It’s been a while since I did a “Bag Dump” post, probably because I haven’t traveled much in the last six months. For a short 2-day trip like this one, I still carry a fair amount of stationery, especially when the travel relates to a work conference where I’ll be taking a lot of notes. Because this trip doesn’t involve a pen show (sorry, Baltimore!), you won’t see any fountain pens featured here, and this particular Rickshaw Sinclair Model-R permanently holds a fistful of workhorse rollerballs, ballpoints, fineliners, and gel pens, which is what you see above from left to right:
Rickshaw Bagworks Sinclair Model-R Pen Case in Saffron Yellow. One of my absolute favorite pen cases for travel, the Sinclair Model-R (and previously, the Nock Co. Sinclair) makes a great modular case that’s simple to move between bags.
Leuchtturm Drehgriffel Gel Pen. A review in process, and one where I keep going back and forth on how much I like the product. Some days, I love the Drehgriffel; on other days I wish it were slightly larger. Stay tuned.
Lamy 2000 Rollerball. I’m not a proponent of the Lamy 2000 fountain pen for air travel, since hooded nib pens don’t generally don’t handle the pressure change well and tend to burp ink into the cap. Given how much I love the overall design of the Lamy 2000, however, one of the other Lamy 2000 formats always comes with me. Here, I’ve hacked a .5mm Ohto rollerball refill by taping a small piece of paper to the end to make it longer, so this is a rollerball pen with a fine refill that doesn’t feather or bleed. Perfection? Possibly.
Tom’s Studio Lumos Pro Duo Fineliner, with Leather Rollstop/Grip. You all know how much I use these things, so I won’t belabor the point, but I added the rollstop to ensure this one doesn’t end up rolling off the table onto the floor. I don’t want to be that guy crawling up the aisle at a conference in the middle of the presentation looking for his pen. I swore that would never happen again.
Gravitas Twist Ultemate Ballpoint. A pen that I picked up some time ago but have held off on reviewing while Gravitas worked through some production issues. It’s back in the queue for future commentary.
Uni Jetstream Prime Lite Touch 3 Multi Pen. I don’t go anywhere without at least one Multi Pen. The recently released Lite Touch 3 made the cut for this outing.
Lamy Swift Retractable Rollerball. Stay tuned on this one, as it has a few cool aspects that I’ve never seen on another pen. (Like a retractable clip?) I received a couple of these pens with the large rotating Lamy display I ordered earlier this month, and I plan to have more to list in the coming weeks.
Montblanc Classique Ballpoint with Monteverde for Montblanc Gel Refill. Yes, you can turn your Montblanc twist ballpoint into a gel pen. These Monteverde for Montblanc gel refills are still around, and very good.
Pilot S20 Ballpoint. While I love my Jetstreams, Pilot’s “Acro-Ink” is excellent, and the Pilot S20 might be my favorite ballpoint for long writing sessions.
Notsu Vegan Leather Notecard Holder. It fit perfectly inside the Sinclair, what do you know? I plan to have this with me at my conference to discretely jot down any non-conference related thoughts that may be worth retaining.
So what about notebooks? With me this week are the same three notebooks I picked to start 2025 (the Musubi is very close to completion), along with the Lochby Field Journal Mini, which sadly will be out of stock for a while, from what Lochby tells me.
And What’s a Pen Show Week Without a Promo? This Time on Notebook Systems!
If I’m attending a pen show, I’ll always have something on special to compensate for the fact that I’m away from the shop for a few days (until Friday), and also to let those who can’t attend the actual show to get in on the fun. Even though I won’t be at the 2025 Baltimore Pen Show, I thought it might be fun to do a flash promo on notebook systems through Friday, March 7. Take 10% off notebook systems, including Traveler’s, Midori, Lochby, Laconic, and Stàlogy, using the code “TRAVEL” at checkout. I hope you use them for something fun!
I’ve switched things up some lately, but since I prefer aisle seats with little under-seat storage, this week’s travel companion was my classic Filson Twill Briefcase.
Did you like this post? The Gentleman Stationer is supported by purchases from the T.G.S. Curated Shop and pledges via the T.G.S. Patreon Program. To accompany this post, I filmed a short “unpacking” video (a true “bag dump”), which you can now view on the YouTube Channel!
