6 Tips for Creating a Video Travel Journal

Travel journals are great keepsakes that let you look back and re-experience adventures you had away from home. Even though personal journals are fun to keep, video entries allow you to create a visual and personal online travel diary. Check out how the Holcombe family created a travel journal of their trip to Acadia National Park to see how this type of video can look in action.

Here are a few tips to help you create your own digital journal entry:

1. Keep entries short and honest

Treat every video like an actual diary entry. A video should tell a story about your adventures abroad, whether it’s a trip to the flea market or a weekend trip to the city.

A travel diary should also be honest. Did you get lost? Was the hostel sketchy and dirty? Make a video about that! After all, this is a travel journal. The fun parts of traveling are the experiences. You might not be happy about everything that happened on the trip, but sometimes these stories are the best ones.

2. Choose only your best photos and video clips

Most people take pictures of everything they see and post them, but that doesn’t really tell a story. Be sure to pick photos and video clips that highlight your most memorable moments, like the food or people you see, and a couple of photos of the places you visited to fill in the rest of the story. The best videos are usually two minutes long–especially if you decide to share them with others.

3. Use your phone

You won’t always have access to a computer, so download Animoto’s iOS app before you leave home. Animoto’s mobile app lets you create Stories for your Facebook or Instagram accounts almost anywhere you go. Use our Vacation Recap template to help inspire your own travel journal.

4. Tell a story with text

The photos and video clips are the focus of the video, but text helps you explain a little bit more about the story behind the photo. Use a photo caption to give a brief description about where you are, what happened in that moment, or why this photo is significant to you. Text slides are good for transitions between events and help create a narrative arc.

5. Pick a song that matches your video

The song should go with the theme of your trip, so try to pick one that explains what happened on your journey or where you went. An easy way to do this is to pick a song or genre that represents the location you visited.

6. Share with family and friends

Video journals can be shared with loved ones, or simply kept as a personal journal. Today, many people write travel blogs or have online journals instead of traditional diaries. If you have a travel blog, try to use videos for posts. The video will help posts come to life and make the experience seem real to readers.

And if you don’t have a travel blog, you can easily share a video with family and friends to let them know what you’re up to and that you’re safe.