I've been spending an inordinate amount of time on stationery websites lately. Blogs about stationery, websites selling stationery, photos of other peoples' artistic stationery. I stumbled on the Seaweed Kisses blog and her description of how she uses her Midori Travellers Notebook. "What's that?" I asked myself, and followed the link to a shop selling them. That website provided even more journaling inspiration, and before I knew it, I was obsessed with having a new travel journal for this trip! The website provided several options, but I knew Hugh would judge me for buying ANOTHER notebook/journal. I have several in current use, as well as multiple waiting to be used. I have one Kikki.K journal I bought months ago that still has the wrapping on.
Also, I've had travel journals in the past, and haven't used them, or have used them for the first two days, then not the rest of the trip. Do I really need another unfinished journal sitting around the house?
I also love the idea of "smash" journals, or commonplace books as they were known in the olden days. One notebook that I can put everything in. Clippings, to do lists, thoughts, etc.
So I decided to use one of the three journals that I am currently using (and is super cute to boot), and turn part of it into a travel journal. Here's what I did!
First of all, ya gotta have a map of the world, just in case you forget where you're going or where home is. I googled world map pics, and printed this one out. Then what? Why, washi tape treatment, of course! Also, every good travel journal provides an area for your packing list. Some even include suggestions of ten or so common items to pack. The Moleskin travel journal assumes very little, printing only "toothbrush" on its packing lists. Clean underwear be damned!
Then I wanted a monthly calendar spread.
And pages to devote to scheduling each day of our trip. Not that I plan to schedule every moment! Hugh and I are both definitely fly by the seats of our pants-ers.
I wanted an expenses spread. I have absolutely no idea how to budget for this trip, so I'll record how much I end up spending, and maybe that'll give me an idea for future trips.
Then planning pages for each city, which I get to fill out now! Yay!
I also did a page for addresses, and an envelope stuck in to hold stamps and other bits, and more envelopes throughout. I'm pretty proud of how these two turned out!
For a while, I've been wanting a way to print out little daily photos for my daily journal. I thought about getting a Fuji Instax camera, which is basically a modern-day Polaroid camera. Then I was looking at a new Polaroid camera that has a bit more functionality than the Instax. Then Hugh was like, "Why don't you just buy the Fuji Instax printer, then you can print photos off of your phone?" Uh, the what-what? Off my phone? Why yes, that is actually exactly what I wanted. So I bought one! It arrived yesterday and I love it! It's only little, so I can bring it on the trip. And it prints any photo off of your phone or Instagram or Facebook accounts. The photo printed below (which is still in the processing of developing there) is from Valentine's Day 2013.
Cute, cute, cute!!!
ReplyDelete--woodsong <3
Hey! John and I use a guideline for predicting our travel expenses, and it seemed to work well for Amy and Diana too in Italy. (We all came in on our budgets!) We predict that each night will be $100 for a hotel room, and $100 per day for food, souvenirs, tickets, etc. So $200 per day.
ReplyDeleteAlso, your travel journal is SERIOUSLY cool. Would you ever think about designing journals? Like selling them on Etsy? Paper Source and other stores always stock those kinds of things.
Also, what about a Receipts pocket? John saves all his receipts when we travel. And ooh, what about a page for writing down restaurants you plan to go to while you're there, since we're always thumbing through our travel guide to find restaurants in the neighborhood we're sightseeing in. Also, a sturdy pocket for passport and airplane tickets would be cool. And not one, but a few ribbon bookmarks. And a space for filling in at the bottom of each planner page, "Vocabulary Word I learned today:____" You could sell the journal with all the inserts, or you could sell the inserts a la carte for bargain shoppers.
ReplyDeleteI still remember that calendar you made for me and John, of all the events you thought we'd like to go to during our visit in Edinburgh. That was actually really sweet, like one of the coolest gifts you could have given us. And I still regret that I didn't pay attention to it until the last day of our trip.
Also, speaking of regret, when I went to London with Moms, she taught me a little trick. We had various regrets about not seeing absolutely everything before time ran out, so she taught me to just say, "We'll see it the next time we go to London." Even though we knew we wouldn't be back for a long time (if ever), it comforted us to have made the plan, anyway. I still do that every time I travel. When we miss out on a museum that was closed or a city we didn't have time for, we say, "We'll see it next time."
ReplyDeleteSo your journal could have a page, "Things We'll See the Next Time We Come Back."