim hoping this will happen with the journalling while I am away. Fingers crossed.
I try to journal as much as possible – I can never remember all the great meals I had or local drinks I’ve tried and it’s a blast to pick up a 10 year old journal and relive those experiences.
TheTravelEditor.com is experimenting with an online journal cum magazine feature which we call Travel Diaries. We’ve got 2 writers travelling overland from the tip of South America to the top of North America, writing about their whacky adventures along the way. It’s great fun – have a read and tell us what you think http://www.thetraveleditor.com/readabout/Travel_Diaries/
Thanks for the pointers! I really appreciate it! I will take this guidelines by heart and see to it if i can make a good travel journal the next time i venture myself for travel. Thanks for the post!
writing is so important when travelling..i travelled through Peru last year and wrote about all the adventures and werid situations i had in Machu Picchu, Cusco, Lima, the awesome Nazca lines and many more..it’s a way to keep your eyes open for anything that might happen; like putting you in a different state of mind..anyway if anyone is interested in travelling to Peru i suggest http://www.closerperu.com as a vacation planner..even if you plan on just backpacking and couch sufing they’ll still get a deal for you..tours, guides, hotels if necessary and more. cheers!!