Sunday, June 08, 2008

My travel journal

Lots of people take blank journals when they are traveling or on vacation so that they can write about their adventures, maybe do some sketches, add collected papers, maps, tickets, etc. This sort of book is of course, commonly known as the Travel Journal.

I, however, have a different approach to the travel journal for my own travels. Rather than taking a book with me and adding content while traveling, I collect the papers and bring them home and use them to make a book after the trip is over. Here is my travel journal made from materials collected while I was in Tennessee attending PBI.


When I first arrived at PBI, they gave me a green folder with various introductory and informative papers inside. The folder was nicely printed with "Paper & Book Intensive 2008" on the front so I used that folder on the covers of my book.

I used parts of tourist travel maps to make a few pocket pages for the book. These are bound in the center of some of the signatures so that I have a place to tuck the smaller items that I want to save.


I acquired a number of business cards and a couple notes from other PBI participants and instructors, so they are all included in the book.


The remaining pages are all the paperwork related to my application to PBI, my travel itinerary, tourism brochures and maps, some paper shopping bags, and even my airplane boarding passes are in there (along with the paperwork from the airline when I was "voluntarily" denied boarding on my way home and was forced to stay overnight in Newark).


So there it is, the bookbinder's travel journal. All my travel memories are bound together in this one neat little book.

15 comments:

Kristin Saegaert said...

I love your approach to the travel journal! Your pocket pages and how you have included every note and even part of your shopping bag. I loved the updates on your trip via blog too. Thanks for sharing!

Ginger Mayerson www.hackenblog.com said...

What an excellent idea!

Man, this and PBI make me want to start binding books.

Anonymous said...

I like this approach - definitely will have to give it a try. I too enjoyed your reports from PBI.

Thanks for a great blog!

Anonymous said...

What a terrific idea! I too collect tickets and programmes and maps - loads of stuff - never occurred to me to actually do anything with it :)

Steph said...

Wowww great idea and great result!

Kiley said...

Very cool, I've been going back and forth about how I was going to do one for my honeymoon next month. I think I will wait to get home and put something together.

Sorry to hear about your problems in Newark.

I'll be flying with my epipen for the first time next week, I'm not looking forward to it.

MyHandboundBooks said...

Thanks everyone! I'm really happy with the book, everything came together perfectly :)

Kiley, flying for the first time? or using your epipen for the first time? Either way, take it easy, hopefully it's a smooth flight :)

Piroska said...

Hey, that is a cool idea, very inventive. I love how you used the folder as the cover for your book.

Anonymous said...

Hi!

I'm an amateur bookbinder living in Oregon. I found your blog through StumbleUpon and really enjoy checking in to see if you've updated.

I was wondering if you might be open to discussing a problem I've been having with my hard bound books. It's difficult to explain in words, but I would appreciate so much if I could email you some photos of the issue I'm having and possibly get your feedback.

My email address is shindo796@hotmail.com and again, I'd appreciate your help so much!!

Thank you,

Sara

tulibri said...

Hi Rhonda, that book is as neat as it is gorgeous! I wondered, all the papers and so, did they come roughly in the same size, or did you have to cut away a lot? Cheers, Astrid

Waddles said...

I would really like to know how you make the pocket pages. I have tried folding my own but I was not very sucessful. I didn't want to use glue if I could help it but is it possible?

Kiley said...

It's my first time flying since I got my epipen. I've got all the documentation but my allergist said some people have a really hard time getting them through security. I'll let you know how it turns out when I get back!

MyHandboundBooks said...

Astrid, I did have to cut and trim most of the papers - so some of the sheets are actually cut in half, but bound so that the two halves are facing each other and could still be read, with only minor difficulty, if i ever want to read them!

waddles, i did use a tiny bit of glue on the pocket pages, but i have also done them with no glue and it works ok. i'll see if i can come up with a couple pictures of the way i fold them, and post them here for you.

good luck kiley!

Sixth and Elm said...

I love this idea. I save absolutely everything from a trip and if I paste it all into a journal, the book won't close!

aafrica said...

that's so creative! do you mind if i 'borrow' your idea? i was just thinking how to put together this summer's travel memory together. this is brilliant!