10 Writing Prompts for your Travel Journal

Keeping a daily journal when I travel is my favorite way to remember those little details from a trip that may fade over time. However, I quickly found my journal entries were repetitive, not very detailed, and boring. Here are some journal prompts I use to spice up my travel journal!

Journal Prompt 1: What’s Something Obscure you Noticed Today About your Destination?

A local in a funny hat? A mistranslated menu item? A local culture you discovered? These small details are what you are most likely to forget later on, and what you will love to read and relive in the future!

Journal Prompt 2: Describe your Hostel, Hotel, or Airbnb Room

No matter where you stay, you may want to remember that your hostel walls were painted pink or that the Airbnb host’s cat loved to snuggle in your room. Small details about where you stayed (and the location of your accommodation) can be beneficial later for storytelling or even for recommendations to friends and family traveling to the same area!

Journal Prompt 3: How Did you Feel Today?

Admiring the beauty of Otavalo, Ecuador

Write down your feelings about EVERYTHING! I can’t stress this enough! If you were excited about a tour, write it. If you were disappointed in a meal, write it! Later on you will want to remember everything, even the bad things. Travel isn’t always glamorous, exciting, or even happy. Make your journal realistic so you can really remember and relive your past trips.

Journal Prompt 4: What Words Did you Learn Today?

If you are traveling to a country that does not speak the same language, write down those new words you learned each day. It’s been proven that writing, speaking, and hearing a word will better help you remember it. Write the new words down and how you learned them (or who you learned them from!)

Journal Prompt 5: What Food Did you Try?

A delicious seafood meal in the Galápagos Islands

Write down those meals you loved (and hated). Find the exact name for them and ask your server for the correct spelling. I guarantee you will want to cook that meal or find it in another restaurant at home if possible. How will you be able to do that if you don’t remember what it was called?

Journal Prompt 6: What Animals Did you See Today?

Making friends with an Asian Elephant in Thailand

Whether you went on an African safari or met a cute dog on the subway, won’t you want to remember later? Write down what you saw, where you saw them, and even their names if you can!

Journal Prompt 7: Describe, in Detail, your Destination

I don’t mean something plain such as “I visited Rome, Italy.” Use descriptive words to describe the cars, the streets, the people, and even the language. How do things feel? How do they look? How is it different, or similar to home? What was expected or unexpected about your destination?

Journal Prompt 8: What Interesting Historical Facts Did you Learn Today?

Write down the history of the buildings, the cute café, or anything else you may have learned from the locals or a museum. Note anything happening in the local news at the time you are visiting.

Journal Prompt 9: Would you Visit Again? Would you Change Anything About your Itinerary?

This can be especially useful if you end up recommending the destination to friends and family to visit. Note anything you would change about your visit to make it better and what locations you would love to visit again (and why!).

Journal Prompt 10: What Made you Decide to Visit?

Flight over the mountains in Thailand

Was it a spur-of-the-moment decision when a travel deal popped up in your email? Did a friend recommend it? Were you visiting for a specific museum, food, or tourist destination? Were you inspired by blogs or photos on Instagram?

Bonus: Draw Pictures!

Even if you aren’t an artist (I’m sure not!) a few scribbled pictures of your favorite meal, an animal you met, or the landscape can bring back memories. You can even laugh at your terrible rendition!

Shop Travel Journals

You can’t journal without a journal! I have a special leather-bound notebook with a compass on the front specifically for my travel writing while traveling. Getting a special book might inspire you further!