This is the much-delayed second post from my Rome trip during the Jubilee Year last October. Life rather got in the way, so this one is fashionably late—but perhaps that’s fitting. Revisiting these pages has been a lovely way to relive the trip all over again.
Rome in October was buzzing with pilgrims, tourists, and school groups (I realise that my photos don’t include any of the crowds! 😅). Exploring the city on my own during those first couple of days brought plenty of memorable moments—including accidentally letting myself into the wrong Airbnb building and then promptly getting locked inside! It wasn’t quite the start I’d imagined, but it certainly became one of those travel stories that only gets funnier with time.
📖 Documenting the Journey
Just before I left, a colleague gave me the most thoughtful birthday present: a Moleskine Rome Luxe Journal. It felt only right to dedicate it entirely to this trip.
At first, I imagined it would simply be a written journal. But somewhere along the way, it became much more than that.
Kristina’s Polaroids were probably the turning point. They encouraged me to layer my pages with photographs, tickets, stickers, washi tape, and the little bits of ephemera that often tell the story just as well as words do.
Once my sister and brother-in-law arrived, our days became wonderfully full. By evening, I was usually too tired to write, so instead I tucked everything—tickets, receipts, maps, and other keepsakes—into a pouch, knowing I’d return to them once I was back in Shanghai.
Looking back, I do wish I’d carried the journal with me more often. Even if I’d only had time to stick down the day’s ephemera or jot a few quick notes, it would have helped preserve some of those little details that are so easy to forget.
Back home, I printed several photographs onto adhesive-backed photo paper, fitting three to five images onto each 4×6 sheet. It made assembling the pages surprisingly easy and allowed me to build the journal slowly, layering memories alongside the collected ephemera.
One thing that made me smile was seeing my sister equally excited about documenting the trip. She’d bought a Jubilee Year journal of her own, and it was lovely knowing we’d each return to our respective homes with a different record of the same journey.
I also filmed the entire journal and talked through the process of putting it together. If you’d like to leaf through the finished pages, you can watch the video below.
And if you’d like to see the other side of the trip—the sketches made on location—you can also read my companion post, Sketching Rome: Two Sketchbooks, Ten Days, Countless Moments.
One thing I’ve come to appreciate is that my travel journals aren’t about creating a perfect record of a trip. They’re about preserving the feeling of being there. A ticket stub, a receipt from a favourite café, a Polaroid tucked into a pocket—on their own they seem ordinary. Together they become a doorway back to those moments.
Thank you for stopping by.
