I just lately took up journey journaling as an sincere various to performative social media. My equipment cobbles collectively one of the best pen, paper, and photograph printer I might discover to doc vanlife adventures for my spawn and a few model of my future self that I’ve but to satisfy.
My father left behind a typewritten memoir that I’ve returned to many times since his passing so a few years in the past. Oh, how I want there was a hand-written model as an alternative of an impersonal Microsoft Word file — his all-capped lettering cast by a profession as an engineer, replete with scribbles and smears made by his ever-callused proper hand. Even higher if these pages had been adorned with images of the individuals, locations, and issues he needed me to see.
My journaling equipment consists of three predominant components: a Pilot V7 pen, a pocket book from the Traveler’s Company, and a Fujifilm Instax Mini Link 3 photograph printer.
The pen alternative was straightforward — I simply listened to Liz. I worth her opinion over Sam Altman’s, so the very first thing I did was purchase a pack of 4 Pilot V7 pens for lower than $10.
The paper journal was a bit more durable resolution and resulted in a couple of false begins. I ought to have identified higher than to low cost out on one thing bought from Amazon. After being disillusioned by a couple of totally different “leather-based” covers and mismatched paper inserts, I made a decision to go to a bodily office-supply retailer to press flesh to precise product. It was there that I reveled within the discovery of journals from Japan’s Traveller’s Company.
Traveller’s Company makes the leather-bound journey journals your thoughts doubtless conjures when contemplating the subject. The rough-cut leather-based cowl is made by hand in Thailand, whereas the paper pocket book inserts are made in Japan. The sound, really feel, and odor that comes with scratching ink into this journal can deliver on a meditative bliss.
I bought the regular-sized Traveler’s pocket book for $55, which incorporates the leather-based cowl, clean no-line pocket book, cotton bag, and spare rubber band. I don’t use the bag as a result of I need the quilt to be as patinated as my worn face when time runs out. I additionally added a $16 pen clip, a second $5.50 clean pocket book, a pack of $6.40 connecting bands, and a $9.20 clear zipper case the place I carry a roll of tape, further retention bands, and miscellaneous mementos like receipts and ticket stubs.
The pocket book measures 4.8(H) x 3.5(W) x 0.15(D) inches and is solely hid by the 5.2 x 3.8-inch cowl. It’s small, however not so small that it may be simply misplaced inside a cluttered van. And it’s massive sufficient that the 2 open pages can simply maintain a single day’s written entry, together with a miniature {photograph} or two.
Fujifilm’s $99 Instax mini hyperlink 3 is probably my favourite journaling accent. I bought the concept to print out images alongside my journal entries from Charles Liu’s YouTube channel. It takes about two minutes to energy on the rechargeable gadget, discover a image that finest represents my day in my iPhone’s photograph library, and print it out wirelessly. A twin pack of alternative movie that’s good for 20 pics prices $15. Each 62 × 46mm photograph saves me a thousand phrases of written textual content, they are saying, decreasing every evening’s journaling session to about 5 to 10 minutes.
All in, this equipment value me $216 and alter, and it’s value each penny. It makes journaling really easy and rewarding that it’s one thing I look ahead to — not dread — on the finish of just about each journey day. I even miss the ritual after returning dwelling. Solid indicators that I’ve created a journaling resolution I’ll follow, hopefully leading to an intimate library of notebooks that chronicles my earthly journey.
Photos by Thomas Ricker / The Verge
