Are you doing anything for spring break? I keep seeing cheap flight tickets to different countries and I’m so tempted to make plans! While I probably won’t be headed anywhere this spring break, travel is definitely on my mind as I get ready for a big trip this summer and plan to document my past trips as well.

My inner documenter always gets excited about documenting trips as I anticipate new experiences. But it can also be stressful when I get stumped as to what is the best way to document. To help me with my indecision, I turned to Pinterest and scouted for various travel journal ideas and looked for something that would work best in my situation.

I explored and considered various ideas as I was preparing for my two-month long trip last October. And I would totally use these ideas again in another situation!

Ways to document your travels:

1. Mini album

Gather a random assortment of photos, patterned paper and kraft/white paper and put them in a binder or with rings. The sky’s the limit!

2. Midori Traveler’s album

These are really popular right now for their compact size and flexibility. This option was a close second to what I eventually chose.

3. Regular notebook – bound or spiral

The nice thing about this is that they are so easily accessible and you can get them anyway, with lots of variety. But some options may not be memory-keeping friendly (think acid- / lignin-free) if that’s a concern.

4. Pocket page album

Whether it’s 4×4, 6×8, 4×6, 6×12 or whatever size suits your taste. Again, there are plenty of options in the scrapbooking world nowadays.

5. Photo book

If you like, you can work on it as you go and print it out after your trip when you get home. Or you can work on it all in one shot. Totally up to you. Caylee, Kelly and Elise all have some great ideas for these.

6. Bonus! Memory planner

As the planner and scrapbook worlds have collided, a planner is a great way to jot down little things to remember about each day. This has lots of flexibility to make it as simple or as “dressed up” as you would like to make your documenting!

Need more ideas and inspiration? I pinned lots of journal and album inspiration here.

All these options would work well, depending on what and how you want to document.

I tossed around all these options in my head before eventually settling on using a soft-cover plain Moleskine notebook for my entire trip. (See it action here and a closer look at this coming soon in another post!)

If you’re still undecided on what works best for documenting your trip, ask yourself these questions for a start:

• What will I be using it for? Words? Photos? Memorabilia?
• What do I want to accomplish with my documenting? Just journaling? Words and photos in an art journal style?
• How portable does it need to be?
• What size photos will I print?
• What is my intention for this travel notebook?
• Do the pages need to be acid- and lignin-free? Is that a concern for you?
• What is my preference? Does my journal need to have rings? Should it lay flat? Should it have lines, grids, blank pages?

Take all the little things into consideration to choose a travel journal that is perfect for you.

What is your favorite way to document your travels? Let me know in the comments!