A Passport
My stubborn and resolute quest to step back from virtuality has led to this: the most analog, chaotic, and potentially over-involved piece of stationary around—a passport sized Traveler's Notebook, from Traveler's Company. The real deal, straight from Japan. Well, via Thailand (global supply chains still exist believe it or not), and a Canadian shop called Noteworthy. So while some were waiting by the door for their new iPhone Pro Max, I was anxiously refreshing a local carrier's web page for updates on this little gem. And I probably felt just as giddy when the doorbell rang and Watson ran up the stair, barking all the way (it's hard to miss a delivery in our house).
The Traveler's is really just a leather cover meant to hold all types of refills—notebooks but also folders, pouches, whatever. Some people even use these as wallets or full-blown planners. It can be as thin or as thick, as simple or complex as you want it to be. It feels soft, intimate, already looks slightly battered out of the box, and when I lean in, really really close, I’m reminded of Tony's, the Westmount shoe store where our dad used to take us. A notebook that’s bigger on the inside…
It comes with a blank insert and an extra elastic band (it's actually two is you reuse the one from the packaging). I'm using that blank insert for sketches and doodling, plus two third-party dot-grid inserts: one for random notes and ideas, the other for journaling when I'm away from my desk.
The plan is to keep this with me at all times, replacing the iPhone as my main "repository"—something I tried with the Filofax pocketbook but I eventually found it too big and too rigid as an EDC (I now leave it next to my Mac's keyboard instead).
I'm expecting an adaptation period as old reflexes reassert themselves, a very likely deceleration as well—this won't be a quick, streamlined, or efficient system. It won't even be particularly pretty. But I want notes that peek through scratches and dust. I want errant thoughts to soak thin papers and bleed and leave trails to follow.
I need the scent of memories again.
P.S Images shot with the X-H2 and XF 60MM F2.4 Macro.
