Top five pens to bring on vacation

And why I won’t be listening to my own advice

From time to time, when your employer benevolently allows you to put your rightfully earned PTO to use, and when you finally figure out where you want to go, and work out a budget, and purchase your ticket, and book your accommodation, and manage to pack, you still need to make a harrowing decision: to pick the pen(s) you will bring with you and work out who will be left behind.

I’m not dramatic (too much), but my collection consists of 125 pens at the moment (trying to sell around 5 pens is not working out as well for me) and I might have bought another one while running to my connecting flight¹, and I have decision fatigue, and I still like all of my pens. Making sure I bring those pens that will cover if not all, then most of the bases, sounds like an impossible task. How does one narrow such a collection down to a manageable, reasonable², packable number of pens? How many is too many?

There are other, important follow up questions one needs to ask themselves before anything else: Do I need permanence? Do I want something fun? How many pens is really, truly, reasonable³ to take on a three week vacation?

If you’re anything like me, you have probably googled something in the vein of “travel pens”, “pocket pens”, “durable pens” or “pens that I absolutely need to bring to my vacation that won’t break or leak on the plane”, and you probably subsequently googled prices on Kaweco Sports, Traveler’s Company Brass Pens, and, since you probably need a vac filler, a Visconti Homo Sapiens with its “power-filling” feature and “huge ink capacity” and “how to explain to my wife why our joint bank account is over drafted”.

None of that matters, though. We’re not here to buy more pens just to travel! No, we’re waiting on Black Friday sales to spend money, because, as we know, pens that are on sale are basically free, plus, what else does one do on long (or short) layovers? Hence, before I packed, I thought long and hard about what to bring and settled on five pens — not too little, not too many — the number that is absolutely not arbitrary in the slightest.

Coincidentally, that’s the number of pen slots in my Galen Leather pen case.

I went with durability and portability, fun ink colors, variety of nibs and finishes, and, perhaps most important… pens that I would be devastated if I lost them. Because I am smart like that. Side note: do not do what I did. Do not pack pens that are limited edition, one of a kind, bespoke, super expensive to replace, or a treasured gift.

And read on to find out that I — spoiler alert — did not listen to myself.

Utility, durability, portability, cool factor, clickity-click Majohn A1

Why did I pick the “clone” instead of the real deal? First of all, go read one of my previous posts regarding that question. Second of all, are you trying to tell me you’d rather lose a Vanishing Point instead of an A1? Would you? I didn’t think so.

Another side note: this pen is actually a gift from a dear friend. So I already discarded my own advice.

Majohn A1 is a brass pen that you can set into action with one hand, which is paramount if you’re on a plane where you barely have room for at least one, if not both of your elbows. The nib is super small (if you went with the EF steel nib it comes with) and thus you won’t poke anyone’s eye out, your seat mate won’t stare at you for using an ink sloshing monster next to them, a potential inky mess will most likely be avoided, and you can jot down quick notes anywhere you are: in your seat, in the lavatory, while running towards the gate, in TSA pre check while your shoes are off and you are freezing because they had you take off your jacket and your zip up hoodie, or in a restaurant if you ever get off the plane.

Basically, the pros are as follows: the pen is durable, reliable, and does not draw attention, and you can’t go wrong with it. You definitely need a permanent ink if you want to make sure your writing doesn’t get ruined when you inevitably spill water all over yourself when turbulence occurs.

Before my trip, I also bought a totally real Traveler’s notebook, and I put one of the inserts in my sling bag — it just fit. I used that combo to scribble about my flight, as I had a solid 8.5 hours of flying until my destination. What was awesome about that was the fact the flight was not full, so I had two seats to myself, and so I spread across both of them and wrote to my heart’s content.

Point in question: scribbles from the flight. No water stains. I lied about spilling water. I spilled it on my pants, of course. Can’t ruin such a nice scribble.

Joy, fun, something to match the word journal: Esterbrook Estie with a Journaler

Of course, it would be quite silly to travel with just one EF nibbed black pen, wouldn’t it? Enter yet another cartridge converter pen, but this one with a fun nib to do totally artsy calligraphy, or in my case, to doodle pineapples instead of bananas. I got the Estie Rainforest because I just couldn’t pass on the finish, and of course, I had to try Gena Salorino’s amazing grind, and let me tell you, they know how to grind a beautiful nib.

See, this pen is relatively replaceable. The grind is in stock, and sure, it costs a bit, but if I were to lose it, I should get over it in a few months.

Do I always match pens and ink? Not necessarily; I only do it for around 95% of my pens. I have J. Herbin Vert Olive in this pen, and — gasp — I’m using a cartridge. My idea behind this pen and nib combo is that if I were to run out of ink, which I won’t between five pens, I can buy cartridges. Eastern Europe does not believe in filling pens out of the bottle, but there are stores that will sell standard international short cartridges. As the Estie also uses international short cartridges (not sure about the long ones, but that’s a moot point as there’s no way for me to find them here), I will have some options. That’s a good advice: go with a C/C filler, always. You never know what can happen.

The pen is light and hopefully durable, but durability wasn’t my primary concern. This is the pen that I would use to relax after a long day of doing absolutely nothing but hanging out with friends and family I haven’t seen in two years, and I might take it to a coffee shop. I would think most people wouldn’t stare, as fountain pens aren’t too uncommon. Well, they used to be common. Nowadays, writing in longhand is uncommon.

Journaler nib basking in the sun during horrid 35F weather.

Monster nib, demonstrator, pocket-adjacent pen: Sailor PGS with a Zoom nib

Do I need a Zoom nib? Do I need sparkly reddish-maroon pen with gold shimmer? Do I really need that combo on a flight and to use in an unbranded, random notebook from my fake Traveler’s Notebook? Absolutely.

I get the versatility and fun with this combo. Everyone needs some fun in their lives. This Pro Gear Slim (PGS) is the Wisteria from their Manyo series, season two. It’s kinda red, kinda transparent lilac — the colors would be Fuji (the ink bottle came with the pen) and and Kuzu. It came with an M nib that I swapped with a Zoom nib, because why not; and I am still trying to sell the black and rhodium trimmed 1911s that was the nib donor. Oh well. The PGS Wisteria is the kind of pen that will most likely turn heads, and I don’t mind that at all. If I need a pen to take out and I don’t want to use black ink, this pen is compact enough to go places with me, funky enough to look and feel fun, the ink, of course, matches it in spirit (Wearingeul Queen of Hearts), and, thanks to the versatility of the Zoom nib, it is actually surprisingly usable. The idea behind this pen and ink combo is that I can use the reverse side of the nib on poorer paper or when I need to write small, or I can just use the pen at a 90-degree angle, or I can play around and underline other text with a fat line of ink. The red is subdued, and then, bam, you get hit by gold shimmer.

What’s not to like?

Wisteria in her natural habitat with flowers and ink and just being pretty.

Bold, beautiful, B nibbed birthday gift: Zodiac Pen Co Gemini with a B nib

It wasn’t a birthday gift, but isn’t every time someone gifts you a pen basically your birthday? And yes, this is the pen I would absolutely cry forever about if I were to lose it. So why not bring it on an international flight six time zones away?

I picked this one not only because I promised Bart I’d take his pen places, but also because it’s a gift from my wife that quite quickly became one of my top ten pens in my collection. I can match it with teal inks or brown inks; it fits in the pen case and it’s super ergonomic. Plus I have my banana in the coffee mug nib on it. The B nib is, as the previous two, here for the fun and to play with ink and perhaps add some character to my doodles. The ink in it might seem dull for a moment, but that’s just an illusion; Birmingham Pen Co Burrowood is brown with a funky yellow-green sheen that turns converter neon lime when you try to rinse the ink out (it washes out well in the end, don’t worry). This is for those times when I want to be cool and classy, and then when y’all look another way, I get to giggle at how cool the combo is. Basically, this would be a pen to show off to people who won’t tear into the paper with a Journaler nib, won’t be confused with a clicky pen, or intimidated by a Zoom nib.

If

@idipbananasintocoffee

was a pen, it would be this pen, and so there they are in their natural habitat.

Primary Manipulation, novelty, and compact fun: London Pen Co Christopher 13 Junior

Okay, well, maybe it’s not a good idea to bring a pen that cannot be remade the same way, that also sports a commemorative nib, and the pen I haven’t had the chance to use as it arrived two days before my trip (and had a bit of an issue with the original nib that is getting fixed as we speak so I don’t mind at all), so how would I know if I liked it? Why did I take this pen with me? Exactly because of all of I wanted to test this pen and see how I feel about it. This is my first pen in Primary Manipulation finish⁴, my first London Pen Co pen, and I didn’t have time to properly use it so naturally I had to bring it with me. Who knows, I might hate it, you know?

Spoiler alert, I loved it enough to consider buying another one of their pens during my layover. I might have pulled the trigger too. Might have⁵.

Anyway, I decided to also get an ink that would match the pen, so Van Dieman’s Azure Kingfisher it had to be. As I said, the combo is here for the novelty, mostly, but also, the C13JR is a smaller pen, which again works well for me if I need something on the smaller side. And I have a Bock F nib in it — with the little engraving of a manatee from the 2023 Orlando pen show.

Lookit cute lil manatee nib

Conclusion/TLDR

If I were a different person and could talk about things I like in concise, non run on sentences, I’d say that the array of pens was picked for specific and different reasons:

1. Utility,

2. Relaxation,

3. Versatility,

4. Comfort, and

5. Novelty.

However, I am not a concise person. The thing all of these pens have in common is the filling system. I also didn’t bring a real pocket pen. I brought pens that would serve a purpose and/or bring me joy. There are things to keep in mind: my vacation was actually a visit to my family, so I wasn’t planning for long writing sessions (especially since I barely have time to write my 1,667 words/day for NaNoWriMo) and a piston/vac filler didn’t make sense to me.

I also did not want to bring more pens that would have to go in my suitcase, and I was smart to do that because as of right now (my second/third day here), my checked bag is still at JFK, whereas I am 4,515 miles to the east. I wasn’t smart enough to bring my pajamas, warm clothes, rain boots, or my damned five-year-journal in my backpack (or my meds, for that matter), but I would have been absolutely devastated had I lost any of these pens.

Word of advice: do not, absolutely DO NOT, put your most coveted pens in the suitcase, especially if JetBlue delays your first flight and then the staff there decides your baggage does not get to travel to Serbia. We don’t need visas to go there, good grief. Just let my bag go.

Anyway, back to the actual topic. The list is in no way the be-all, end-all of the best pens to travel with; this is the list of the pens that I wanted to bring with me for reasons that made sense to me. Perhaps you’d prefer to travel with one favorite pen that has the biggest, juiciest nib there is and then resort to using ballpoints⁶ while you’re in a random country, but that is not me. I had to fill out a form using a ballpoint pen at the lost and found counter and my hand cramped immediately; I am not going to get into that situation again.

If I were traveling to a safari or a jungle, I’d for sure be carrying a beater pen, perhaps a fake brass Kaweco-clone pocket pen that will not die if I drop it off a 100-year-old tree. If I ever stay at the Hilton, I would be inclined to bring a pen that will look super posh. You know… a Jinhao pretending to be a Montblanc 149 lol.

All jokes aside, the point of the post is to have you, reader, ask yourself what is important to you when you’re traveling — what do you expect from your pens, what do you want to get out of your writing experience, and who you can’t leave behind at the airport 4,515 miles away? As you can see, I had my reasons for my choices, which isn’t to say I would pack another five pens another time.

But what about you? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Update: the bag arrived safely the day before this post was scheduled to go live. It brought the New Yorker accent and a postcard. I wish.

1. I in fact, did buy another pen. Stay tuned.

2. Hahaha.

3. Hahahahahahahahahahaha.

4. I do have a Galaxy PM finish in one pen, but that type of finish looks quite different, as it’s sparkly and definitely more like a real galaxy than the actual acrylic swirls.

5. Did you really think I didn’t buy it?

6. Barf.