Travel is one of the best ways to open up your creative outlets for writing inspiration. Placing yourself into new environments with different cultures, languages and people will make you look at the world with new eyes. But it’s also hard to make yourself write while traveling.
The same new experiences that are inspiring you are keeping you away from writing and taking up all your time and energy. While this is fine if you’re traveling for a short amount of time, it’s a big problem if you’re traveling long term like me or want to write in the moment of inspiration.
I’m still working on finding the right balance between traveling and writing, but here are some of the things that help me get my words out onto a page.
Schedule days where you can’t leave your hotel or accommodation. Spend that time only writing.
If you’re like me, you’ll find lots of other things to do on these days, like catch up with other work, plan new adventures or catch up with friends and social media. Resist those things.
Set a word count goal that you have to meet on that day. If you don’t meet it, don’t let yourself go out the next day to explore. That should give you the motivation to meet your goal.
Take that longer plane ride. Take the train rather than plane. Take the slower train. Take the bus.
Planes, trains and buses are probably where I get the most writing done while traveling. With no Wi-Fi to distract me, and being trapped on the mode of transportation with nowhere to wander off to, these are my favorite places to write.
In fact, as I write this sentence, I’m sitting on a train in Indonesia. I have a whole day to spend in this train, and I’m excited to finally reach my writing goals today.
I should be working on my book right now though…
I write a lot in my notebook, but I’m usually too exhausted and unmotivated to write when I get back to my hotel or hostel at the end of the day.
Most of the writing in my travel journals has been scribbled down while waiting for food at cafés and restaurants, on benches in parks or anywhere else my travels take me where I can take a break to record everything down with my pen.
I often get moments where I think of a great writing idea, or a great sentence, but am so caught up with travel that I decide to write it down later.
And then I forget it.
Your best writing will come in the moment. Make sure you have a notebook when that moment comes.
By the way, you can read my recommendations for great journals perfect for travel here.
Don’t jam pack your schedule with tons to do every day. If you’re rushing from place to place, you won’t have time to process everything you’re seeing and miss out on inspiration all around you.
I struggle with this one, since I want to see everything. But as a fellow traveler recently told me, you can’t see everything. And it’s better to see less and get lots of writing inspiration out of it than try seeing everything and not getting as much time to extract writing inspiration.
At least that’s what I’m trying to teach myself.
And if you have more time in your itinerary, you can do this. Wandering new cities usually fills me with so much inspiration that I have no choice but to stop and write everything down.
Stop looking at the touristy things. Notice the small things. Notice the parts of the city or town that you would have normally overlooked. Notice the people around you.
Just make sure you have access to a notebook or paper to write when the ideas inevitably hit you.
I often wonder how people traveled without phones and access to internet. While I am greatly appreciative of these advances in technology and the ease I can travel with, I do recognize their role in keeping me from writing.
I find myself on the world of the web instead of the world of my book way too often. When I leave my Word document to research one thing, I often find myself two hours later booking a flight, with no new words added to my word count.
I don’t trust myself to resist the urge of turning on the turned off Wi-Fi, so it’s sometimes nice to stay in places that don’t have the option of Wi-Fi. They’re some of the surest ways to ensure I actually write while traveling.
You can research that one thing later. Now, write.
If you tell people you’re writing, you’re going to be more motivated to write. Especially if you’re going to be staying in hostels or more social friendly accommodations or tours. You won’t want to tell people you’re working on a book and then never write.
Tell people you’re a writer, and prove it. Meet those writing goals.
I bought a lighter laptop for my current writing backpacking trip. Yet it’s still a heavy burden when I lug my backpack over to a new place every day.
It makes me feel more guilty when I don’t use it for the reason I bought it and brought it on this trip: to write. If I had just taken a light notebook, I would have scribbled down notes and thoughts like always. But I wouldn’t have actually worked on writing my book.
And although I know it’s possible to hand write a book, the easier you make it for yourself to write while traveling, the more likely you’ll actually sit down to do it.
If you’re staying somewhere incredible, you won’t want to leave. The accommodations where I did the most writing were the places that were the most cozy and beautiful. I wanted to spend as much time as possible by that luxurious pool, rooftop patio, welcoming common area or room with a gorgeous writing desk.
When there’s so much to explore, your accommodation has to be able to compete in holding your interest. Taking a day off travel to write doesn’t feel like a waste when you’re able to spend time in a place you wish you lived in full-time.
You don’t even need to stay at a luxury hotel. For example, I wrote in each of my favorite hotels in SE Asia listed here. Need more inspiration? All of my Writer’s Travel Guides have recommendation for accommodation perfect for writers. They all have at least one good writing spot, whether it’s a desk in the room or a great common area won’t mind spending all day in.
Are you planning to write while traveling? That’s awesome! I hope you will find these tips useful, and please let me know in the comments below! I’m always looking to connect with writers who travel 🙂
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Number 4 is really important, it’s hard to break the habit of doing too much. But you definitely need a vacation from your vacation sometimes to spark creativity.
Great advice. I always plan on writing, but then never do it.
These are all really helpful tips. I especially need to start carrying a notebook with me. We go hiking a lot and if I don't write about it as soon as I get home I can forget the small details.
I love to write when I'm in the moment. I sit in a park or at a museum and write a description of where I am. What does it smell like? How does the air taste? What can I hear? It helps me to add more sensory information to my descriptions when I go back to writing fiction, and it vividly brings back that moment when I'm thinking about my trip!
These tips are awesome. I start to keep notes and then it falls off while we are traveling. I need to be so much better about this. I love the idea of scheduling writing days into itinerary. I also like to start posts before the trips and have as much info as I can before we travel. Good stuff, thank you!