A well used travel journal in Graz

 Hi all, 

I am back from a lovely travel in Graz, an Austrian city I did not even know about until we were booked to join my sister, her husband & another couple there for 5 days.  The husbands were there on work, we were there to catch up. 

I had to look Graz up - I had been to several other Austrian cities like Vienna, Salzburg, Innsbruck, Niederau skiing mountains etc 

I am a habitual travel journal keeper, I love travelling & the ritual of organising my thoughts & experiences at the end of each day, particularly on long trips because it gives meaning to the experiences & it is a way of returning to the moment at another time in future. 

Daughter & I decided  5 days warranted travelling light  - I seldom buy things when I travel so it is easy to do a carry on bag only.  After the busy hub of Frankfort airport, the airport at Graz is tiny, a reminder of some we have used in South Africa where you walk from the plane in to the airport building - very user friendly after the busy ones we normally use. 

We stayed at the central hotel of Palais Erzherzog Johann with its amazing covered inner courtyard filled with plants over the 4 floors. The massive glass roof can really be appreciated from the viewing platform on the K & O building next door. The views from the platform are stunning across the traditional red roofs of the city & the landmarks can be appreciated. 

The tourist information centre a short walk from the hotel had an excellent free guide of the main attractions in the city & we duly marked off most of them over our visit.  Definitely worth using a guide to appreciate the long & interesting history of the city. 

I had just used a good quality blank book with about 40 pages for the travel journal for this trip that I customised. It served me well because the thicker paper was sturdy enough for the ink not to bleed through & to hold the various sheets I added to it. 

I liked stamping up the days in the margins - something I will do again.  This is me finishing off the journal at home ... 

I also liked the folded paper pockets I made to hold the various ephemera (tickets,  wrappers, receipts etc) along the way until they could be stuck in at home. I learnt how to make them  from various YouTube videos .... 

In the end, because of space, I did not take a small pencil case but took a pencil & two pens, one of which had the four colours you selected from to drop  down & use. It was very useful & definitely something I will take with again on the next trip. 

I have been sticking papers in & adding some more detail & I am now happy that it hold memories of this trip which I thoroughly enjoyed. 

I hope I have inspired you to take up journaling when you travel. Let me know please or if you  have any helpful tips, please share them. 

Dee 💕