Journal writing and technology

I'm about to leave on a RS tour, and intend to journal in handwriting for the first time. Then, each evening, I plan to digitize an entry and send it off in an email to myself for future reference. Like you, all I'm taking to Europe is my smartphone. To ease digitization and to assist with emailing generally, I've spent $30-odd to buy a Bluetooth-enabled keyboard. It folds down to @5x8" and folds out to a standard size keyboard. I bought a Meetion model through Amazon, but there are lots of similar keyboards available at different price points. Good luck!

I keep a handwritten travel journal that includes notes on my hotels, restaurants and activities/sightseeing as well as how much I enjoyed the day and if there were any glitches. I also use a small glue stick to attach any small paper mementos in my journal such as pretty ticket stubs from museums. I find it relaxing and fun to write in my journal at the end of each day on my trip.

Recently, I have been using Tripit https://www.tripit.com/web for travel planning. They have a free version you can try out. It helps me chart out my trips and include hotels, transportation, restaurants, itineraries. What is really nice is that Tripit saves my "past trips."

I continue to write in my journal because I enjoy it so much and it makes a nice souvenir, but Tripit is handy to have to look up travel information both during my trip and after.

I continue with handwritten journals. I find it a relaxing way to spend a bit of time at the end of a day, or during free time. And i can write faster and more accurately than i can type.. But you are right, it can be a bit difficult to go back through over a dozen journals to find one item of information. I've done a few things that make it easier. Because my journals almost always include multiple trips, I list the year and countries on either the inside cover or first page of the book. The first page of each trip has the included dates and each location I stayed at. And every entry has the date and location(s) I was at that day. It still takes a couple of minutes, but this helps me zero in on the info I need years later.

My elder daughter has been using Tripit for a few years now. But that's not journaling.

I now either type or dictate all my travel notes, but back when i first started, I hand wrote everything. However, I always converted it into some kind of document (usually Word).

What I do now (as I said above), is either type or dictate my travel notes. However, typing can be tedious and dictating using Siri can be a pain in the butt. Recently, I have been using a new program that uses AI that I read about in the Wall Street Journal that I love. There's a free version, although while I'm traveling I actually pay by the month for the paid version because you get more words. It's called Wispr and it is the most accurate app I've ever used for dictation. https://wisprflow.ai/

You don't even need to add periods or commas into your dictation. Wispr intuitively knows where they go. I'm telling you, this app cannot be beat. I have been so thrilled with it that like I said, I pay by the month when I'm traveling. When I'm not traveling, I usually don't pay, but I still continue to use the free version. It makes typing your written hand notes is so much easier. You can use it on all your devices, including your laptop, your tablet, or your phone.

For specific hotel names and restaurants, I create an iPhone contact for each, and add to notes the dates we stayed/ate, as well as any short comment. My hand written journal captures moods and impressions, in whatever length I choose. And I use Shutterfly to create a picture book of the best photos afterwards. I add a pocket to save hotel receipts, etc for future me's amazement at how cheap everything was.

I love to journal during my travels, too, but I'm old school -- I use a Moleskin journal. I never convert it to digital. However, I understand the wish to do so. I wrote a novel some years ago and began it by handwriting, but found that cumbersome. So I moved all the material I had handwritten to a Word document and finished the book in word processing mode. It ended up being 97,000 words. I'm glad I didn't handwrite it.

Hi Therese, it looks like Mardee shared a good solution for you.

On the other hand, if you’re just wanting quick access to your past hotel names, etc. either TripIt or just having a 1-page summary of a trip (I bring a 1-sheet Excel page with all hotel details, activity reservations, options) can be an easy way to have those details afterwards.

Think about what is so cathartic about your hand-written journaling. I had a friend’s husband who wrote travel journals in leather-bound books during their trips, and he even included little sketches on some pages between paragraphs. They were a work of art - both the descriptions & the little drawings! Whatever you plan, bring along your journal during this next trip in case you’re missing what made it special. : )

If you are in the Apple ecosystem the apps Journal and Freeform are included on all your devices and are syncable in iCloud. Many users don't even notice that they are there.

Also, rather than dictate to Siri, you have the Dictation option under the keyboard settings: "you can dictate text anywhere you can type it"

The ancient app Voice Memos has been updated in iOS 26 as well; it probably allows for inserting/moving around voice memos to your journal entries. (File sizes can get chonky, though.)

Check out some how-to videos on youtube to see how to take advantage of Journal and its latest features, like having separate journals for your trips, speculations, work, reminders, etc.

https://www.igeeksblog.com/how-to-use-journal-app-on-iphone/

I also like to journal my trips, and always travel with a older Netbook. It's quite old and very slow but still does the job. It's small so not a huge burden to carry. I create a file for each trip using MS Word, and record my experiences and thoughts at the end of each day. I can type faster than handwriting entries, and I find that helps me to express what I'm thinking more accurately and edit easily.

I don't think handwriting entries would work for me as it would be very slow and arduous, and my "old" wrist wouldn't tolerate the amount of material I like to record. For me using a computer is a more efficient method and minimizes the time it takes to record each day's activities.

Also, rather than dictate to Siri, you have the Dictation option under the keyboard settings: "you can dictate text anywhere you can type it"

Avi, it's still an inconvenient option. It just can't get a lot of things right, and I spend almost as much time correcting as I do dictating. Seriously, you should try Wispr. I found out about it from the tech reporter for the Wall Street Journal. She started using it and was raving about it. It's free, and you only have to pay if you use the dictation a lot. You get a certain number of words per week, I think. It really is amazing.