Hello friends!  This is Amanda from the Archer and Olive Ambassador team and I’m here today to share a blog with you about a topic I feel like a bit of an expert in, packing your journaling/creative supplies for travel!  Whether it’s a weekend away, a roadtrip across country, or an international adventure, I’ve done it all with my journaling gear in tow and pretty much feel like a travel packing pro!

If you follow me on Instagram you may know that I travel often for my job.  Twice a month in fact.  Every two weeks I stand in my journaling space (aka the converted dining room of my apartment) and am forced to make choices for which journaling supplies I want to take with me or think I’m going to need during my next two weeks working in rural Alaska.  It’s tough, but after a year and a half of updating my travel packing lists I’ve gotten it down to a science.  Hopfully, with todays blog you all can benefit from what I’ve learned as well.

Now, first things first.  I’m going to share with you some of the supplies I currently am using from Archer and Olive to make my travel experience a little bit easier.

The Gear:

First, The Vegan Leather Travel Accessory is my #1 go to to place in my personal item when I fly.  It keeps my go to gear and journal of the moment organized AND I can pop out the pen insert if I don’t want to have all my gear on my tray table but still want access to some pens and supplies.

Second, is The Creativity Case.  This is the perfect case to keep my bulkier items or the brunt of my creative supplies organized.  Typically, when I fly to work, I pack things in here I don’t need immediately and I put it in my checked luggage.  It could easily fit in a carry on as well though!  It just fits so many products in it!

A few other products you will see me use on occasion depending on where I’m traveling and the length of my trip…

Winter Kiss Lock Pen Pouch

Vegan Leather Carry All Tote Bag

 Ok, so I’m sure I’m not alone with wishing I could pack my entire creative space up with me every time I go on a trip.  Unfortunately my current array includes multiple journals, tons of washi, and more pens/markers than I can count.  I would probably need one or two suitcases dedicated just to crafting supplies to satiate my “what if’s.”  Obviously, for most of us (myself definitely included), packing that amount of crafting supplies just isn’t feasible so I’m here today to share the process I use to narrow down supplies.

1. The first key to traveling with journaling/crafting supplies, is choosing what gear you’re going to use to store the supplies.  Knowing exactly how much space you have to spare will help with the later steps.  Up above I shared with you the Archer and Olive case and pouch I currently use when I travel to work for two weeks.  These two work well for me because when I reach my destination I’m stationary.  I can unpack and spread out for two weeks.  If however, I was instead going on a vacation where I was visiting multiple cities in Europe and would be packing up my things every few days I would bring a lot less gear and likely only bring one pouch with me.   On the other hand, if I was going on a road trip and had tons of space in my car maybe I would load up an entire tote bag with supplies.  The right vessel all depends on the type of trip and travel style, just make sure you chose what you’re going to use early so that you don’t go overboard with the next few steps…

2. The second key is to allot space for your essentials first. These are the items that you always use (or almost always use) no matter the spread.  I’m talking about glue, tape runners, pencils, fineliners, highlighting markers, etc.  If you know you’re going to need it or use it give that item priority real estate in your pouch/case.

3. The third key is pre planning your projects so you can cater your supplies specifically to that. In 2022 I went on several trips and did a lot of journaling in my travel journal.  Because I typically travel carry-on only I knew my space would be extra limited, so before each trip I decided on a color pallet I was going to stick with for that trip.  I selected the specific markers that went along with my theme and picked out the washi tape and stickers to match.  Making this choice ahead of time may seem limiting for some of you, but, to be honest, having the selection of only 5 or six markers actually made me more free with my spreads because I wasn’t overwhelmed with choices.  This same tactic can also be applied to the monthly spreads many bullet journalers make in their journals.  I have dozens of brush markers but when I go to work I know I can’t take them all with me.  This month with work for example, I made a selection of 4 caliographs I knew I would use in my current spreads.  I then left the others at home.  It seriously made my case so much less cluttered.

4. The fourth key is to downsize large products if they can be. For example, instead of bringing an entire paper pad maybe tear out a few pages in the colors you know you need (or think you might need).  Or, instead of bringing 10 rolls of washi tape maybe wrap the length you expect you could need of each washi around a small piece of cardboard or plastic (this takes up so much less space!).  Until I got the Archer and Olive Creative Case I never traveled with full rolls of washi.  Now that case allows me to, however, if I ever wanted to dedicate that space in the case to something else I can use the tactic above and still function just fine. 

Now what should you do if you get to this point and your pouch (or whatever you chose to use) is now overflowing?  Well, you have two choices.  Add a second pouch to the ensemble OR downsize.  I highly suggest attempting the second option first.  Unless you have unlimited space in your luggage and can afford to bring more, you will appreciate less stuff jam packed in your bags (I know from experience).  Ask yourself, will I really use this washi tape?  Do I really think I’m going to use all these markers?  What did I pack as a just-in-case?  Chances are you definitely packed things you don’t need.  I’ll admit, even with all the tips above I’m still guilty of this.  On a work trip I can usually get away with a little excess, but when luggage space is limited it’s time to make eliminations!

And that’s it folks!  The 4 easy things I do to help me pack my journaling supplies each time I travel.  If you would like to see a run through of the items I packed and brought with me on my most recent work shift, and how I packed them, you can check out the following youtube video I made.

And if you need a little extra help with the packing process for your next trip check out the flow chart printable I made below.

If you would like to see more from me or some of the spreads I create while traveling (which is about 80% of the spreads I make) you can find me on Instagram @shenoteditall.

And if you would like more tips from Archer and Olive about packing check out the following blogs:

How To Travel With Your Journal Supplies + Travel Packing Spread

By Ericka

10 Tips To Help You Document Your Next Trip In Your Travel Journal

By Amanda (me!)

The Ultimate Travel Packing List For Your Travel Bullet Journal

By Masha