The Perfect Travel Journal?

Am I right in thinking that all of us who aspire to be travel writers have to have just the right notebook and writing instrument?

For some of course that means something with a battery but not me. My writing brain works at the speed of my handwriting not a keyboard.

But the notebook? I have worked out that a Moleskine journal won’t make me a Bruce Chatwin nor school exercise books a Hemingway. Anyway, now that you can buy Moleskines all over the world the magic of rarity has gone.

I do however persevere with the Palomino Blackwing pencil, not because it will release my inner Steinbeck but just because it looks good and feels good. It seems writerly.

I have tried all sorts of clever, purpose made travel journals with pockets and folders and fancy paper. But in the end, all I want is a plain ruled notebook that fits in a jacket pocket.

I don’t miss that built-in pocket at the back for tickets and receipts. I just glue an envelope inside the back cover. A small glue stick serves to secure everything else on the page.

I like to have a new journal for each trip or certainly each country. I have finally found my ideal notebook. If you search that online book retailer for “country flag notebook” there is a selection of sturdy, soft back, notebooks where the cover is the flag of the country I’m visiting. Those are the notebooks for me, at least until I see the next irresistible journal.