A camping travel journal: short, nice, no homework
A travel journal keeps what fades later: where you were, what made you happy, which pitch was good. It does not have to be long. Three sentences in the evening are enough.
Here you find tips on what to write, a template to print and a way to let GlowCamp make it easier. It works for motorhome, caravan and van, and for tent camping when you travel by car.
What belongs in a camping travel journal?
- Date and place: name of the campsite or stopover, town, country.
- How was your day? One word or a smiley is enough.
- Highlight of the day: one sentence.
- Distance: kilometres driven and how long you were on the road.
- The pitch: pitch number, price, amenities (power, water, sanitary), what you liked.
- Next time differently: one thing you would change.
- Encounters and tips from other campers.
- Photos: two or three a day are enough.
Write in the evening, not at the end of the trip. Five minutes a day are easier than a long text after two weeks.
Paper, notes app or automatic?
All three ways work. It depends on how much you want to enter yourself.
| Way | What speaks for it | What speaks against it |
|---|---|---|
| Paper | Tactile, needs no phone, works anywhere. | Can get wet or lost. You enter distance and photos by hand. |
| Notes app | Quick, searchable, always with you. | Places, distance and photos are not connected. You capture everything yourself. |
| Automatic (for example GlowCamp) | Route, stops and photos of the day are added by themselves. You only write what you want. | You need a phone and battery. You have to allow location and photo access. |
You can mix the ways: a notebook for the nice sentences, an app for the facts.
Printable template: one day in 2 minutes
Print this page with Ctrl + P (Mac: Cmd + P). Only the template is printed, three times per sheet.
Travel journal – one day
Travel journal – one day
Travel journal – one day
How GlowCamp makes the evening entry easy
The Evening Diary in the app is built so that it does not become a duty:
A reminder in the evening, if you like
The app can remind you in the evening at 8 pm with 2 or 3 short questions. You can skip every entry. The reminder applies to the current trip and ends with it. You can turn it off in your device’s notification settings.
Only one required question
“How was your day?” with Great, Good, Okay or Tough. Everything else is optional: highlight of the day, a longer entry, the campsite or stopover.
Tap stops to add them
If you recorded the trip, the diary shows the stops detected that day. If you tap a stop, the diary adds it to your highlight of the day. You add a missed stop by hand.
Photos of the day
The app can suggest photos from your camera roll that fit the day in time and, if possible, the recorded route. For that you allow access to your photos once. If you only allow selected photos, the app only sees those. The day map shows the route driven and the photos where they were taken, as soon as there is a route or photos with a location.
Trip review afterwards
It shows total distance, duration, drive stages, stops and places visited, for recorded trips also milestones such as the longest drive stage, plus your diary entries and the photos. If a day is missing, you add it later.
Stays on your phone
Entries and photos are stored locally on your device. A backup to your own iCloud or Google Drive only exists if you switch it on. It is a copy, not a sync between devices, and it does not include videos.
Good to know: The diary also works without a running recording. Detected stops and the route only exist for recorded or GPX-imported trips, otherwise you add stops yourself. The recording is made for trips by car or vehicle, not for hiking on foot. We have not explicitly tested it on a bike. The diary stays in the app: export, printing or a photo book are not available at the moment.
Frequently asked questions about the travel journal
Do I have to write something every day?
No. In GlowCamp only “How was your day?” is required when saving, and you can skip every entry. On paper the rule is: three sentences a day beat nothing.
Where are my entries stored?
Only on your phone. A backup to your own iCloud or Google Drive only exists if you switch it on. More in the privacy policy (German).
Does it work with a tent, too?
Yes, if you travel by car. You do not have to add a vehicle in the app. When you hike on foot, the recording is too coarse.
Can I add entries later?
Yes. If a day is missing, the trip review offers “Add entry for:” with the date. You can also add a past trip afterwards.
Can I export or print the diary?
Not from the app at the moment. You can print the template on this page.
What does it cost?
GlowCamp is free. There may be extra Pro features later. Right now there are none, and you pay nothing.
Try GlowCamp
The Evening Diary is part of the app. GlowCamp is free: on the App Store for iPhone, in beta for Android.
iPhone: free on the App Store