The Hunt for the Perfect Travel Journal

For the last three days, I've scoured through all my favorite stationery stores in San Francisco on a mission...to find the perfect travel journal. My demands aren't outrageous. Something with a leather-like exterior. Lined paper that is neither too wide nor too narrow. Something about wide-ruled paper is just insulting to me, possibly due to those grammar school days practicing my cursive with the emphasis on especially round lower-case a's. So college-ruled, but oddly in the past few days, I have encountered journal pages with lines so packed in there that there was barely any room to dot an i. Also medium-sized because I hate moving to the next line after every fourth word. Preferably, one with a elastic band to keep the pages intact. Possibly, even with a sleeve to keep those random ticket stubs or receipts. I feel like I'm describing a Moleskine here, found at any bookstore, but I refuse to shell out fifteen dollars for a journal. Add that to the cost of internet cafes in Cuzco and my media grant would probably even itself out.

The only contender I found was at cute lil' Gable's Stationery in the outer Richmond. Called WritersBlok in a lovely three pack with a darling description:

Writing is good exercise. It’s good for your mind in the same way that riding a bike is good for your legs. It’s a way to communicate, capture a thought, grow an idea. It helps you think, be more creative, and….it’s fun. And these are things we think are good and good for you…

I refuse set out to Perú, scribbling on an used Mead notebook; I'm classier than that.

Location: San Francisco, CA

Song Playing: Rocks and Daggers by Noah and the Whale