On Wednesday I dove into the first half of Traveler’s Company’s much-anticipated “B-Sides & Rarities” collection, looking at two somewhat-hyped papers: Their new Washable Paper and Super-Lightweight Paper. Today, I’ll open up the rest of the refills, including two devoted to correspondence (the Letter Pad and Message Pad), two intended for highly-specific use cases (“Sticker Release” Paper and the Accordion Fold), and a new accessory, the Cotton Zippered Case that let’s you turn your Traveler’s Notebook into a wallet.
The Letter Pad: Midori MD Cotton Paper (Finally) Comes to the Traveler’s Notebook
Midori MD Cotton paper is one of my favorite fountain pen friendly papers on the market today, though it’s currently available only in blank pads and notebooks in “F” sizing. At one point, Midori made their standard A5 notebooks in MD Cotton, but sadly those have since been discontinued. Now, however, you can purchase MD Cotton paper for your Traveler’s Notebook in the form of the new B-Sides & Rarities Letter Pad, which contains 30 sheets of paper ruled for letter writing on one side, with a 3mm grid on the other. Out of all the new “B-Sides & Rarities” refills, this is perhaps my favorite, though I will likely use this one as a notepad as opposed to written correspondence.
The Message Cards are fountain pen friendly, and perfect for adding short notes to gifts and packages. If you don’t want to carry the full refill around with you, you can also detach a handful of the cards and store them in the pouch of your Traveler’s Notebook. (See below.)
Special Purpose Refills: Message Cards, Accordion Paper, and a Sticker Album
The next three new refills I plan to discuss are the ones I will likely use less frequently, simply because I don’t have as much of a personal use case for them in my daily rotation, though they’re still interesting. The “Message Cards” (pictured here) are a book of perforated, letterpress-like correspondence cards that you can use for short notes or gift tags. The “Accordion Fold” refill is a booklet containing 13 pages of folded watercolor paper, which you can extend map-style to create illustrated itineraries, multimedia travel journals, or even a timeline of your plans for the year. Finally, the “Sticker Release Paper” is made from the same paper used for sticker backing. If you collect stickers or tags from your travels, or are looking for an easy way to organize your washi tape collection, this refill lets you add, remove, and reorganize them in an album-style refill. (Note: I don’t have a sticker collection or much artistic ability with watercolor paper to show you how to use the Sticker Release or Accordion refills, though you can check out some stock photos from Traveler’s Company in the product listings to give you some ideas.)
Last But Not Least: Add Functionality to Your Traveler’s Notebook (Particularly the Passport Size) By Turning It Into a Wallet
I’ve been waiting for the right moment to add a Passport-sized Traveler’s Notebook into my daily rotation. What I would love to do is to be able to carry the Passport-size notebook as a wallet, if only on occasion, to reduce bulk and avoid carrying both a wallet and pocket notebook. The new Cotton Zippered Case might do the trick, since it contains two card slots, perfect for identification, library cards, and credit cards (though I wouldn’t overload it), and a zippered pouch, where you can stash coins, ticket stubs, and even cards that you’d prefer to keep in a more secure location. This accessory adds less bulk to the Traveler’s Notebook than the standard PVC zippered pouch, and is available in a standard size as well as the Passport size shown here.
When I first saw this product announced, I was skeptical, but the thin cotton material actually adds very little bulk to the notebook.
Takeaways and Where to Buy
I plan to get a lot of use out of the B-Sides & Rarities collection, even though I will use some refills and accessories more regularly than others. (The Letter Pad will see a lot of use.) Honestly, you don’t even need to have a Traveler’s Notebook to take advantage of some of these, particularly the Letter Pad, Sticker Release Refill, and Memo Cards. With respect to the latter two, I’m not sure I see a circumstance in which I’d ever actually carry them in my actual notebook, though I may keep a set of the Memo Cards in my desk.
You can purchase these refills, along with the rest of the Traveler’s Company “B-Sides & Rarities” Collection, in the T.G.S. Curated Shop. The Gentleman Stationer is an authorized retailer of the full range of Traveler’s Company products, including the Traveler’s Notebook and TRC Brass accessories, and I recently placed a reorder so almost everything should be in stock.
Check out these links to read further about the Traveler’s Notebook System, including how I set up my own personal Traveler’s Notebook and some of my favorite refills and accessories.