How keeping a travel journal can transform your experience of the journey

“If you think your thing is to write for an audience, write for yourself first and see what comes up.” – Lavinia Spalding

In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Lavinia discuss the benefits of keeping a journal, and doing it by hand (3:00); the importance of writing what you feel rather than what you do (16:00); the beauty of spending time with your journal as a way of hearing yourself (24:00); and practical strategies for starting and keeping a journal (34:00).

Lavinia Spalding (@laviniaspalding) is a travel writer and series editor of The Best Women’s Travel Writing. She has author of Writing Away, and co-author of With a Measure of Grace and This Immeasurable Place. For more about Lavinia, check out http://laviniaspalding.com/.

Notable Links:

• Bird by Bird, by Anne Lamott (book)
• Writing Down the Bones, but Natalie Goldberg (book)
• Four Seasons in Rome, by Anthony Doerr (book)
• Stolen, by Lavinia Spalding (essay)
• A Sort of Homecoming, By Ivana Was (essay)
• Lonely Planet’s Best Places in Asia Pacific (guide)
• Find New Orleans’s Soul at These 6 Mini-Museums, by Lavinia Spalding (article)
• Meet the Revolutionary Women of Flamenco Guitar, by Lavinia Spalding (article)
• Journaling for Mental Health, by University of Rochester Medical Center (article)
• 7 Health Benefits Of Writing And Journaling, From Treating Asthma To Depression, by JR Thorpe (article)
• The Benefits of Journaling, by UW Health (article)

This episode of Deviate is brought to you by Tortuga Backpacks, which set the standard for the best, most durable, organized, and comfortable travel backpacks. Tortuga products also include daypacks, duffels, and other travel accessories, which are all made with the traveler in mind and have been featured by Wirecutter, The New York Times, Travel + Leisure, Business Insider, Carryology, and many other industry outlets.

This episode is also brought to you by AirTreks, an industry leader in multi-stop international travel. If you’ve ever planned a trip with multiple stops, you know that finding the right flights can be difficult. Between balancing travel logistics and cost, it often becomes impossible to build an itinerary that matches your travel goals.  AirTreks is a distributed travel company with employees working from all corners of the world to help with your flight planning, specializing in complex routes with up to 25 stops. The AirTreks website offers suggested pre-planned travel itineraries to help you get started, but can customize to fit your journey.

The Deviate theme music comes from the title track of Cedar Van Tassel’s 2017 album Lumber.

Note: We don’t host a “comments” section, but we’re happy to hear your questions and insights via email, at [email protected].