So what is a travelling snail journal?

Well, a traditional travel journal is simply a blank notebook that a traveller takes on a trip and records notes about experiences along the way. This is fine if you are a gifted writer and have strong powers of observation like Bill Bryson, Michael Palin, Tom Miller, Paul Theroux et al. But most of us mortals are, quite frankly, mediocre at writing and observing, especially when we are on holiday and too busy unwinding from our stressful work lives.

So what is different about the Travelling Snail® travel journal? In spite of it being in essence a notebook, it also provides a high degree of interaction with the traveller. When confronted with a normal note book style of travel journal full of blank pages, it is difficult to know where to start to describe your holiday experience. The Travelling Snail® travel journal takes a completely different approach and interacts with the traveller by prompting and assisting the writer to observe and then to write about their personal experiences. This interaction is provided through a range of dedicated templates for each type of event that the traveller may experience whilst on holiday. The Travelling Snail® travel journal includes interactive pages covering the following areas:

The interactive pages are structured as form templates with labels prompting the traveller with questions about his or her related experience. The templates provide organised and structured spaces for the traveller to write personal impressions, feelings and responses for each of the questions. The traveller still has to use a pen and make personal observations, which ensures that the romance of traditional travel writing and personal opinion are not lost in the process. The end result is a well-documented set of notes about the personal experiences of the traveller in a neat and perceptive style.

If the traveller uses Travelling Snail® travel journals consistently over many years for each trip, the traveller is able to build up an entire library of personal travel journals, each written in a consistent and comparative style.

As the Travelling Snail® travel journal makes personal travel writing more accessible to more travellers, we hope that we can create a small revolution in tourism and travel. We aim to encourage travellers to spend more time observing and engaging with the people and places that they visit around the world; helping to make the travel experience more rewarding for both the traveller and the destination.

We call our concept ‘Travelling Snail®’ to reflect the idea of more responsible and thoughtful tourism. A snail moves slowly and so we hope the traveller will travel slowly, taking the time to absorb new experiences and wonders along the way. How many travellers today rush through their holiday almost as fast as they rush their regular commute to work when they are not on holiday? With the assistance of the Travelling Snail® travel journal we hope that travellers will relax and gain immense pleasure from experiencing a deeper insight and awareness of new people, places and experiences.