Travel Journaling: How to Write Extraordinary Travel Diaries

One of the biggest enemies of great writing is perfectionism -- which often comes cloaked in insecurities about the way we write. Learn how to reframe your thinking about why you journal so you write with confidence and come home with pages soaked in rich memories.

The most common struggle travel journalers encounter is finding time for writing in the middle of an exciting trip. A big part of their problem, however, is they're not making the most of the time they do have. Perfectionism and a lack of focus can hinder us from writing our most exciting material. In this lesson, you'll learn a powerful technique to help you get to the point and splash tons of detail into your pages -- quickly. You'll write more and you'll do it fast so you stay on track with your adventures.

You want to write down everything that happens on your trip ... but you don't have time! You're on an adventure! In this lesson, you'll learn how writing your travel diary is a bit like making a Hollywood movie; you must trim away some of the details and zoom in on the most riveting scenes.

How's it going so far? Let's review some of the key points we've covered in section two.

Often, our most exciting observations are buzzing on the fringes of our awareness. Bringing those observations into our writing requires learning how to shift our focus from sense to sense. In this lesson we discover how to bring our more subtle observations to the forefront of our mind so that we capture the hidden stories in our journeys, and become more aware travelers as well.

Throughout this course, I'll have a few optional writing exercises and supplementary readings. In this first exercise, it's time to take a mini vacation!

On the last night of my second trip to Vietnam (before I lived in Asia), I used the “Scan Your Senses” journaling technique as a launching pad for a post on my travel blog. While you don’t need to journal about all of your senses, in this blog entry, I did, followed by a recap of some of my trip’s highlights. Here's what I wrote....

There's a reason some journals fall flat while others sizzle. A few simple tweaks in the words you choose can transform your writing from bland to brilliant. If you've ever felt like your journals weren't capturing the full spirit of your journeys, it might be because you're making a small and common mistake that holds people back from writing their most exciting details. In this lesson, you'll learn what that mistake is -- and the simple way to fix it.

Woohoo! You have now completed half of the sections in this workshop! Let's see how you're doing!

When people write diaries at home, they often explore their thoughts and emotions. Travel journalers, on the other hand, tend to focus on the external world. In a foreign place, it's easy to fixate on what's happening around us, so that we fail to notice what's happening within us. But traveling to exciting and unfamiliar places in the world can also carry us to exciting and unfamiliar places in our own minds. Writing about your so-called "inner journey" can lead you into some of your best stories. It brings you a richer understanding of the significance of your travels, and it can be a big source of self-discovery.

Your Inner Censor is a little creature who patrols your mind, trying to "protect" you from your own writing. Most Inner Censors are hyper-critical. They stand in our way and squash our words. Is your Inner Censor holding you back from writing your boldest material? In this lesson, we discover how to sneak past our mental gatekeepers to get at what we really want to write.

Say goodbye to your Inner Censor, once and for all, in this fun, three-part exercise.

Now, onto our section four quiz!

Most people journal along a simple timeline of their days, writing about their experiences in the order they occur. This is a nice, simple way to organize our travel diaries, but in this lesson, we explore some fun, alternative techniques that will add a more creative tone to your journals.

To help you get started on some theme journaling, I rattled off (at breakneck speed) a few sample themes and topics we encounter when traveling. Here is that list, in case you didn't catch it all, along with some additional themes suggested by students.

Here's a quick example of the "Verbal Snapshot" journaling technique, excerpted from my book, Globejotting: How to Write Extraordinary Travel Journals (and still have time to enjoy your trip!)

Travel can be a frustrating passion. For most of us, it's not the sort of hobby we can do all the time. But journaling about your travels when you're at home can help satisfy your cravings to be out and exploring.

In this lesson, we talk about journaling before and after your trips. You'll explore your travels from fresh angles. And... if you have past adventures you wish you had journaled about, I'll teach you a trick to put yourself back in those moments. You'll be amazed how details you thought you had forgotten -- even trips you took years ago -- will come flooding back once your words start flowing.

In section five we've covered some creative, alternative journaling techniques. Let's see how creative you are!

We've talked about how to write fast, but that still doesn't answer the question, how do we find time to write in the middle of an exciting trip? Now that you've learned all of these exciting writing techniques, it's time to slay the time dragon that can make it so challenging to squeeze writing time into your days. Journaling should enhance your travels, not pull you away from your adventures. In this lesson, you'll discover how to find time to write without compromising your time for exploring, and you'll learn some fun motivational techniques so you don't run out of steam along the way.

We wrap up our travel journaling adventure with a recap of what we've covered so the things you've learned stay solid in your mind. And Dave tells you how to reach him if you'd like to learn more. Coming soon: A follow-up course in how to transform your travel journals into tales you can share with friends and family, post on blogs, or publish professionally.

Wheeee! It's the final quiz of this course! Let's review what we covered in section six!