I got so tired of the usual what I ate and what I did kind of travel journal. Therefore I did not write down anything anymore which isn’t the best solution either.
A few years back I stumbled upon a great book about a woman who won half a million in a quiz show and decided to travel for one year, each month being in a different city to fully emerge in the new environment. I loved how brave she was, leaving her life to travel in her mid 50thies or so. Every month she wrote a letter to a friend or family member which later became the chapters of the book. These letters were much more as “I am here, the weather is X and I am doing Y”. At the end of each chapter, she listing at least 10 things she learned being in this city, it could have been by a conscious effort like learning tango dancing in Argentina or something which she just realized about herself or life in general.
I LOVED that! Every time we are going into an unknown environment we are coming back with new ideas and inspiration but we aren’t really capturing it. So after reading that book, I applied this principle in my travel journal as well.
On one page I am now sketching what I experienced, write down quotes and what I am connecting with this trip. On the other page, I write down the things I learned or realised. When I now go back and read the pages, I have a much more vivid memory the trip and can see my emotional journal reflecting in it. In all the trips I did with my boyfriend I can see how my perception of him developed and how I fell in love with him more and more. I also started to do the same principle for events I was participating at.
Instead of writing cards to my grandma like “The weather is great and the food is spicy” I am writing things like “I am an unbeatable navigation system which always finds the way back”. That is a way cooler card, isn't it?