How I used a travelogue in Portugal

10.7.16


In May I travelled to Portugal with Chris. We spent a wonderful week on the south coast and for me it was more or less the first week off in 2016. I would finally have the time to do nothing at all, to sit in the sun and drink coffee, to swim in the ocean and to spend some quality time with Chris.

The scrapbooker in me got a little over enthusiastic and already imagined many ways in which I would document our travel adventures.


Right before we left I picked out a cute Rifle Paper notebook that I wanted to use as a travelogue.


I quickly assembled a scrapbooking-on-the-road kit: I filled the little bag that came with the Week In The Life kit with some stamps, ink, paper, washi tape, alphabet stickers and other small bits and pieces.


On the first day in Portugal I sat down at night and wrote about our day, glued and stamped in my notebook. I'm totally not used to keeping a journal or anything, so it felt a little out of my comfort zone to document without any photos or page protectors.


These blush labels and the stamp set are from the Studio Calico Lisse Street Project Life kit.



I love these little vacation stamps! Unfortunately I didn't take my Stazon ink with me but a little (cheap?) stamp pad so the stamping didn't turn out that great.



Documenting day 2 was fun as well since I had some time to kill while Chris went surfing.



However, on day 3 I felt like "Oh I have to sit down and write something in my notebook and create a beautiful page" all while I would have preferred to just relax with Chris (it was a vacation after all..). So after these pages I just stopped. I felt really bad at first because I didn't stick to my plan and I "wasted" a precious notebook.



In the end I decided it would be ok and that I would make a regular travel album like for my other trips as soon as I was home. I continued taking daily notes in my Midori which looks a lot less fancy but does the job anyway:


I'm not sure yet whether I'll try to keep a travelogue again. Maybe on a trip with more down time when there's actually some spare time for documenting. But on a vacation like this with lots of activities, sleep and quality time together, scrapbooking just isn't a priority.

Last week I started working on my travel album and I hope to share it in the next few days with you. After all, Portugal is one of my top five travel destinations...


Has anyone of you succeeded in keeping a travelogue? I'd love for you to share your thoughts in the comments.

- Kathi

Supplies I used:

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3 comments

  1. Anonymous11.7.16

    Fantastic start to your travelogue, but I totally understand not being able to keep up with it on your holiday. I've never tried to document while traveling, I just take plenty of photos and might make some notes at the end of each day. I'd love to try it at least once, but I don't think I'd get much done. ;) Can't wait to see your mini album!

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    1. That's exactly how I felt about it! I think however it depends on the type of vacation you're taking. Maybe a longer trip or a work trip might involve more downtime, and during that time it might be nice to create something. But it definitely doesn't work for me on short trips with loved ones.
      Thanks for the encouragement, I'll share my album at the end of the week!

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  2. Late to the game on this one, but just found your blog - love!!..... I have always tried to "journal" on our trips, sometimes I'm really faithful with it and sometimes I take all my stuff and don't even start! I do really appreciate when I journal daily because otherwise I forgot so many little details and things I which I COULD remember! Ha!.... I love your albums though and I am going to try and put some together. I do always take a poly envelope or some such thing to keep memorabilia in that I may want to put in my journal or an eventual album. I have all the info, just need to DO IT!! Thanks for some great ideas.... keep traveling!

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