If you have looked into journaling and especially journaling about traveling, chances are you have heard something about the Traveler’s Journal, Traveler’s Notebook or Midori. Let’s looked at all things Traveler’s journal that a beginner might want to know.
What is Traveler’s Journal Midori? Traveler’s Journal Midori is customizable, modular journaling system for those who want to journal about their travels and adventures. At its basic, it consists of a leather cover that is threaded with two or more rubber bands that can hold a variety of inserts that can be swapped to fit journaler’s personal needs.
As simple as the Traveler’s Journal may seem, there is a lot to it. It’s beauty as much as in its simplicity as it is in it’s endless customization. From the variety of covers to myriads of inserts to accessories and journaling styles, Traveler’s Notebook is an adventure in itself.
What’s in the Traveler’s Journal?
Traveler’s Journal is made up of several pieces.
The foundation for the journal is it’s cover. Traditionally, Midori cover is made of a thick but flexible leather rectangle, which, when folded creates a notebook enclosure of the size slightly under 8in x 5in.
Several holes are punched into the cover: 5 on it’s spine and 1 in the middle of the back of the cover. They are made to hold the elastic bands that are threaded through them.
There are 2 elastic bands that are threaded on the inside of the spine of the cover. These bands hold the inserts that are added to the cover to create the actual journal.
Another elastic band is tied into a loop and threaded through the back middle of the cover and serves to hold the notebook shut closed when not in use.
The inserts that are placed into Traveler’s journals are thin, bound notebooks that come in different varieties and can be mixed and matched to the journaler’s liking.
Once the insert is filled up, it’s removed and a fresh insert is added in its place.
An extra string or ribbon is tied to the top of the spine to serve as a placeholder/page marker.
What are Travelers Notebooks used for?
As you can tell from its name, Traveler’s Journal is used to journal about travels and adventures.
It’s a portable notebook that is designed to go with you anywhere the wind takes you and holds the notes, pictures, tickets, bus stabs, restaurant receipts and other paraphernalia that can remind you of the places you have visited, meals you enjoyed and sights you have seen.
You can find Traveler’s Notebooks as simple or as elaborate as you can imagine. They can be as minimalist as bulleted notes of travel plans and packing lists or as colorful and creative as art journals chock full of photos, sketches, stickers and aqua painted imagery of the places you’ve been to.
However, Traveler’s Journal Midori doesn’t have to reserved just for travels. Its modular and endlessly customizable nature is perfect to serve you for any journaling, planning and time management needs you can think of.
Since Traveler’s Notebook comes with so many different inserts, you can pick and choose, mix and match the ones that work for your life.
You can create a notebook that will hold your Bullet Journal, your budget notebook and your meal planner. Or you can have your fitness tracker and your meditation journal in one journal and your to-do lists and your goal planner in another notebook. The possibilities are endless.
And the best part? If you find that your current set up is not working out, you can swap one (or all!) of the inserts and redesign your Traveler’s Journal to work for you.
What inserts are there for Midori Traveler’s Journal?
The beauty of Midori Traveler’s Journal is its inserts. They are the building blocks of this modular system.
They can be added and removed with ease, allowing you set up your journal to do what you need it to and to evolve as your needs change.
Starting with the classics like plain paper notebooks to lined paper to bulleted paper, the inserts offer a variety of notebooks and other add-ons that make the Traveler’s Journal a swiss army knife of your organization.
There are many inserts available and many more get added all the time, but to name just a few, you can easily find these inserts on sites like Amazon:
- Plain paper
- Lined paper
- Bulleted/Dotted paper
- Graph paper
- Budget tracker
- Blank calendar pages
- Plastic Zipped pockets to hold stamps, receipts, etc
- Ruler/Place Holder that can be snapped into your current place in the journal
- Monthly, weekly and daily planner
- Different quality paper: sketch or water color
- Plastic card holder
- Carton side pockets
- And more!
You can also find a variety of very creative and innovative inserts on sites like Etsy.
What size are Travelers Notebooks?
Traveler’s Journals come in two main sizes: regular and passport.
Regular-sized Travelers Notebook
Regular-sized Traveler’s Journal is 8.7” x 4.9” (when the cover is folded in half).
Regular size is the size that is used the most as it’s close to regular-sized journals and notebooks and offers enough room to write, note and attach photos and other paraphernalia.
It is also small enough to fit into most bags, purses and backpacks.
Passport-sized Travelers Notebook
Passport-sized Traveler’s Journal is about the size of a passport at 5.3” x 3.9”.
Passport-sized Midori is intended for taking notes on the go. It’s made to be small, light and fit into a pocket.
Because of that it’s also referred to as a ‘pocket-sized’. Passport Midori is great to carry around, taking notes and jotting thoughts that can be then later transferred to regular-sized Midori for more permanent home with more detail and flair.
Custom-sized Travelers Notebook
Besides regular and passport sizes, you can also find Traveler’s Journals that are same height, but much larger in thickness as many journaler’s love to be able to hold more than 2 or 3 inserts in their Midori or keep their filled in inserts along with their new inserts.
They also have more holes punched into the spine to hold more inserts. These chunky Traveler’s Journals come in different thicknesses depending on the maker who creates them.
There are also Traveler’s Journal covers that are created to be able to hold standard sized notebooks like Moleskins together with inserts and maybe even Composition Books.
These covers are taller and wider than the classic Midori and also have more elastic bands to accommodate all the inserts.
What size are Midori inserts?
Midori inserts are sized to be slightly smaller than the cover to avoid sticking out from outside of it.
Standard inserts are sized 8.25″ x 4.33″ to neatly fit into the Traveler’s Journal that usually measures 8.7” x 4.9”.
Passport inserts are 4.9” x 3.5” to fit into passport sized cover of 5.3” x 3.9”.
Please note that depending on the manufacturer of the Traveler’s Journal and the inserts, they sizes can be slightly different than the ones above, but they all generally work with each other.
How do you start a Travelers Notebook?
To start your own Traveler’s Notebook you would need three things:
- Cover
- Elastic bands
- Notebook inserts
You can purchase them separately or as a kit, or you can even make them yourself.
The cover of the Traveler’s Journal doesn’t have to be made out of real leather. You can make your own out of pleather / faux leather. You can also make the cover out of cardboard and cover it with a pretty fabric or sturdy paper.
The elastic bands can be purchased separately – you can also find the elastic in sewing supply store and cut to size.
The inserts can be bought or made by hand. They are sized to be about A4 paper folded in three, so you can use that as your guiding measurement.
There are a number of videos that show you how to make parts of Travelers Journal if you decide to go that route. This one is the one I used myself to make a cover:
Here is another one that shows you how to make the inserts:
What do you put into Traveler’s Journal?
If you decide to you use your Travelers Journal as intended, for travels, here are some exciting and useful things you can have in it:
- Travel destination dream list
- Trip planning check list
- Itinerary list with dates, destinations and modes of transportation
- Packing list
- Places to visit in your next trip
- Best eateries in the city your just went to
- Phone numbers for taxi, hotel, restaurants and guides in your often-visited destinations
- Collages of tickets, museum stabs and pamphlets, photos, fortune cookie strips and other paper reminders of your adventures
If you decide to use your Traveler’s Journal as a regular journal, in it you can have:
- Gratitude pages
- Best thing happened today pages
- Three things I want to achieve today pages
- Daily affirmations
- Evening reflections
- Habit trackers like water tracker or steps walked tracker
- Mood tracker
If you want to turn your Traveler’s Journal into a planner, you can add:
- Monthly, weekly and daily planner pages
- Goal planner and tracker
- Budget and savings tracker
- Menu planning and food tracker
- To-do list
- Most Important Daily Tasks list
- Cleaning schedule
- Pet inoculation list
You can also use your Traveler’s Notebook as a bullet journal, mourning pages notebook, art journal, junk journal, student notes journal, gratitude journal and so much more.
The ways you can use Midori in your life can be as creative as you can imagine them!
Traveler’s Journal can be a lot of fun when used to record your travels, or as an art journal or to simply organize your life. It’s flexible and versatile, offering options to fit anyone’s needs. Its modular design allows you make it just the way you want it and evolve over time as your life and your needs evolve.
