Document Your Travels - Paris 2025
If you've followed me for a while, you know that I completely changed the way I document my travels after a whirlwind anniversary trip in 2023. Instead of packing lots of supplies and trying to create beautiful pages while I was traveling, I simplified everything.
Now, before every trip, I prepare a Traveler's Notebook insert with a spread for each day. While I'm traveling, I spend just 15–20 minutes each evening capturing the day's highlights, stories, and details - nothing more. Then, when I get home, I can take my time adding photos, memorabilia, and creative touches without worrying about forgetting the little moments that made the trip special.
It's a simple system that has made travel documenting so much more enjoyable, and it's the process I used for our trip to Paris celebrating our 30th wedding anniversary, on the way to South Africa, as well.
I carved out a little time to prep my Document Your Travels Traveler’s Notebook insert, the night before we're leaving, getting it ready to capture all the memories.
Since we're hopping between several continents, cities, and stops along the way, I knew I didn’t want to haul a bunch of supplies to document everything as we traveled.
That’s the beauty of the Document Your Travels TN Insert…
It includes two 5"x8.25" Standard Wide Traveler's Notebook inserts:
- (1) 28-page travel insert (inspired by the layout I created for an 18-day trip in 2023), with an introduction page, a trip destination page, a TO-DO list, pages for things to see and do, seven daily spreads, trip round-up pages, favorites pages, and extra notes pages
- (1) lined insert with 28 pages that can be used to record additional trip information & details or be used after the trip to add photos, memorabilia & more
Simply fill in the trip details you want to capture in the page headers and footer, including:
- Date
- Trip day number (Day 1, 2, 3, etc.)
- City, state, province, or country
- Accommodation details
- Miles traveled (driven, flown, walked, or biked)
- Temperature
- & more!
Once your insert is prepped ahead of time, the idea is to spend just a few minutes each day jotting down the little things - so when you’re back home and finally ready to document your trip with photos and memorabilia, all those memories are right there waiting for you... no matter how long it takes to actually sit down and do it 😉.
And those few minutes? Totally doable—because you're not stressing over what supplies to use, which photos to print, or how many pages to leave for each stop. Let’s be honest, sometimes that overwhelm keeps us from documenting anything at all while we’re on the trip.
This approach? It’s simple. Just the facts while on the trip!
Since I had prepped all the pages ahead of time, this was all I needed to bring - leaving plenty of extra space in my suitcase to collect memorabilia along the way! The Craft Storage Pouch is perfect for keeping everything together, contained and protected.
I took advantage of a little morning coffee time to work on my spread.
Here are a few more 'just the facts' spreads from the trip -
If you'd like to learn more about how and why I document my travels this way & why it's been so successful, be sure to check out my full blog post here.
See more of my travel TN spreads here.
Shop Layle By Mail travel products here.
Want to learn more about my complete travel documenting process? Check out my Document Your Travels e-Course, where I share my system from start to finish - including how I prepare before a trip, document while I'm traveling, taking and organizing photos, organizing memorabilia, and bringing it all together into meaningful keepsakes when I get home.
The Document Your Travels self paced e-course is based on a process I followed to successfully document an 18 day trip abroad in 2023, while I was traveling, with only a backpack and a carry-on, & it couldn't have been easier!
This Document Your Travels self paced e-course is a 3 part video series -
Part I - how to prepare to document before you go on a trip
Part II - how to easily capture all the details on the go, while you’re traveling, including tips for collecting all the memorabilia & things and organizing your photos along the way
Part III - how to put it all together when you return home from the trip, regardless of whether in a Traveler’s Notebook, mini book, 12x12 scrapbook, etc.
Click here to learn more!