Now you’ve chosen your journal it’s time to put together a small ‘kit’ to take with you on your travels so you have everything you need to hand. Depending on how you plan to use your journal your kit will vary, for example if you simply wish to write in your journal all you need is a pen or two and your book. If you enjoy sketching or painting you may choose to take some coloured pencils or a small watercolour palette and brushes (water brushes are great for travel). 😉

If you plan to include lots of photos and don’t want to leave spaces in your journal (marked in pencil with the photo you want to include) till you get home and around to printing them, or, like me, forget to print them… Personal photo printers or instant cameras are brilliant! They do, however, add quite a bit of bulk to the amount of stuff you are carrying with you, buying a postcard is often a cheaper and more portable option. Having said that, I absolutely love my Instax Printer and I’m intrigued by Zink technology used in other instant cameras and printers, it prints your photos as stickers!

Since I cannot draw I rarely sketch in my journals, a very badly drawn sketch map is about my limit! I choose to create interest by keeping all sorts of found items in my travel journal (tickets, postcards, etc. More on this to follow in the next article).

My personal travel kit contains the following items:

• Journal
• Couple of pens (black ink is my preference)
• Pencil (a mechanical pencil works great and never needs sharpening 😉)
• Eraser
• Small ruler
• Pair of small scissors (check with your airline, but generally you’re allowed to keep them with you as long as the blades are within size guidelines)
• Washi tape
• Tape runner & Refill
• Glue stick (although I haven’t used it on the last couple of trips so will probably not take one next time)
• Mini stapler and extra staples
• Mini bulldog clips (to keep items together, hold my journal open to the right page, or clip something into my journal temporarily)
• Large paper clip  (to keep hold of papers I collect along the way)
• Decorative stickers or transfers
• Instax printer and extra film (since I take nearly all my photos on my phone, it’s so easy to print one or two each day and glue them into my journal.)

This was my journal kit (plus mini stapler) by the end of my last trip… All of which fit easily into a ziplock bag. I also had my Instax printer.

(This article is part of a series about keeping a travel journal, to read the previous post click here.)