bottom left photo is the apartment courtyard of my homebase in budapest this summer.
while i'm away i focus on writing & collage in the journal. some days i DO NOT feel like making the time for it. but i do it anyway and am always glad i put in the effort.
i leave plenty of empty pages in between my daily recording and collaging. sometimes the photos match the writing perfectly, other times they are way off.
when i look back at the journal and flip through it a year from now it's the overall feeling i get from looking/reading it that matters most to me. i forget about all the work it took to bring this travel journal to life. very worth it if you ask me, but a plain written account of any trip is also very G O O D and shouldn't be discounted.
i so love the old letters and postcards i found at the esceri flea market.
how i would enjoy returning now in the fall when the weather is cool and pleasant.
"I feel happy to be keeping a journal again. I have missed it, missed naming things as they appear, missed the half hour when i push all duties aside and savor the experience of being alive in this beautiful place. One thing is certain, and i have always known it-the joys of my life have nothing to do with age. They do not change. Flowers, the morning and evening light, music, poetry, silence, the goldfinches darting about…"
-At Seventy by May Sarton
Cat – thank you 🙂 The SAT/SUN tags are from a friend. she used her die-cut machine and sent me a bunch. love them! the dotted sticker label is from some big name scrapbook brand – unknown to me because i have them all loose in a drawer. i buy them on sheets w/ various types of labels and always pack an assortment to take with me when I travel.
Your travel journal is gorgeous beyond words. What a way to keep forever memories!! I have been on so many vacations to Maine and the Cape and not a single journal to show for it! Those memories, the few I have left, are just a jumble in my mind. Yours will always be clear and defined and with the journals you have the ability to go back there any time you want to go. Sigh!! You are so lucky!! I do have a question for you though…where do you get those little tags/stickers that you use for dates or a little journaling (SAT, SUN, the one with the dots etc)? I absolutely love those–if you care to share. I wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t–when ever I see something like them I think of Mary Ann Moss!!
I love your journal and I really wish I’d started journaling a long time ago. I’ve made so many trips and journeys and today I can’t even remember where the photos were taken (or when) – they are from the time back then when we did not have digital cameras. I’ve always wanted to tuck the photos neatly in an album but it simply never happened – this is so frustrating. For my next trip I will definitely bring a journal and not make the same mistakes.
Alisa,
good question! by now after making enough travel journals i have a really good feel for how thick my book should be. I dont count so much as make sure I have a generous amount of pages without going overboard – again, i guage this by the thickness. Im usually right on. Allotting a certain number of pages per day will also work. Always add extra for the photos you insert later. ALWAYS better to have extra than not enough.
It’s all so beautiful and magical.
I’m fairly new to journalling and just learning those basic techniques like collaging first and leaving space to write and play around in later- so thank you for reinforcing that tip. I’d been feeling like I was cheating a bit by working backwards but sometimes I just get a flash of inspiration and I don’t want to forget about it before I find the time to work. Your pages are beautiful by the way and very evocative. Almost fairy-tale like.
Question, Mary Ann… when you’re making a book you know you will use as a travel journal, do you try to fit in a certain number of pages (eg. 2 for every day you are traveling) or do you just fit as many signatures in between the covers as will fit and hope you have enough pages to document your trip.
Also, I’m so going to go check out May Sarton now… thank you for that. 🙂
To savor: “to give oneself to the enjoyment of: to savor the best in life”. Such a gift to give yourself, and us, your readers. To savor … one of the delicious, delightful, delovely moments in life. Your work? Absolutely memorable. Will only get better with time … like a good bottle of wine. Donna
Your pages are BEAUTIFUL, truly a feast for the eyes!!! For my next travel journal (Costa Rica in July), I am going to leave more space for adding extra photos when I return home and instead concentrate more on getting the writing down. Love all the old postcards and that old envelope is gorgeous; the mix of new with vintage really makes your pages especially interesting too. Thanks for sharing!
I do not keep a journal except when we travel in the RV. I loved that you finished yours after the trip as you are the expert. I can never manage to finish it on the road. Just like to collect stuff. AND looking back in it is always fun and a tweak to a disintegrating memory.
They’re lovely pages. I am inspired, as always. Hey, you used upper case! This teaches me that saving capitals makes them very meaningful when they do appear. G O O D is beautiful. If you see what I mean.
I was reading Billy Collins last night. Do you know his poem Budapest?
Thank you for the chance to savor the experience of your wonderful journals..and the words of May Sarton! Both are delightful and inspiring!
This is amazing! We always learn so much from your travels. Not only do you teach, but you enrich our lives in a way that cannot be described other than artistic! The bits and pieces that you choose to incorporate into your travel log are so indicative of your whimsical personality. I get such profound joy living through your fearless voyage through life. Brava! Another stellar foray.
Fabulous. You make me want to return to Budapest myself. 😉
Doesn’t surprise me that you like May Sarton! I am going to get a bunch of her books out of the library. All of my books are in storage, it is frustrating when you know you OWN a book, and can even picture where it used to live on your bookcase, and not be able to grab it and dive in. I love libraries, though, I just can’t get immediate gratification!
I adore your Budapest journal, I am definitely putting Budapest on my bucket list!
xoxo
how dreamy….what a beautiful place to live…wow…i’m so glad you put the time in to show us your journal – so inspiring
Thanks for sharing your recent foray into May Sarton. It might be time for me to read her journals again…although when I did read them earlier, I didn’t have what I do, now. Now my life is much like what she writes about, my daily joys in the everydayness of it all. xo
Such a delight; your journal pages are. Aside from the wonderful serendipity of your pages is that your travel journals represent a before, during and after experience which I find so dang cool. You engage yourself with the coming journey before you ever leave home with the creation of the journal for the trip and then there is the time spent within it during your trip (the very favorite part of the trip; all the street finds from hither and yon, the collection of stuffs) and of course the bittersweet memories of your trip as you put the finishing touches on the journal when you return home. You can take yourself back to all those special places and moments as you work on the journal. I can’t imagine visiting such amazing places as you do and not documenting them. Your journals always ROCK!!!!!