“For every traveler who has any taste of his own, the only useful guidebook will be the one which he himself has written.”
Aldus Huxley
I am on my way to London. I have some meetings planned in the area of Russell Square before heading on to Paris in a few days for even more meetings.
I know Russell Square, but I don't really KNOW Russell Square if you get my drift. So I went to the book I normally use before I go to London to learn more about the area. Where do I want to stay? What do I want to do? What's the history of Russell Square...I may want to pop in to one of the museums.
Briefly, Russell Square is home to The University of London, Senate House Library, British Museum, Dickens’ House, several churches and the very famous, Russell Square Hotel.
I went to my notebook to write down a few "must do's" while I'm in London. When I write, I use a Moleskine notebook. I have "
noted," over the years, many great places to eat, stay, see and do in my Moleskines. Since the current Moleskine is about full, I went online to order a replacement. I was surprised to find Moleskine Travel notebooks. There is an entire online community at this link:
http://www.moleskinecity.com/jo/index.php.
I enjoy writing. I wish I were better at it. Moleskine provides me a very high quality space to write. I have one entire Moleskine notebook written just for my children. I wanted one spot to write down memories and small bits of wisdom that comes with miles of travel and meeting so many people. Years ago I bought another Moleskine to keep track of my favorite restaurants, watering holes, parks, and the quickest way to get from Piccadilly Station to the Samuel Smith's pub on the River Thames in Richmond in Surrey, for example.
I'm not sure why I was surprised to see that Moleskine now has City Books and a web site dedicated to getting the most out of your travel and travel writing. But they do. Entire Blogs on global travel await you if you click that link I provided above. Moleskine has understood for 100 years that people like to write and they like to keep notes on what is important to them. And they have provided simply the best way to take those notes, to keep them safe and provide a place to capture reality on the move, pin down details, and impress upon paper unique aspects of experience. As they state on their web site,
“Moleskine is a reservoir of ideas and feelings, a battery that stores discoveries and perceptions, and whose energy can be tapped over time.” As I finish this letter, I am at my hotel in London. Standing in the taxi queue at Paddington Station last night I learned about a great pub to go for a traditional English Sunday lunch and I learned about a great new toy store…just in case I wanted to buy a little something for the little ones at home. I pulled out my new London Moleskine and made those entries.
So now Moleskin has books we can fill with travel ramblings. And those of us who buy and fill up these books are most definitely writing our own travel journal and literally charting our own course. I encourage you to go to the website using the link above and make your entries there, online, for this growing community to use and from which to benefit.
From the time I taught high school English (back in the day) to present, I encouraged people to keep a journal. Write down all those ideas you have and record the experiences for people to read now and when you're dead and gone. I cannot think of a better use of my travel time than noting my itineraries and thoughts for my children to use when they want to see what I was up to on Sept. 20, 1988 in Sorento. It provides an opportunity for me to be there, when it will be impossible for me to be there.
I use Moleskine for that. And now I'm using Moleskine City Books. And I will more than likely rely more and more on the Moleskine website because it is kept alive by people like me.
I have a library of Moleskines that I have written since 1987…all written for my kids to use sometime in the future. And with the new Moleskines web site, these legendary black notebooks are being passed from one pocket to the next with the help of the Internet.
In the Moleskine tradition, I hope to read you soon,
Randy LeGrant
Executive Director
GeoVisions International