My Favorite Things: Moleskine City Notebooks

I love a good notebook. Though I claim to be a geek of all things "techy" there is really nothing better to me than paper and a pen. So when I found the Moleskine City Notebook for Boston I was enthralled. I now had a great book to note our explorations, thoughts and information from our time in Massachusetts for a future visit and to reference when I write about places we've been.



The city notebooks are small, pocket sized books measuring 5.4 x 3.7 x 0.8 inches and each is customized for the city it features. Bound in basic black, the city is stamped on the spine.

The Boston notebook, for example, has a subway map & station index and 32 pages of zone maps & a street index. Dublin, which I also have, features the DART map & station index and 18 pages of zone maps & a street index. Both also have blank pages (54 and 76 pages, respectively), 96 tabbed pages for city files, 32 detachable sheets for notes and an expandable pocket on the inside back cover. Also included are sticker tabs to name some of those page groups and tracing paper to map directions for your sightseeing (they conveniently stick to the pages).

My Boston book doesn't just contain Boston information, however. I named tabs "South Shore" and "The Cape", for example. In the Dublin book I have tabs set up for other counties in Ireland.

These notebooks are not travel guides, rather a great place to compile your own, ultimate travel guide. I recommend taking notes in this small journal and packing it for your trip instead of carrying around three or four books that each only have a tiny bit of information you want. Plan your vacation before you go, gather information in one place and have it easily accessible. Take notes while you explore: Shops to visit? Restaurants to try? Closest tube station? You won't forget if you write it down.

In addition, this little book is a great way to relive your vacation. You can read your notes, remember what you ate and recall that funny little shop you happened upon. I open mine often, just to remember our adventures.

Moleskine City Notebook is available for 44 cities across the globe. Moleskine City has the complete list as well as basic info, updates and curious facts.

"For every traveller who has any tast of his own, the only useful guidebook will be the one which he himself has written."
~Aldous Huxley