Like the ever-trending mullet, we’ll begin this week’s blog with business at the front, and then we can party at the back end, OK? Let’s go!
For all your notebook needs when travelling over the holidays to see your family (or *awkward cough* get away from them), this longer-than-usual list will do you no wrong. No need to choose wisely - just choose- because every option here is exceptional:
Now that you have the VIP list we can get into the nitty gritty details you know and love … Yes, that’s right. Time to step into the DeLorean, Friday Pulp Blog Enthusiasts, ‘cos we’re goin’ back in time.
Ever Fancy Yourself as a Travel Writer in the Roman Empire?
A clever chap called Pausanias did. Fancy himself as one, I mean. He was an Ancient Greek Geographer, living in the time of the Roman Empire and travelled through Roman Greece looking at all the exciting things and writing his dreamy thoughts and keen observations down in his notebooks.
He would go into great description of scenery such as pine trees, wild boars, wild strawberries and white blackbirds (say what!?), and at times would digress to talk about the kinds of people that lived nearby, the architecture and the food.
His diaries became an essential source for archaeologists wanting to know more about the culture of Ancient Greece. The official line from the experts is: “Pausanias's recorded travels still serve as a tool to understanding the relationship between archaeology, mythology, and history”. Quite lovely, don’t you think?
Boisterous High-Fiving All Around!
Cheers to the art of travel writing! It could be the case that Pausanias found the perfect notebook and just couldn’t help himself! That’s what we like to think anyway.
There are many notable (*wink) ways it write about travel. In a time when it feels like all the cool travel documenting is though your little magical rectangular prism, notebooks provide a welcoming relief to incessant screen time. And to know that they have also been used throughout the years by the most amazing writers is a reassuring thought.
Joan Didion, the American journalist and writer, kept several blank Moleskine notebooks in her cupboard - just in case - and when she died had left 38 of them behind in pristine condition.
*Side note: they were each auctioned off after she died and collectively sold for 20,000 dollars!
Notebook Addicts Unite!
At the end of the day, we can’t all be genius wordsmiths like Didion, but we don’t have to be. Notebook addicts use their drug of choice for all manner of things: a small poem, a sentence of gratitude a day, or shopping lists that make yourself giggle. Seriously, try slotting in a joke or two -helps to make the mundane chore of the weekly grocery haul bearable. Or in fact - lil' vignettes or sketches of all the far flung places you go. Just like our good pal Pausanias, who was most definitely a notebook junkie.
No matter what, your holiday journeys are gonna be great. And if you’re off to see your famalam, or go on a well-deserved break after a hectic year, a notebook might be just the thing to bring along to vent, document or daydream your thoughts, feelings and observations … G-O, GG-O ... Bon Voyage! xx