Recording your RV adventures – does this mean keeping a written journal? Are my travel and RV adventures worth recording? Where do I begin? What special tools or equipment do I need? What if I don’t write well or don’t enjoy writing? Is this going to take up a lot of my time?
So many questions but don’t worry, we’ve got answers to all of them and more in this ultimate guide to journaling your road trips.
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Capturing Your RV Adventures
Recording your travel and RV adventures can be a rewarding experience, allowing you to capture not only the destinations you visit but also the emotions, surprises, and small details that make each journey unique.
Whether you’re a seasoned RVer or a weekend adventurer, documenting your roads trips and experiences can enhance the event and help preserve memories for years to come. In this guide, we’ll explore different ways to record your travel and RV adventures and offer tips on how to make the most of your travel journaling.
Warning: this one is a whopper. There is so much info I want to share with you! So, make a big cuppa joe or tea or whatever your beverage of choice is, pull up an easy chair, and settle in for a good long read!
Why Journal?
Journaling is a timeless way to capture thoughts, emotions, and experiences. For RV travelers, journaling goes beyond a mere record of places visited. It can serve as a creative outlet, a personal travel log, or a family keepsake to pass on to future generations. Here are a few reasons why journaling your travel and RV trips is so meaningful:
- Preserve Memories: Writing helps you recall special moments long after your trip has ended.
- Reflection: Journaling allows you to reflect on your experiences and learn from them.
- Creativity: It’s a space to be artistic through writing, drawing, or even crafting.
- Family Connection: It’s a fun way to involve family members, creating a shared travel diary.
- Personal Growth: Revisiting old journals can show how your perspectives and travel habits have evolved over time.
Maybe these things are important to you, maybe not. The point here is that journaling is a way to keep experiences alive long after they are finished.
I’ve used my journals for writing countless blogposts – such as Outdoor Adventures Camping in Snow Canyon State Park | Utah – and then refer back to those blogposts when friends or family ask us for tips on where to camp or what to do in a certain place!
Think of journaling as a gift that keeps on giving.
Types of Journals and Other Ways to Record Your RV Travel Adventures
There are numerous ways to document your RV adventures. Whether you’re a writer, a photographer, or a visual artist, there’s a journaling method that suits your style.
I personally have used multiple ways to record our RV adventures – from scrapbooking to hard copy paper journals to digital apps to blogging. Each one has a different purpose but don’t worry, you can start with just one! Check out these different – yet all popular – ways to record your RV travels.
Paper Journals
Long-form Travel Journal: Perfect for those who enjoy writing detailed accounts of daily adventures, observations, and reflections. I love this style of journaling but often don’t have time to make long daily entries. Instead I’ll come back as soon as I can and flesh out my basic bullet journal style of notes.
Bullet Journal: Combines journaling with organization through to-do lists, mood trackers, and quick notes, offering a structured approach.
Watercolor Art Journal: For those who prefer expressing their travel experiences through painting, sketching, and short notes. I recently bought this exact journal for a road trip to Haida Gwaii, on the west coast of Canada. It’s especially fun to create images of your travels on stormy days when you are stuck inside!
Scrapbook Journal: Capture memories through a combination of writing, photos, and small mementos like tickets, maps, and postcards.
Junk Journal: A creative and eclectic way to document your travels using recycled paper, maps, fabric, and other materials.
Digital Journals
If paper isn’t your thing, digital journals offer flexibility and convenience. You can easily journal on-the-go with the help of apps or digital platforms. This is especially helpful for travelers who prefer typing or those who want multimedia features. More to follow on this!
Photos and Photo Books
If you’re more visual, you might prefer to document your trips through photography. Creating photo books or scrapbooks online can be a wonderful way to capture the highlights of your RV trips. You can even add captions to each photo to recall specific moments.
Collage and Shadow Boxes with Mementos
If you’re a tactile creator, consider making collages or shadow boxes filled with small souvenirs from your trip—brochures, shells, coins, or ticket stubs. These create a visual and physical representation of your journey.
Maps
Tracking your route on a map and marking the spots you’ve visited can be a fun, visual way to see your progress and revisit memories. You can write short notes next to each location, recalling what you did or felt there.
Blogging RV Adventures
Hey – that’s what we do here at TimeTravelTrek.com! Starting a travel blog allows you to share your experiences and tips with a wider audience. Blogging combines journaling with storytelling. It offers an outlet to share your adventures, tips, travel insights with others as well as provides inspiration and motivation for others to get out and experience their own RV adventure.
What Do You Need to Start Recording Your RV Trip Memories?
Getting started with journaling your RV travels is easier than you might think. Depending on your journaling style, here’s a quick list of essentials you’ll need:
- Paper Journals or Notebooks: Choose one that matches your journaling style (lined, blank, or dot grid pages).
- Pens, Markers, and Watercolors: Creative tools to embellish your entries.
- Digital Journal App or Platform: If you’re going digital, download an app that suits your needs (see list below).
- Camera and/or Smartphone: Essential for capturing photos and moments to complement your journal.
- Mementos: Collect small items from your travels to include in your journals or scrapbooks.
- Maps: Physical or digital maps for tracking your journey.
The Best Travel Journal Apps
With the increasing popularity of digital journaling, RV travelers now have access to a wide variety of apps that make it easy to document their adventures in real time.
Whether you want to capture written thoughts, photos, videos, or track your journey on a map, digital journal apps offer versatile tools to record your experiences.
How to Use Digital Journal Apps for Recording Your RV Adventures
Getting started with a digital journal app is simple, and it offers several advantages over traditional paper journaling. With digital apps, you can journal on the go, add multimedia elements like photos and videos, and often sync your entries across devices. Here’s a basic overview of how to start:
- Download and Install the App: Choose an app that fits your needs from the list below and install it on your phone or tablet.
- Create an Account: Some apps require you to create an account to save and sync your entries across devices.
- Start a New Entry: Once you’re set up, you can create a new journal entry by writing text, uploading photos, or adding location data.
- Customize Your Entry: Most apps allow you to format text, add tags, and organize entries by date or location.
- Add Media: Use your device’s camera to add photos, videos, or voice memos that complement your journal.
- Track Your Route: Some apps let you map your route, mark your stops, and create a visual timeline of your journey.
- Sync and Backup: Many apps offer cloud backup, so your memories are safe even if your device is lost or damaged.
Now, let’s dive into 10 of the top travel journal apps for RV adventurers and travelers, including how they work and what makes them stand out – each one is unique.
1. Polarsteps
Best for: Route tracking and photo journaling
Polarsteps automatically tracks your journey as you travel, mapping your route in real time. You can add photos, notes, and location data to create a visual timeline of your adventures. The app generates beautiful travel logs that you can share with others or print into a photo book.
Features: Route tracking, photo uploads, location tagging, offline tracking, travel stats
How to Use: Set Polarsteps to automatically track your journey, and upload photos or notes at each stop to document your trip.
Various entries in Facebook groups have raved about Polarsteps. I haven’t personally investigated it because my fave app is coming up next!
2. Day One
Best for: A comprehensive journaling experience with multimedia
Day One is one of the most popular journaling apps, offering a sleek interface where you can combine text, photos, audio recordings, and videos into one entry. It also captures metadata such as weather, location, and activity, adding context to your adventures.
Features: Photos, videos, audio recordings, location data, metadata, cloud sync
How to Use: Start a new entry by adding text or media. The app automatically logs your location and weather, providing a rich overview of your experience.
I have to admit, I love Day One. Using only the free version I can record a synopsis of each day and add a photo to go along with my paper journal and blog.
In my mind, Day One is a quick and easy way to make note of the day so that when there’s more time, you can flesh out details in a paper journal. It’s also simple to look back in the calendar mode to find a particular trip date, which I use to reference the paper journal entries and write blogposts.
3. Journey
Best for: Clean, simple journaling with cloud sync
Journey is a versatile app that allows you to write journal entries, add photos, and track locations. It offers Google Drive integration for backup and sync, making it easy to access your entries across devices.
Features: Photos, location tracking, cloud sync, Google Drive backup
How to Use: Create new entries by adding text or media and tag your location. The app automatically syncs across your devices for easy access.
Another great option, but I really only need one app so I haven’t investigated this one thoroughly yet!
4. Penzu
Best for: Private, secure journaling
Penzu is a customizable digital journal app with a focus on privacy. You can lock your journal with military-grade encryption and add tags to organize your entries. It’s perfect for those who prefer a private space to document their thoughts and travels.
Features: Customizable entries, military-grade encryption, tagging, password protection
How to Use: Create entries with text and photos, and rest assured that your journal is secure with password protection and encryption.
Check it out!
5. Momento
Best for: Automatically importing social media and photo data
Momento is designed to capture your memories by automatically importing data from your social media accounts. This makes it easy to collect photos, posts, and check-ins, which can then be combined with written journal entries to document your travel experiences.
Features: Social media integration, photo imports, timeline creation
How to Use: Connect your social media accounts to the app, and let it automatically pull in your posts and photos to create a cohesive travel timeline.
If you post a lot on social media (like I do on Instagram), then this might be the app for you.
6. Lifecraft
Best for: Mood tracking and journaling combined
Lifecraft offers a unique journaling experience by combining mood tracking with traditional journaling. You can log your emotions alongside your daily adventures, and the app will generate insights based on your entries over time.
Features: Mood tracking, text and photo entries, cloud sync
How to Use: Write journal entries and log your mood for each day. The app will track trends and offer insights based on your emotional state and activities.
Mood trackers are hugely popular these days – and we all know that RV adventures can lead to a variety of moods 😉
7. Evernote
Best for: Versatile notetaking and multimedia integration
While Evernote isn’t exclusively a journaling app, it’s great for travel journaling thanks to its versatility. You can create entries with text, photos, web clippings, and checklists, making it an all-in-one tool for organizing your RV adventures.
Features: Notes, checklists, photo uploads, cloud sync, web clipping
How to Use: Create a notebook for your RV travels, and add text, media, and even links or checklists to each entry. Sync across devices for easy access.
I’ve personally found Evernote really useful for clipping webpages and research notes for writing, but I’ve never tried it for creating a note about our RV adventures. Again, so many apps and ways to record trips, so little time to investigate them all. If you haven’t yet found an app, be sure to check Evernote and all the others to see which one is the best fit for your needs.
8. Travel Diaries
Best for: Creating online travel journals to share with others
Travel Diaries is a travel-specific journaling app that lets you create beautiful, shareable travel stories. You can add photos, maps, and detailed descriptions of your trip and share them with family and friends or publish them online.
Features: Maps, photo uploads, travel story creation, online sharing
How to Use: Start a new travel diary, add locations, photos, and stories, and share your adventures with others through an online link.
I like the option for online sharing – great for keeping friends and families in the travel loop.
9. Diaro
Best for: Organizing journal entries by location and date
Diaro is a user-friendly journaling app that allows you to organize your travel entries by date, time, and location. It offers multi-device sync and a secure space for your notes, making it a solid choice for RV travelers who like to keep things organized.
Features: Location-based entries, multi-device sync, photo uploads, password protection
How to Use: Write daily entries, add location data, and upload photos to create a well-organized travel journal.
Another awesome option!
10. My Maps by Google
Best for: Mapping your route and adding notes along the way
My Maps by Google allows you to create custom maps of your RV travels. You can mark specific locations, add notes, and even upload photos to each pin, creating a visual representation of your journey.
Features: Custom maps, location markers, photo and note uploads, route tracking
How to Use: Create a new map for your trip, drop pins at key locations, and add notes or photos to each one as you travel.
If you’re a map person – and I know quite a few of you probably are – then this is a cool digital app for tracking your route and recording adventures.
General RV Travel Journal Prompts
If you’re unsure where to start with journaling, try using prompts to guide your writing. Here are some ideas:
- What was the highlight of today’s adventure?
- Describe the most memorable person you met during your trip.
- What made this location different from others you’ve visited?
- How did this trip change your perspective on travel or life?
- List three things that surprised you about your destination.
- What smells, sounds, or tastes stand out from today?
Travel Journal Prompts for Active Adventures
When you’re out on an active adventure, it can be helpful to focus on the sensory details, the challenges you faced, and the highlights of the day.
Here at TimeTravelTrek, we love RV adventures that take us to places where we can hike, bike, paddle, explore nature, and/or discover historic sites. If you’re like us, these prompts will help you document the unique aspects of each of these kinds of journeys.
Hiking Prompts
- Which trail did you hike today, and what was its difficulty level?
- What was your favorite part of the hike today? Was it a viewpoint, a section of trail, or something unexpected?
- How did you feel at the beginning, middle, and end of the hike? Did your energy or mood change?
- Describe the natural surroundings on your hike—what did you see, hear, smell, or touch?
- Did you encounter any wildlife, plants, or interesting geological features on the trail?
- What challenges did you face on the hike (elevation gain, rough terrain, weather)?
- How did the weather impact your hiking experience today?
- What surprised you the most about the hike?
- How did this trail compare to others you’ve hiked before?
- If you could hike this trail again, what would you do differently?
Mountain Biking Prompts
- Where did you ride today, and what type of terrain did you cover?
- What was the most thrilling part of your ride—was it a steep descent, a technical section, or a fast-flowing singletrack?
- How did the bike handle the terrain? Did you make any adjustments along the way?
- Describe the landscape you rode through. Were there any standout features, like a waterfall, a mountain view, or a dense forest?
- How did your body feel during and after the ride? Any moments of exhaustion or exhilaration?
- What was the most challenging aspect of the ride (sharp turns, steep climbs, or obstacles)?
- Did you ride solo or with a group? How did the dynamic affect your ride?
- How did the ride change your perspective on the area you explored?
- What lessons did you learn from today’s ride that you’ll apply to future adventures?
- If you could improve one skill for your next ride, what would it be?
Paddling Prompts (Canoeing/Kayaking/SUP)
- Which body of water did you explore today, and how were the conditions (wind, current, water temperature)?
- What was your favorite part of today’s paddling adventure?
- How did the water feel beneath your boat or board—was it calm, choppy, or flowing fast?
- Describe the wildlife or aquatic life you encountered during your paddle.
- What was the most peaceful or meditative moment of your time on the water?
- Did you face any challenges today (navigating currents, wind, or tricky sections)?
- How did you feel physically after paddling—tired, energized, or somewhere in between?
- How does paddling in this location compare to other places you’ve explored?
- Did you stop along the shore or on an island? If so, what did you experience there?
- If you paddled with a group, how did the dynamic play out on the water?
Historic Site Exploration Prompts
- Which historic site did you visit today, and what was its significance?
- What was the most fascinating part of exploring this site—was it a particular artifact, building, or story?
- How did walking through this location make you feel? Did it transport you to another time?
- What new historical fact or insight did you learn today that you didn’t know before?
- Were there any myths, legends, or local stories connected to the site that intrigued you?
- Did the site offer any guided tours or interpretive materials? How did they enhance your experience?
- What features or details stood out to you at the site—architectural details, ruins, artifacts, or monuments?
- How did visiting this site change your understanding or appreciation of the area’s history?
- What questions do you still have after visiting this site?
- If you could revisit the site, what would you focus on or explore more in depth?
Tips for Journaling Your RV Adventures
To get the most out of your journaling experience, keep these tips in mind:
- Be Consistent: Set aside a specific time each day to write, even if it’s just a few lines.
- Get Creative: Don’t be afraid to experiment with different mediums—photos, sketches, or even video clips.
- Use Prompts: If you’re stuck, use journal prompts to spark ideas.
- Don’t Aim for Perfection: Journals are personal and don’t need to be polished. Let your thoughts flow freely.
- Share with Others: If you’re comfortable, consider sharing your entries with family, friends, or online followers.
- Review and Reflect: Take time to look back at your entries and reflect on your journey.
- Collect Mementos: Add physical mementos like postcards or ticket stubs to enhance your journal.
- Track Your Routes: Use maps to trace your path and mark significant stops along the way.
- Have Fun: Above all, make journaling a fun and relaxing part of your travel routine.
Journal On!
Whether you prefer writing, photography, or crafting, recording your RV travel memories is a wonderful way to preserve the magic of the open road.
With so many journaling options to choose from, there’s a method for every traveler.
Start small, stay consistent, and enjoy the process of reflecting on your adventures. One day, when you’re over 60, going gray, and getting a little forgetful, you’ll look back and be grateful you took the time to record these priceless memories because once they’re gone, the story dies. Journals live on!
Check out our 2025 RV trip planner, available on Etsy – it works well as a simple monthly, weekly, and/or daily journal to get you started right in the New Year!
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