I’m Gracie (@graciecreates) from the Archer and Olive ambassador team! As I’ve been planning for travel coming up this year, I have decided to set up a new travel journal in a miniature pocket size which is the perfect size to slip in your hand bag or carry-on and carry around the world!

Supplies you’ll need: 

• Your travel journal - I’m using a 160-page Pocket Size notebook from Archer & Olive
• Archer and Olive Acrylograph pens
• Any other fineliner pens or markers you’d like to use
• (Optional) Printable packing list - I created a printable packing list that you can check off to make sure you have all of your travel journaling supplies packed for your next trip!

When shopping for supplies at A+O, you can use my code graciecreates for a discount!

Video Tutorial

Why Pocket/A6?

When I travel, I always like to have a notebook on hand to write journal entries in. As a scatter-brained person, I encourage myself to keep a log of everything - and I mean everything - I do on a trip, writing it down as an entry in my travel journal each night before I go to sleep. I like to collect paper scraps, tickets, stamps, and other ephemera to use in spreads for my junk journal when I get home, but actually logging things on the trip is where my mini travel journal comes in handy. I’m setting up this mini A6 notebook to be the perfect companion for journal lovers who are trying to stick to light-weight traveling.

Trip Log

After designing a simple welcome page, I am adding a simple future log style spread to the first few pages. I intend on using this journal for as many trips as I can (until it’s filled up!), so I’ll use this first page as a table-of-contents to quickly reference which trips are included in this journal. For this trip log, I am just including 2 columns on each page to track the locations I traveled to and the dates of each trip. 

Trip Divider

I am going to add a divider page to separate each trip from the rest of the journal. For this video, I’ll be adding a divider for my upcoming trip to Spain! This page you can customize to fit the theme of the trip - using colors, doodles, or fun fonts to signify the place you’ll be traveling to. 

This page could also be left blank before your trip, and you could fill it with scraps and stickers from your trip after you’ve collected them!

Trip Timeline

The next page in each trip’s section will be a trip timeline. Consider this an at-a-glance look at the trip, the dates, major events, and travel days. You can style this page in lots of different ways, using a calendar grid, a timeline graph, or even just a list with each date of the trip & a little blurb about it. 

For my journal, I’ll be creating a simple grid where I can write each date of the trip and the major events that happened each day (i.e., “travel day”, “museum trip”, “beach day”, etc.). 

Photo Page

Although I like to keep my main collaging with scrap and stickers in my junk journal, I’m going to leave one page at the beginning of each trip section for a photo from the trip. This could also work as your divider page!

Daily Pages

When I’m traveling, I want to be as present as possible. As I said, I do like to take time at the end of every night to write a little journal entry about what we did that day - restaurants we went to and what I ordered, tours we went on & the tour guides names, small facts that I learned, what I wore, bought, etc. Even sleeping on that information for a night causes me to forget little details, so I try to prioritize writing at least the big facts before I go to bed. 

One way to set yourself up for success is to set up a few pages before your trip. You can create a little header with the date at the top of the page, so that when you get back to your hotel or hostel on the trip, all you have to do is brain dump before you are off to that much-needed travel sleep. 

Printable

Looking for more ideas for your travel journal? Check out this blog post from ambassador team member Vero for ideas on how to use your travel journal supplies on the go.  

You can find more creative goings-on in my corner of the internet, @graciecreates on Instagram and YouTube, and @groovygraciecreates on TikTok. If you do this project, share with the A&O team on socials! Tag us @archerandolive and use the hashtags #AOShare and #archerandolive