STOCK UP ON SUPPLIES The obvious first step to starting your travel journal journey is… buying a journal. There are loads of great art and craft stores out there, but avoid the urge to buy the first thing that catches your eye. Casey Schuurman recommends having a think about what kind of book suits the type of journalling that you’d like to do. Are you predominantly a painter or a writer? A cut-and-paster or a scribbler? The mediums you intend to use should determine elements like size, paper thickness and texture – and the most expensive options aren’t always the best for the job. For example, Casey likes to fill her journals with lots of doodles and hand-lettered elements, so she uses an A5 Moleskine sketchbook. “After much trial and error, it suits the style I draw in, the finer pens I use and is a good size to fill a page with a nice amount of detail,” she says. “I personally go for smooth paper for drawing and a little thicker than standard so my pens don’t bleed through. If you’re planning to use paint, water or lots of layers, you’ll need something closer to 200gsm.” Casey also recommends concertina journals as a fun alternative to regular books, as the pages unfold into one long strip, allowing you to view a holiday, theme or series as a whole. When it comes to drawing materials, she prefers a simple mechanical pencil, and a mixture of liners and markers in different weights and colours. Elena Téa, on the other hand, likes to add elements like stickers, washi tape and photographs to her journals. She sells her own stickers on her shop, Studio Sogni, and is also a big fan of Martina’s Tiny Store and Milligram. Other supplies that Elena swears by are paperclips, washi tape and a brown pen – it feels softer and more lived-in than the standard black.

MAKE IT PERSONAL Sitting down to fill out your travel journal should be a fun, reflective practice – and what better way to make the process that extra bit special than by building your own personalised journal? Elena has been an avid journal-keeper for yonks, and decided that it was time to have a crack at crafting her own (you can watch the tutorial on her YouTube channel, @elenatea). “It involved going out and choosing a piece of leather, which was really fun, and then I found some grommets and hammered those into the leather after I cut it. Then, I chose my own notebooks and things to fill it with,” she says. Elena threaded cord through the grommets to secure several notebooks and a plastic pocket inside the leather cover. She then added jewellery charms to a cord that wraps around the exterior of the journal, keeping everything nice and protected. If making a journal from scratch sounds a bit daunting, refillable journal covers are available to buy from heaps of craft stores – just find one that fits your book of choice. Take inspiration from Elena and add charms to zhuzh up the exterior.

PACK SOME TOOLS – NOT TOO MANY OK, we can understand the urge to pack 20 pairs of undies (one more, just in case!) but there’s no need to squash your entire craft drawer into your suitcase. First things first: your journal, followed by a writing utensil and something sticky, like a glue stick or adhesive dots. Elena travels a lot, so she’s got her go-to travel tools down pat: her favourite pen, a roll of washi tape, and, if she has checked luggage, scissors for cutting up all the bits of ephemera she collects during the journey. “I always like to tell people to keep it simple, because that means you will be more likely to pick up your journal and keep it consistent – especially since you’re always on the go,” she says. If she wants to go the extra mile, Elena will also pack a mini smartphone photo printer (Fujifilm makes a few good options) and some watercolour pencils.

GO WITH THE FLOW When your itinerary is packed with activities, how do you find the ideal time to get your craft on? Before breakfast? While sipping a glass of pinot at a fancy bar? Avoid putting too much pressure on yourself and journal when inspiration strikes. For Elena, it all depends on the kind of place she’s visiting and how she’s feeling in the moment. “If I’m by the beach, I love doing early-morning stream-of-consciousness pages. Or if I’m in a city, maybe I’ll go to a café,” she says. “And then it’s just about finding the time on one afternoon to sit down and do junk journalling, like sticking things in and drawing.” Casey notes that it’s also fun to do a post-holiday journalling sesh, as a way to decompress and reflect on all the amazing things you got to see, eat and do. She actually prefers waiting at least six months after the trip! “I found pages drawn in real-time often attempted to capture too many details, because everything feels important and diary-worthy in the dreamy daze of travel,” she says. “The sweet spot for me is one year later. This amount of time reveals what was truly memorable, and makes the decision of what to emphasise on each page an easy one.”

To read the rest of Casey and Elena's tips and get your mitts on some rad journalling prompts, nab a copy of PLACES at the frankie shop or visit one of our lovely stockists. For future issues, subscribe here.