Bullet Journal Travel Ideas To Inspire You On Your Travels
Planning a trip can be sometimes a bit stressful, tiring, or tricky. Yet after spending almost a year on the road, I’ve realized that planning the actual trip doesn’t need to be dull at all! We can make it fun and creative, and it can even help you de-stress and start enjoying the travel experience before you even leave. My trick: creating a fun and beautiful Travel Bullet Journal, where you can design your unique travel itineraries, make a fun spending schedule, and even write some side notes before and after the trip so you can compare. I especially love these side notes. For example, the time I went on safari for the 1st time, I thought I would be lucky to see two of The Big Five ( In Africa The Big Five Game Animals are : the leopard, rhinoceros, lion, elephant, and buffalo) but I actually ended up seeing 4 of them (!) and a bunch of other cool animals I hadn’t even thought about.
Travel and Bullet Journals are great for organizing all the lists and research for your trips, but you can also use them as a small travel diary.
Many people think that to have a bullet journal, you have to make it very professional and fancy. I totally disagree! I love the minimalistic look, and some of the most beautiful journals I have seen are very simple ones. Regardless of the tools you prefer to use, you can make a gorgeous journal that speaks to YOU... because after all, we are all different and our journals should portray who we are individually. If you are starting your bullet journal experience, you can buy black pens, markers, metal stencils, and the bullet journals themselves on amazon for about 20 USD (or sometimes even less). You can also go bargain hunting and buy a vintage journal on one of your trips, or at a flea market or a vintage bookstore nearby home. I love vintage bullet journals! Despite what many recommend, you really only need a notebook and a pen to start your own bullet journal. Then, just get planning a trip and write/draw away!
How Do I Organize A Bullet Journal For Traveling?
There is no right or wrong answer to this. In my opinion, the most important thing is to have fun with it and be excited when creating your own bullet journal for traveling.
I love how the creation of my own travel blogs always starts in my journal, and it's often such an easy process. You can always start by writing down your travel bucket list (organized by seasons or by destination or anything you want!) and then go from there. A cool idea is to start with a region, then narrow it to a country, and then to the city or town you want to visit. Once you are there, you can create your own personalized travel itineraries. Another great way to use your bullet journal for your travel is for packing lists and travel essentials you don’t want to forget. And a list of pros and cons is always a great idea, for example when you are not sure if you should book a hotel or an airbnb. These are just some basic examples, in our list below I’ll share with you my favorite way to organize a traveler’s notebook or a bullet journal.
Build a Travel Bucket List
A travel Bucket List is often the 1st step in organizing your own bullet journal for travel. You don’t need to have an upcoming trip planned to start writing your list! Your bucket list can be a great source of inspiration, and help motivate you towards getting some actual information together about a certain destination. Sometimes we have preconceived ideas about a place: we might think it’s too expensive or too far or difficult to access, or we can’t go in the right season. Write down your goal destinations, no matter how outlandish, and then just start researching. And just like that you went from envisioning yourself in the Maldives, to discovering a great flight deal, to actually swimming in its perfect clear waters... paradise! Don’t be afraid of using your Travel Bucket List as a vision board!
Create a Savings Plan/Spending list
Having a Savings Plan/ Spending list in your travel bullet journal will help you to reach those money goals every week/month. Tracking how much you have saved each month versus your total goal is a great way to keep your finances in the right place. Once you know how much money you need to go on a specific vacation, you know how much you need to save and how much money most things cost. In your initial list, you don't necessarily need to have the specific number down to the cents, but you do need to have a general idea of how much you plan to spend in your travels. Which brings us to our next lists
List all the places you want to go and the things you are dying to do
When visiting a specific destination, we all have those mental checklists with the places we want to go and the things we want to do while there. The good thing about creating a list in your travel bullet journal is that you won’t forget about any of the places during the excitement of the trip (I’m definitely guilty of this!). Plus, you can organize it with several columns: one with the Must-do, another one with the Maybe, and a last one with Not Really My Thing. This can be really useful, especially when traveling in a group. With different people come different travel tastes, and maybe one of your friends decides that a National Museum would be something fun to do on a saturday morning, but you prefer to go to a specific art gallery. You can use your list to talk it over with everyone and get their input, decide what’s best, then either compromise or divide and conquer! Making a list is a fun activity to do with friends before you travel together, too!
Create a Packing List
A packing list is simple, but an essential when planning a trip. This is especially true for a long one, though if you are a clothes and shoe lover like me, even the shorts trips require careful packing! You don’t want to forget your flats because you were top focused on not forgetting your sneakers and your favorite pair of heels, or find yourself heading to a beach vacation with no swimsuit. Believe me, it can happen, especially if you have had a very busy week at work. Sometimes the things we forget to pack are the obvious ones, just because we use most of our focus on the stuff we thought were more easily forgettable. A packing list in your bullet journal for travel can help you avoid all of that. It easy: you simply write down the list and then mark off each bullet once you have packed that item. You can always add another bullet if you remember something else you need to bring. And voila, just like that you are saying goodbye to the packing hassles. If you can, it’s always a good idea to make your list early so you have plenty of time to go over it and add/remove items depending on how much room you have in your suitcases.
More Bullet Journal Travel Ideas for the wanderlust
There are tons of other cool ideas you can have in your travel bullet journal to make your traveler’s notebook more fun and creative. Some of my favorite are:
Create a Travel Souvenirs list
One of the highlights of most of my trips is when I get to buy something to bring back home with me. While some of my friends collect magnets, shot glasses, and even books from around the world, I love to go hunting for unique items that I identify with the place and that I can use often when I’m back home. For example, I love to buy pillows and small rugs when I go to the Middle East, or handmade purses and jewelry in Africa. Those make such a great souvenir. Regardless of what you choose to purchase, a travel souvenir list will help you have those items organized and checked in case you want to bring back a small present to some friends. If you have a group of people to buy for, the best way is to make a list of their names and check them off when you find the perfect gift for that individual. That way, no one gets left out!
Make flight podcasts/ music playlist
A list with my favorite podcasts and songs is just essential when going on a trip. No one wants to be on a plane for two hours (or twelve!) bored because you forgot to download your favorite podcast. You can even put this list to use in your everyday while commuting to work. Being stuck in the train or in traffic for an hour counts as traveling right?!
Coffee Shops Ideas
This is yet another one of those lists that makes me jump with excitement just to write it! I love looking up the different coffee shops I want to try in the town or city I’m visiting, getting excited over the menu and instagram pics, and then adding it to my list. I’ll admit that I find myself speaking in Italian with the imaginary barista and planning to order “Un caffè Latte per favore”, (not that I speak italian or anything but hey, my travel bullet journal doesn’t know that!).
Travel Journal Highlights
I love to have Travel Journal Highlights! This is where a big part of my creativity comes to play. This the place where I describe how to imagine the place, how it actually was, the highlight experiences I want to have during my travels. I even draw a bit! If your drawing skills are better than mine, which I’m sure they are, this is where you can draw maps and illustrate destinations and even the activities and items you want to bring. Your traveler’s notebook is your canvas and you just have to paint in it! For the artists out there, you could even have a bullet journal with no words, just drawings and pictures!
Travel Quotes
Last but not least are the pages dedicated to travel quotes and expressions that encourage you to go on the travels that become life changing experiences. You can jot down phrases you can send your friends when they are going abroad for the first time, or quotes that just make you want to visit a new region or experience a new culture. Nothing like wishing your friends or loved one a safe trip with a cute quote.
If you love to send quotes to your love ones as much as I do, check out our article about travel quotes.
Safe Journey Quotes To Wish To Your Fellow Traveler
If you are planning to start adding new destinations in your travel bullet journal, then head to our Travel Guides section to find specific and detailed itineraries for places like Italy, Belgium, New York, Petra, Istanbul, Masai Mara, and so much more.
If you are a bullet journal travel lover, let me know in the comment section if you enjoyed the article and tell us some of the ideas that you use in your traveler’s notebook. I’m always looking for new tips!
Besitos,
Laura
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