Voyage Scribe is for my fellow writers who travel, and what does every writer need? A journal to write in. It’s hard to find a journal suitable for travel, though. And you can’t exactly hop on Amazon while you’re already traveling to find better journals.
I love buying journals while I travel, especially ones made my locals, but they’re not always easy to find. It might be a few days until I find a journal I want to buy. And I want to start writing from the moment I start traveling!
Other times, I’m in a remote area and can’t find one at all. I’ve written on all types of scraps of paper, like backs of receipts or tickets. Not ideal.
So, as a writer who has done all types of traveling, I’ve put together a list of notebooks on Amazon perfect for travel, complete with tips on what to consider when buying a journal specifically for your travels.
P.S. Once you get your travel journal, you might struggle with what to write in it. Well, struggle no more! Here are my tips on what to write in your travel journal.
[I’m an Amazon affiliate, which means I may receive commission at no extra cost to you.]
These kinds of notebooks are great because they add virtually no weight to your bag.
If you’re traveling long-term, they probably won’t last you the whole trip. But they’re a good starter journal, and great for short trips. I kind of (massively) have a journal-buying obsession, so I always end up buying new journals in my travels. That’s why I like to start off with one of these smaller notebooks, so I can start writing from the moment I’m waiting for the trip to start.
Someone once recommended mailing these small journals back home once filled up, but I personally would never trust that. If my postcards sometimes never make it home, I won’t trust my most prized possessions with the same system.
But even if you have to carry around a few of these long-term, they will barely add any weight to your baggage.
Here’s a list of some of the small and light journals I found on Amazon that would be perfect for travel:
Yeah, I know. You probably don’t need 12 of these for one trip. But you’ll be stocked and ready for your future trips! What I love about these is that they have cute, travel-themed covers.
These are the same style of notebook (my favorite: small, light and thin!), except the travel cover is more colorful and it’s just a five pack.
Okay, so this one is a bit on the bulkier side since it comes in a leather case, but the journal itself is tiny. And, you can use it as a wallet so you can protect your writing and money equally! This will keep you more organized, and every traveller knows how important that is.
Traveling isn’t always pretty. This little guy will help protect your writing from the rain, your sweat, mud and any other thing that might erase your written words. It’s super tiny (3”x5”) yet durable. It’s not fully waterproof, so you shouldn’t go swimming with it, but it’s still impressive!
Tip: Buy a waterproof bag for your journal. I recommend these. I didn’t use one before, but sure will next time I’m backpacking. The first notebook I used while backpacking Asia suffered from water damage twice (once when it was raining, second time on a boat).
This travel journal is perfect for any writers. It was specifically made for writers by yours truly! I started selling this travel journal on Amazon when I couldn’t find a journal to keep my writing ideas organized while traveling. But it also includes space to write about your trip too.
But sometimes, a bigger, thicker notebook is preferable. Small and thin notebooks are super great for travel, but not so great when they start to tear or run out of pages.
The thin journal I used while backpacking Asia started to tear and sustained quite a bit of damage. I have to be careful reading it now because it’s literally falling apart!
That’s why sometimes, it’s worth the sacrifice of a bigger and heavier journal. Sure, it might be more of a pain to carry around, but it’s also less likely to fall apart.
Here’s a list of some of the more heavy-duty journals I found on Amazon that would be perfect for travel:
I actually received this one as a gift, and I can’t WAIT to use it for travel! I love how there are five little booklets of pages inside. It’s like five small notebooks bound as one! This way, I can split up each booklet for different trips or topics.
But the best part is, everything will be in one place, and the leather cover is thicker and much better than cardboard at protecting the pages within. And speaking of the pages, these are super great quality too: nice and thick.
Made with top quality vegan leather, this journal is durable enough for travel. But what makes it even more great is that it’s refillable, so you only need to buy a new paper inserts for your next trip once you fill this journal up.
This is another great option, and I’ve used a similar notebook style while traveling before. The best thing about this type of notebook is that the cover is super sturdy, so you don’t have to worry about your pages bending or getting damaged when shoved in your backpack.
If for whatever reason you like to rip pages out, you’ll want a spiral notebook. You can’t really rip pages out from the above journals. So, this one is ideal for that. And with the super cute (and hard) cover, this notebook is perfect for you!
Like I said, you can find my recommendations on what to write about in your travel journal in this blog post. But if you’d rather have specific prompts to inspire you further, get one of these journals!
They’re also great ways of making sure you’re recording all the details that you want from your trip.
It can sometimes be overwhelming to write about everything you’re experiencing while you travel, so this journal will help you record it all!
This journal helps you be more mindful in your travels.
This beautiful, minimalist journal holds hundreds of prompts to help guide the recording of your travel experiences. It comes with other perks like a map to chart your journey and spots to include photos.
This tiny journal is the size of a passport, so it’s best if you’re looking for a pocket-sized option. It has 20 entry pages prompting you for info you won’t want to forget from your trip, and it’s great if you want your memories organized and are not looking for a more freeform way of writing about your travels.
A bit of self-promo because this is a Voyage Scribe journal sold on Amazon! It’s a compilation of the travel-inspired writing prompts that I send out every month in my newsletter, and it’s designed to be used when you return home from your travels.
This journal is perfect if you’re living the van life, camping or roadtripping. It helps you track down things like campsites you stayed at as well as offers writing prompts to help you remember your trips.
I hope you found the writing journal perfect for you and your type of travel!
If you’d like to use what you wrote in your travel journal for creative writing inspiration, check out my travel-inspired writing prompts. There’s a new one free every month!
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Oh my gosh, I love them all. I'm always collecting journals and notebooks, I must have dozens. I'm always scared to start using them as I don't want to ruin them, but I'm much happier using them as journals than just for notes I'll never read again. That way the nice ones will be kept for years to come. I really like the Kraft full color ones, they're beautiful
Oh I used to be the same! But then I realized I preferred them when they were full of memories that I could revisit rather than blank pieces of paper :)
I need to pretend I didn't read this post cause I have a bit of an obsession with travel journals hehe!
Hehe sorry! I do too...it was very hard to write this without sneaking one of these into my cart haha
I always take a journal when I travel. I'm more of a heavy-duty journaler since I like to have lots of space to write and add notes. I like to keep day to day record of my travels including sights, smells, people I meet, food I eat. I like the idea of having writing prompts as well. Great way to get the creative juices flowing.
I prefer heavy duty journals too! They're hard to carry around when I have is a backpack in terms of luggage though :/
I want to buy new notebooks now. These journals are so tempting. Great list!
I like writing in a journal too. One that is light, yet strong.
Definitely the best choice for most trips!
All of these journals are so cute! I normally don't journal when I travel, but I definitely want to get into it and it's a great way to keep track of what you learn on tours, etc.
Absolutely! I often go back through my journals when I want to remember something because my memory is awful haha
I've been meaning to get a travel journal for a while now so that I can organize myself a bit better, so thank you for sharing these ones!
I hope you find one you like! :)
I love journaling when I travel. I typically just take a blank notebook, but I've been thinking about trying a notebook with prompts.