You may remember me writing about the travel journal I was going to take away with me. I chose a school exercise book and added embellishments to some pages to overcome the fear of the blank space. My intention was to make a journal with the ephemera I collected along the way.
It worked really well, and I am very pleased with it. It is satisfyingly chunky and tactile. And even though I haven’t written about every day there are so many wonderful memories through the book.
So a couple of examples:
The blue circles, stuck on at home, helped get over the fear of the blank page. Maps, which are readily available, were a great way to explain where I went, and the scenic photos in tourist brochures are way better than any I could take.
Paper bags make great pockets for postcards and brochures. This one came from our visit to France, on the island of St Pierre off the coast of Newfoundland. The stamp was a nice touch too.
I was pleased how this collection of a ticket, wrappers, torn paper bags work together.
Lastly, this page from Montreal shows another way to include postcards. I hinged one of Maison Saint Gabriel over the information I wrote about our visit.
I travelled through the lands of many First Nations Peoples of Canada, and I respect them for the deep love and care they have for their Country. I acknowledge their ancestors and elders past and present. As I respectfully acknowledge the traditional custodians of this land on which I live in Melbourne/Naarm – the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung People of the Kulin Nation, their spirits, ancestors, elders and community members past and present. The land always was, and always will be, Aboriginal land.
Anne Lawson Art 
16 replies on “My travel journal”
I am envious! I want to do an awesome travel journel like that! Nice job and the journal(s) will be so fun to revisit!
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Thanks Tierney. It was very easy to do, and I am sure your creative spirit would love it. There is so much ephemera around ~ maps, tourist brochures, food wrappers, paper bags, postcards etc ~ that sometimes the tricky part is knowing what to leave out. Also I would advise you to do it regularly on the trip, as the bits and bobs mount up. However, I think you are a very organised person, and that wouldn’t be a problem. ☺️ There are lots of great videos on youtube to give you ideas. Search in ‘junk journals’, ‘altered books’.
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I was actually inspired by your journal post and I now have a journal I found at a thrift store and a pile of ephemera from my recent travels sitting next to it!
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I love this sort of thing, Anne! It came out so well – I’ll bet it was a satisfying extra to your trip as a whole. Thanks for showing it to us.
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It was very satisfying, Laura. I tend to collect brochures and maps as I travel (my sister and I inherited that trait from Mum ☺️) so this gave me a good reason to indulge my fetish! Now it is satisfyingly chunky and bulky.
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Anne this is marvellous. What a treasure and trove of mementos and memories. But of course, it’s exactly what I would have imagined you creating, so lovely.
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That’s very sweet, Dale, thank you. I love how tactile it is, which makes it interesting to others too.
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What a fantastic record of your travels! Unless it is a photo of a person I am travelling with or met and want to remember I no longer take photos either – the professionals are better at it than me! But keeping postcards and tickets do mean something so are worth hanging on to. And I LOVE maps!
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Ah yes, maps! 💓 I am so pleased they are still printed for tourists, even though maps on phones are so easy to use and are necessary for a tourist. And tickets and other ephemera can be just as evocative as a photo. Having said that, I still take lots of photos!
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I am so grateful that my phone can navigate me to a a new place complete with instructions as I go along. But I also love maps to see the bigger picture and just because they are beautiful works of art in their own right and I admire the skill of making them.
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What a great idea. I often wish I had something similar from my travels all those years ago. Bravo!
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I have written journals from many of my travels. Now I have my Mum’s journals too. (Guess who I got this need to record from?!) I rarely open them but I like knowing that they are there on the bookshelf. I wonder if this recent book will be different, or will it sit on the shelf too?
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I have written the odd letter to myself in the past, but it was usually because of a dire need for an ‘outlet’. I’ve never written a diary per se so I’m fascinated by those who do. Much of what we know of history actually comes from the diaries of ordinary people, not professional historians.
For example, I grew up being taught nothing about the massacres perpetrated by white settlers against the Indigenous populations of Australia. Only since finding the Guardian website that compiles a lot of historical and private data have I realised how bloody our settlement was.
Btw…I am so proud of Victoria for being the first, and only state so far to go down the path to Treaty.
Apologies for the long detour!
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Many of the past travels since I got into book paper art have collected travel stuff. But also I’m now using stuff I collected in the 90s as background underlayment.
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What a great momento of your adventures Anne; I love how it turned out! My friend Sharon does junk journals, in this same kind of style. They are fun, but I love the premise of yours, to capture memories and experiences from your great trip!
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Anne, this is fantastic. It’s been years since I’ve kept a travel journal, adding postage, stickers, and ideas to the pages, but never anything like this. I need to schedule a holiday so I can take a page from your…journal, so to speak. This is a delight.
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