Travel Journal - What Do You Want?

[inkypete]

Thanks again everyone. Fair question in terms of what makes a loose leaf travel journal different from a loose leaf notebook. One thing was a degree of formatting on the page. Maybe a header box with date and location. Maybe a preprinted itinerary page for flight details etc. One of my other thoughts is to just make a series of refill options that may fit an existing two, six or multi ring bider. There are twenty or so responses in the is thread and already the problem is big - so many differing needs. It is a work in progress and I think the concept of refills only is winning at the moment.

 

Again - thank you everyone for your input and please keep the discussion going.

[Rocket1]

I just use a small a6 staple bound rhodia with quad rules. I keep it held together with an elastic band and it holds my transport cards and maps. I only use it to write addresses and numbers that I need. I stick stamps and other things that I get on holiday to the front, so a plain cover would be nice

[da vinci]

For me it has to be a bound notebook. When the travelling is over I want to file the journal away for posterity and future reflection. Filing the inserts from an organiser type cover would just not give the journal the degree of permanence I prefer to feel with a travel journal.

 

Like the idea of page formatting in post # 21

[bogiesan]

One thing was a degree of formatting on the page. Maybe a header box with date and location. Maybe a preprinted itinerary page for flight details etc. One of my other thoughts is to just make a series of refill options that may fit an existing two, six or multi ring bider. g.

There are dozens of preprinted inserts from the looseleaf system makers but you are going to end up laying out and printing your own if you require that degree customization. A flight detail page is something I've never seen but there are travel itinerary pages. However, they are universal and include fields for bus, boat, train, plane and other transport.

[bogiesan]

Counterpoints and additions to Mari's post:

Color: I'd go with fluorescent orange if I could.

Closure: zipper

Loops: two, pen an pencil

Size: the Franklin compact is about 6x9 inches overall

Paper stocks: the looseleaf binder has divider tabs and I use many types and patterns of papers behind each tab

Inserts: the Franklin is a two-page per day agenda so the schedule and notes needs are taken care of. Ruler? Yes. Preformatted address and phone section, check. Pockets are available. I have a six-hole punch so I can print or trim or copy and punch anything to go into the notebook. Storage binders hold my 30 years' worth of stuff although I edit mercilessly.

[odd_soul]

Personally I would want a bound travel notebook. I haven't used a Midori but I think the form would suit me best as I could swap out different notebooks depending on what I'm doing or where I'm going.

 

However, for even more freedom, I think it would be really interesting to make a travel journal using the ARC or Levenger Circa format. You can take any kind of paper you want and at any size, print things on it if you want any kind of premade page format, use the hole puncher to get the holes in it, and then it's basically bound but you can take out and rearrange the pages however you want, giving you loose leaf functionality, but in a format where nothing will fall out. While there are tons of different covers and such for those systems, you could take it even farther by creating your own. You could punch the holes into the cover, or instead drill holes into the rings and attach them to your homemade cover. It would be a pretty manual process but I think the result would be really interesting. And if you had multiple ones, you could just bring the one while traveling and then transfer whatever pages you want into the other ones as needed. (For example, you take the one traveling and write journal entries along with other things, but you want the journal entries in your journal, then you can move those pages into it once you get back, but then you don't have to bring both your notebook and your journal with you.)

 

So far, I've been pretty well served by my chosen notebooks but if I did more traveling, I'd be very tempted to experiment with this!

[Ted A]

One of the things that I like about the Midori method of inserts is that it's quite easy to insert pages or a booklet, they only have to be folded, but you don't have to work around the rings of a looseleaf system or the disks of the ARC/Levenger.

[inkypete]

Thanks again everyone who has contributed. One thing I am trying to do is create something that will work for people in most countries. For example circa system notebooks and paper are not readily available here in Oz and, I believe, in parts of Asia.

 

My thoughts so far are looking at creating an A5 size product. Maybe I will just start with a range of FP friendly formatted refills that people can use in their own sourced binders, and add binders if the system takes off.

[FountainPages]

I seem always to be not very far from my Exacompta journal...I love the tooth the paper has and there is absolutely no show or bleed through. However, I do like the format of the Large Leuchtrumm notebooks also. I use both.

[da vinci]

Not sure whether this is a Little too wacky, but how about a packing checklist? Always useful to have a pre printed aide memoire?

[stonezebra]

Not sure whether this is a Little too wacky, but how about a packing checklist? Always useful to have a pre printed aide memoire?

 

Yes please! I always have to write up a list when I set out and it would be ever so nice to have a pre-printed one with a few blank lines for personalizing. I don't know why it's never occurred to me to type up my own list.... thanks da vinci!

Edited July 1, 2014 by stonezebra

[Ted A]

I would like to see page numbers. Particularly if there is any kind of page formating tied to days. One may want to write more than the alloted space. With the pages numbered one could insert a go to page xx.

 

Ray Blake at My Live All in One Place has a nice template for a travel journal for a Midori http://www.mylifeallinoneplace.com/2013/03/travel-journal-insert-for-midori.html. I've used it, and modified it a bit for each trip I've taken. It's one where I needed to jump to another page for additional writing. A year ago I spent 10 days in Italy with my brother and my daughter. The "Today's Plans" page was quite useful to record an itinerary before I left home with things like hotel reservation numbers, and phone numbers, museum reservations, etc. Then I could plan a few days ahead while we were there.

 

On the other hand, we spent a week with friends in March. The pre-planning was very limited. The review of the day and thoughts was more useful. And between the two trips I had begun sketching. So I added a sketching journal for that trip.

[da vinci]

I would like to see page numbers. Particularly if there is any kind of page formating tied to days. One may want to write more than the alloted space. With the pages numbered one could insert a go to page xx.

 

Ray Blake at My Live All in One Place has a nice template for a travel journal for a Midori http://www.mylifeallinoneplace.com/2013/03/travel-journal-insert-for-midori.html. I've used it, and modified it a bit for each trip I've taken. It's one where I needed to jump to another page for additional writing. A year ago I spent 10 days in Italy with my brother and my daughter. The "Today's Plans" page was quite useful to record an itinerary before I left home with things like hotel reservation numbers, and phone numbers, museum reservations, etc. Then I could plan a few days ahead while we were there.

 

On the other hand, we spent a week with friends in March. The pre-planning was very limited. The review of the day and thoughts was more useful. And between the two trips I had begun sketching. So I added a sketching journal for that trip.

Some great templates on this site, including the travel one. Just in case anyone else doesn't quite understand the instructions - I still don't really - you need a duplex printer.