A Compact Travel Journal Kit

A Moleskine pocket notebook, a Fisher Bullet Pen, and an Aloksak

Here is a compact and elegant kit for recording your travels. Start with a Moleskine pocket notebook, which comes in various paper styles such as blank, lined, or squared (graph) paper. The pocket Moleskine is a thin, hardcovered notebook, measuring about 3.5 inches by 5.5 inches. The pages lie flat (or mostly so) when open, and it has a bookmark ribbon, an elastic band to keep it closed, and a handy pocket in the back for storing things like business cards, ticket stubs, etc.

I'd recommend the notebook with blank paper, since that is the most flexible for drawing and such. But if you aren't planning to draw, and want lines to keep your writing aligned, then I'd suggest the squared (graph paper) pages, since this allows you to write easily either horizontally or vertically, and aids in making grids for calendars, expense tables, and such to help plan and keep track of your travels.

Also be sure to place several blank business-sized cards and 3 x 5 index cards in the back pocket, as well as paste a few sticky notes in the inside covers, so that you have some easily removable sheets of paper to leave notes for others, or jot down shopping lists or such that you don't want cluttering the pages of your journal.

Use a Fisher Bullet Pen with a clip for the pen. This is very compact when closed, but when open is a full length pen. It uses a special ink and pressurized cartridge so that it can write at any angle, even upside down. The pen comes with a medium point, but for writing in the pocket Moleskine I prefer to use a fine point refill. I carry the medium point that comes with the pen as a spare.

You can even use the Moleskine's elastic band and bookmark ribbon as pen loops to attach the Bullet pen to your notebook. First, make sure a loop of the bookmark ribbon protrudes from the top of the notebook, and that a small tail of the ribbon is sticking out of the bottom. Slide the pen under the elastic, so that one end is held by the elastic, and the other is inside the protruding loop of bookmark. Then pull on the small tail of bookmark at the bottom, to pull the upper loop snug around the pen.

Another option would be to attach a separate ribbon or elastic loop to the moleskine as a pen loop, so that you wouldn't have to fiddle with the book mark ribbon.

To protect your notebook from rain, dunks in Venetian canals, and other liquid hazards, place it in an 4.5 inch by 7 inch Aloksak (by Watchful Eye Designs), which is like a super heavy-duty ziplock bag. The Moleskine with Bullet Pen attached will fit perfectly into this bag.

To easily remove the journal from the bag, push against the bottom of the notebook with your thumbs, while holding the bag and notebook in both hands between your first and middle fingers. If you angle the bag so that the opening is pointing down, the weight of the pen will also help pull the notebook out of the bag.

Moleskine pocket notebook with Fisher Bullet Pen attached, using elastic band and bookmark ribbon as pen loops.

Moleskine pocket notebook with Fisher Bullet Pen attached, in a 4.5 inch by 7 inch Aloksak (made by Watchful Eye Designs).