10 Ways to Use a Pocket Notebook When Traveling

Before your next trip, pack a pocket notebook

When I travel, I always carry a pocket notebook.

A pocket notebook is a complete tool to help you prepare for, enjoy, and remember your trips. With the right method, your notebook will become a keepsake you can look back on in the future to remember your trip in greater detail than your memory alone.

Traveling is a special thing. So it’s important to make sure you maximize enjoyment and the memories of the trip. A pocket notebook will help you do that. Here are a few ways I have used my notebook to amplify the trips I go on:

Prepare for the trip

History and fun facts

Before you go on a trip, spend some time researching where you’re going and its history. This will vary widely depending on where you’re going, but I find that I’m always more interested in a place if I know something about it.

I also think it’s interesting to learn fun facts. I especially love doing this when I travel to national parks. Here are my prep notes from when I went to Glacier National Park:

Packing list

I really like writing my packing list in my notebook. Whenever I have a packing list on my phone, I become constantly distracted. Every time I go to check something off, I end up doing something else that takes five minutes. Packing that would take thirty minutes ends up taking an hour. So, write down your list in your pocket notebook.

Itinerary and Flight Information

Before your trip, write down what you plan to do. This will help give you peace before the trip, and structure when you wake up each day.

If you’re flying, write down your flight times and information. When traveling, it’s always helpful to have analog backups to your digital information.

Feel grounded during the trip

Bring your routine with you

I love to travel, but one of the challenges of traveling is that I am a very routine-oriented person, and so I end up feeling ungrounded when I travel. I have found that writing just a few things in my pocket notebook each day is a very anchoring experience. Like at home, I try to spend a few minutes in the morning writing in my notebook.

A few years ago at a friend’s lake house, I went to sit on the dock for a few minutes in the morning, and it was one of the best parts of my day. I like to start my days with coffee, a book, and my notebook, and that’s true when traveling, too.

Have fun on the trip

Stickers

I love turning my pocket notebook into a bit of a scrapbook when I travel. So whenever I am at a coffee shop or any place that has a sticker, I get one and put it in my notebook.

Stamps

I love it when a bookstore has a stamp. I’ll ask them to stamp the book I buy as well as put a stamp into my notebook. Here’s my stamp from Shakespeare and Company bookstore in Paris.

Draw

Drawing what you see is a great way to have some fun while you travel. It doesn’t need to be a good drawing. Above are drawings that I did of the Louvre and Arc de Triomphe. They are obviously not good drawings, but they do take me back to that time and place. So even if you’re not a good drawer like me, do a little doodle. It will help you live in the moment a little more.

Remember the trip

Log everything

When you travel, log everything that you do and everything that happens. Log the coffee shops you go to, the restaurants you eat at, and whatever events you do. Write it all down so that you can remember them later. As I’ve written this post, I’ve had a great time looking back at some of my old notebooks and remembering things and places that I’ve been that I definitely would have forgotten if I hadn’t written them down.

I can tell you the hotel we stayed at in Madrid, the restaurants we ate at in Barcelona, and I can tell you the hikes that we did in Yosemite National Park. I try not to rely on my own memory too much, and this is a really helpful way to remember the traveling that I did.

Print photos

I always travel with my mini printer because it is very fun at the end of each day to pick a favorite picture from the day and then to print it out and put it in the log for that day.

Conversations with strangers

Write down any conversations that you have with strangers. When I was in the Pacific Northwest with my friend Justin in 2025, we had a very interesting conversation at a campground with a man named Hans who gave us some pretty poor directions for finding the water source at the campground, and we got lost. Hans found us being lost and walked us to the water source. If I hadn’t written down about our water adventure with Hans, then I definitely would have forgotten it. These are silly things that I want to remember.

Next time you travel, bring a pocket notebook. Use it to prepare, use it to enjoy the trip more, and use it to remember the trip afterwards. Just like every single day, traveling is more enjoyable when we take the time to slow down and pay attention.

Do you travel with a notebook?

-Mark

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