Trip Prep

Whenever I am preparing for the trip, the week before leaving I start putting together all the things I need.  Especially when the trip requires me to only take the most essential things.  I also start to assembly my trip journal.  I found on my first big trip that although it was a great and fantastic time, after the first couple of days on the road I would begin to forget what took place every day.  That’s when I decided to put together a journal for my trips.  As well, when i went looking for something to suit my purposes, there was nothing that even came close to what I wanted or was even affordable to my budget.  Why should I pay over $300 for a journal that does not do what I need, when I could spend that $300 on my traveling?

A few years ago I was able to pick up a hand made journal that was wrapped in reclaimed leather.  It helps in keeping all my stuff together – even the little receipts and odds and sods I end up shoving in between the pages.

Here it is:

The leather thong that is worked into the binding works well holding all my little add-ins safe.  From menus to brochures, from receipts to maps I keep it all in my trip journal.  I also make up small envelopes to keep some of the other paperwork in order.

           

7 comments

  1. Nice journal. If you make your own inserts, consider rhodia paper. It is smooth as butter. I would love to see a closeup of the stamp on the leather.

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    • The next trip is from Vancouver Island, BC to Manitoba via motorcycle.

      and I leave on Sunday. 8 more sleeps and it can’t get here soon enough. LOL

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  2. I really like the journal and am wondering where you got it. At the end it is really a book, and ideal since you have a special talent for drawing so can illustrate as well as write as you go along. So at the end you have a book, which you have already assembled along the way and which you then can pop into your bookshelf, make copies of, or whatever. Very very cool.

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    • I was on a motorcycle trip and needed to get off for a ‘butt-break’. I came across a little pottery store/coffee shop on the side of the road, pulled in and ordered. When I was drinking my tea and wandering around the shop I found it. It’s been in my saddlebag ever since. I take it out to add things to it or organize it better – then back into the saddle bag it goes.

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