Your internal journey vs. your external journey

14th October 2026

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2–3 minutes

Kia ora,

No two people who walk the same thru-hike or cycle the same bike-packing trail have the same experience. You may be following the same path, and you may meet similar people and experience similar weather and have similar mishaps, but it’s not the day-to-day events that should make up all of your adventure memoir.

Instead, you need to include your internal journey: what was going on in your head as you walked/cycled/paddled/travelled.

In fact, exploring that internal journey applies to every adventure memoir, not just the thru-hikers and bike-packers. Readers want more than an account of where you went from one day to the next, what you saw along the way, and what you ate that day. That info can be helpful for guide books, but it makes for less engaging reading in memoir.

It’s this internal journey that makes each person’s adventure memoir unique. Only you can tell the story of what when on inside your head as you ventured out.

As you write and revise, look for spots where you can pull your internal journey onto the page.

Tell us early what your motivations were for taking on this adventure, and pepper in details about how your expectations compared against reality.
Show us how you dealt with the monotonous days and how you responded to the environment around you.
Show us how you processed what was going on in your head, how your memories and backstory played into your internal journey.

When you combine that internal journey with your external journey, you’re on the way to crafting a fantastic adventure memoir.

For a wider take on this idea, check out my blog, There are already so many memoirs about walking this trail – is there space for mine?

Cheers,

Deborah

PS. Michael Palin is, perhaps, the exception to this advice. His books definitely follow an itinerary-based structure and have less exploration of his internal journey. He can get away with it because he’s so well known and writes so fluidly, but he also makes up for that lack by really engaging with the countries he’s in and the people he meets. His curiosity comes through clearly on the page. So, unless you are already a household name with a distinct voice, do make sure you go deep with that internal journey.

📚 What I’m reading

One step at a time, by Shalane Hopkins. I’m really enjoying Shalane’s account of walking Te Araroa when the trail was still new and not even New Zealanders properly knew about it.