A Little Travel Journal.

I mentioned on Instagram that I have finally learned a way to like riding in the car on long trips.

It all has to do with a small travel journal I keep. 

My friend, Lori, asked what I used and if I would do a blog post about it, as she is going on a long trip as well.

I'm happy to oblige.

Plus, it's a good blog topic.

I use a pretty basic journal, one that wouldn't be too hard to put together. 

Cut a long piece of paper, score and fold in an accordion fashion at equal measurements, then cut and sew in a few smaller pages, just for interest into various folds. Using heavy cardboard, cut out two squares big enough to cover the first and last page and then cover with paper or fabric on both sides.

Glue the cardboard to the first and last page.

Done.

Now comes the fun part!

My go to's in my old cosmetic bag.

First, a small plastic container with decoupage and scissors. IF you are in the car, that will work. IF you are planning on putting this on a plane with you and are NOT checking in baggage, this will not work.

TSA has a nice board with all the items they will not let on the plane. Small scissors as well as large hammers and liquids over 3 oz. are not allowed.  Personally, I wouldn't consider decoupage as a liquid, but what do I know?

Washi tape.

Always.

I haven't included stamps and an ink pad in the past, but  on this last trip, I threw it in at the last minute.

I ended up only using one or two stamps as they get lost easily in the car.

I don't think I would bring them again.

Looking back, I think I got really lucky because I  didn't drop the StazOn inkpad on the cloth upholstery of the rental car. 

Note to self: leave stamps and ink at home.

I heart, love, adore, like these pens.

A lot.

The Aquarelle set I got at Michael's and the Letraset Promarker I ordered through Dick Blick.

They are water color pens with two different nibs.

They flow well, you can add a color on top of another, they go over ink pens and when you bring a small water brush, you can blend them. 

Or, you can stick your finger into your Starbucks cup and smudge away.

HOWEVER:

I have found that when driving in high altitudes, these pens will not adapt very well.

While driving through Vail, Colorado, I took a pen cap off and had a large amount of watercolor came gushing out of the pen nib. It ended up all over the journal page, so I smeared it around with some water, so all was not lost. I also managed to keep it from soaking into the upholstery of the U-Haul we were driving.

not the best photo of the water brush, but you get the idea.

My favorite pens:

Scarlet Lime Doodling Pen, Faber Castell Pitt Artist Pen, a sharpie mini from Staple, a pencil and not shown, a gum eraser.

I use these in various ways.

Highlighting, journaling, outlining...

The pencil comes in handy when I want to try different fonts and I look up dafont.com on my phone for ideas.

I'll sketch out the words first and then go over it with either the Faber Castell pen or the Sharpie.

I keep them all in this handy dandy pencil pouch I got when I took a class from Christy Tomlinson, which fits into the main bag with everything else.

After you gather your supplies and toss everything into a bag, anything goes.

I keep carry-out bags from Chipotle, (the lettering is way fun to cut out) receipts, Starbucks bags, hotel room key envelopes, baggage tags, gum wrappers, you name it. It gets really fun when the people you are traveling with start handing you random items.

Sometimes I will decopauge the item onto the journal paper or use washi tape to keep it in place.

I might doodle around it, or color empty spots in with the watercolor pens and then doodle/write over that.

I do NOT eat at McDonalds, but the salad I had there was way better than the stuff we picked up at the Wal-Mart grocery store....

All of this wording came from a Chipotle bag:

Maps are fun to use as well.

Make sure your husband does not need it at the time of ripping it up to find your way back to the airport.

 I like doing this while we drive as I will continue talking with people in the car. Compared to burying my head in a book, it's a lot more fun.

O.K.

I bury my head at times in the travel journal as well, but it does lend to more conversation as you can ask others what they remember and record it. Or write down different conversation topics, songs that you listen to on the radio, etc.

The last thing I will do is print photographs from my phone using Social Print Studio and put them on the smaller pages. They will print your photos from your phone and offer different print sizes. 

I like to use the ones that look like old Polaroids. They are a great company and send nice emails as well!

I will put photos on the blog of what they look like after I order them.

So, tell me...

What will you pack on your next road trip??

Linking with:

Linda at http://linda-coastalcharm.blogspot.com/