So I love to journal especially when I travel. I love having a written jMy travel journals are nothing elaborate, just a notebook where I write down what I did/see/eat, my thoughts at the time and then add in some photos and relevant ephemera.

How big a kit and what’s in the kit varies from trip to trip but there is a core group of items that goes into my kit. Some of the items will stay in the hotel room while others will go out with me so I can journal on the go. Here’s a quick list of those core items and then I’ll go into them in more detail:

• Journal
• Pens, pencil & eraser
• Glue tape
• Washi tape
• Stickers & Die cuts
• Envelopes & pockets
• Mini cutter & scissors
• Portable photo printer & paper

Let’s go into each item:

Journal
I’ve tried different kinds of journals over the years but the one I’ve been loving lately is the MD Paper grid notebook in A6. The A6 size keeps things nice in compact but still allowing you plenty of room to journal. I use a Hobonichi Techo cover for my journal which gives me pockets to store things to bring with me on the go.

Pens, pencil & eraser
I tend to keep this simple. I use a black gel pen for my journaling, a couple of mildliners to help break up the journal by day as well as the different locations I went during that day. I also bring a pencil and eraser with me in case I want to sketch/draw something in my journal but will usual wait till I’m either back in the room or when I’m home to colour in.

Glue tape
I think this is self explantory – it’s to help stick things into my journal. I prefer to use glue tape rather than liquid glue because it makes things less messy and also because I can easily bring it on the plane without having to take it out of my kit.

Washi Tape
I use washi tape to either tip in something into my journal or just to add some deco. I usually bring about 2-3 options with me of different withs and patterns but one must always be plain. They will usually coordinate with each other so that they can be used together.

Stickers & Die Cuts
Just to add some colour and decoration to my journal.

Envelopes & pockets
These come in handy when there is something I want to keep in my journal but don’t or can’t stick it in – eg money or maybe a transit card.

Mini cutter & scissors
So that I can trim things to fit into my journal.

Portable photo printer & paper
So I can add photos to my journal on the go. This usually stays back at the hotel room but I will carry a template with me so that I can plan where I want a photo to be and journal around it and then just add the photo later.

Here’s a list of the brands of items I regularly use. I won’t list because for some of the items it changes from trip to trip.

Journal – MD Paper A6 grid notebook – Jet Pens / Amazon
Pen – Pentel EnerGel RTX Gel Pen, Needle Point, 0.5 mm [black] – Jet Pens / Amazon
Mildliners – Zebra mildliners – Jet Pens / Amazon
Glue tape – Tombow Mono Adhesive Glue Tape – Jet Pens / Amazon
Mini cutter – Amazon / Scrapbook.com
Scissors – same brand different model – Amazon / Jet Pens
Portable photo printer & paper  – Amazon