It was in Germany where I started adding flowers to my journal. Every time I flip open my journal and see that yellow flower I taped into it, I am reminded me of when I biked down a road through a western Germany countryside next to fields filled with millions of yellow flowers - the same fields where I picked the flower that is now in my journal. In pages filled with writings and drawings from the same black Bic pen, it is nice to see color every once in a while in the form of a flower... or a stamp.

» Stamps & Postmarks

  Stamps and Postmarks in a journal are special to me because they capture the moment in time. I like old postcards for the same reason - the words could have been written at any time, but that postmarked stamp is from a single day in history that can never be replicated (not without a lot of work, at least). And it also adds the romance and adventure of your trip to paper. At the time, a postmark from Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herz, for instance, was something easily attainable. But now, months after I was there, the postmark has a kind of Indiana Jones-ish look and feel to it. It says to me "You were there! Remember this forever!"

» The Other Stamp

  There is more than one kind of stamp. There are rubber stamps from post offices, train stations, bus terminals, and even ticket booths that add a unique quality to your journal. Especially in Eastern Europe, you will find it easy to get some interesting stamps in your book. After a bit of hand language and a few key foreign words, I was able to get a stamp from every place I asked. If you are able to tell them it’s for your personal use and it’s going into a book, then they usually have no problems at all. In fact, I have had some people flip through my journal and admire the other stamps that I have received!