I’m forever trying to find a balance between planning too much and planning to little for my travels. Bullet Journal travel trackers have been so helpful to me in finding this balance.
Travel Trackers keep me organized and also excited about the trip. And once I get there, I have everything I need in my travel journal! It makes the trip so enjoyable and fun.
There are bullet journal trackers for everything: trip-pre planning, capturing memories and mood during the trip and tracking places you hope to go in the future. I love using these trackers on my travels. Here are my top 9 best bullet journal travel trackers that you should include in your next traveler’s notebook.
1. Trip Countdown
Anticipation of a trip is sometimes more exciting than the actual trip. Anticipation and planning are key to any successful trip, so a trip countdown is always in my must do trackers for any trip.
Once I decide when and where I’m going, I start a travel journal for the trip. And on one of the first pages is always a trip countdown tracker. I start from the day I make it, and finish the day I leave. Depending on how far away the trip is, I track days, weeks and months. I usually do weeks. But you can make your bullet journal travel tracker in whatever time increments work best for you.
After you’ve decided the time increments, plan the tracker with a great layout, including a photo or doodle of something you’re excited about seeing. That will motivate you every time you go to your journal to mark off a week.
You can also do a themed page. Be creative! The more creative you are, the more anticipation and excitement you’ll create for your trip.
2. Trip Stops Tracker
If you’re going to more than one place on your trip, this tracker is perfect and essential. Start by drawing a map of the area you’ll be traveling in. Then place a mark on each location you’ll stop. On your trip, you can draw a dotted line to each location as you go. This is a great visual reference before, during and after your trip. You’ll always remember exactly where you went and in what order. This is especially good for road trips, but it works with any multi destination trip.
3. Savings Tracker
One of the main obstacles in the way of travel is often the cost. It can seem like too big of an expense if the number is looked at all at once. Where will the money come from? I could never save as much as I need! That’s what I always say before I get down to business and make a savings tracker. When I’m thinking about the cost of a trip in the abstract, it feels like a huge amount of money that I could never afford. But when I make a savings tracker, it becomes more of a reality. It’s not some impossible amount, I just need to prioritize it and think about how I can save that money. Maybe go out one less night a week? If so, then on that night I need to be able to see my tracker and fill in my accomplishment. It feels so good to know I’m one step closer to my trip.
4. Budget Tracker
To know I’m saving enough money for the trip, I like to make a budget tracker at the same time. Just like how the savings tracker makes the abstract more concrete, the budget tracker does the same. Once I budget and create the tracker, then I know for sure that I will have enough money on my trip. And then once I’m on the trip, I never feel anxious about money, I’ve already planned it and can see it over and over on my budget tracker.
5. Journaling Tracker
A simple travel journal tracker included in my notebook is always a good idea, so I remember to journal. It doesn’t act as a ‘trip to-do’ but as a reminder that journaling during the trip is something that means a lot to me and a tracker helps me remember to make time for it each day. Traveling can be so chaotic. Journaling is the quiet time I need. Having a journal tracker and marking it of each day brings me joy each day on my trip.
6. Mood Tracker
A mood tracker might seem like it doesn’t belong on a list of travel journal trackers. We are happy everyday of our trip, right? Wrong. Or at least for me, very wrong. Just because I’m traveling doesn’t mean I’m always in a good mood. Sometimes my mood has to do with nothing but how I woke up that morning. But sometimes my mood has to do with not enjoying the activity of the day, not being prepared enough, etc. Having a mood tracker helps me check in with myself and ask those questions so I can learn about myself and learn about how I like to travel. This way I can learn for next trip. Just like my travel journal itself, having a mood tracker helps me stay connected with myself within the excitement and chaos of the trip. So for me, it’s an essential.
7. Water Tracker
Just because you’re on vacation doesn’t mean you are on vacation from taking care of your body! I’ve found that it’s especially important for me to track water in my travel journal because travel can mess with your body and you need to be extra vigilant to take care of it. On any given trip you will most likely be jet lagged and off your regular routine. When this happens to me, I can often forget to drink water, even when I packed my water bottle with me. So a water tracker is key for me when I travel. Drink the water, track the water, and I have a much better trip.
8. Travel Bucket List
This is a more general bullet journal tracker that is essential in my travel notebook. A travel bucket list tracks all the places I want to travel. It starts with an image, usually of the globe and then I add each place I want to go. The first time I made this I added all of the places I had been thinking of going. Now, each time I read about a new place and I get wanderlust, I add it to the bucket list. Then, once I travel to that place, I shade it in, so that I can see my travel progress. Each time I shade one in, I get a little spark of joy. You can read more about how to make your own travel bucket list spread in my how-to article here.
9. Gratitude Tracker
This might be the most important tracker to for my travel notebook. Being able to travel is such a privilege and a gift. Within the excitement and chaos of a trip, it can be easy to forget this. Especially when you have those days that things don’t work out and you get on the wrong bus and end up in the wrong place and it’s annoying and want to go home and cry. Those things happen all the time on trips, and being annoyed is part of it. But it shouldn’t overshadow the amazingness of being able to travel in the first place. This is hard to remember, so enter: the gratitude tracker.
Each night, I use my gratitude tracker to reflect on my day. To think about the amazing and special moments of the day. The new things I saw, the hard things I did, and ultimately, what I’m grateful for. I write a list of three things in my travel journal and then I fill in my gratitude tracker. It makes me feel centered and is a great way to end the day.
Bullet Journal travel trackers are so handy in planning and tracking your trip. There is always the possibility of tracking too much and not enjoying the trip. But I’ve found that making my trackers before the trip excites me, ups my anticipation and relaxes me to know I have all my bases covered. Then when I’m on the trip, filling out the trackers are a fun thing I do at night to reflect on the day. It just takes a couple minutes but the rewards are awesome! Are you ready to try these trackers in your next travel journal? Which one are you most excited about? Leave a comment below.