July Long Weekend Getaway EDC
To celebrate Canada Day, we decided on a weekend getaway to wine country at Niagara-on-the-Lake. I had a June 30th project deadline at work so I was going all-out the day before the trip. Still, I managed to get most of my pens inked for July and select my stationery and pens for the road trip. So, what made the cut?
Pens & Inks
Pens from L to R: Platinum 3776 Sai, TWSBI Vac Mini, Tactile Turn Gist, TWSBI 580, Kaweco Brass Sport
Pen: Platinum 3776 Sai M
Ink: Bungbox Kotohogi Kurenai (New Year’s Red)
This is the Canada Day special. A bright red ink that looks awesome in the crystal clear Platinum 3776 Sai M.
Pen: TWSBI Diamond 580 - Orange EF
Ink: Akkerman #22 Hopjesbruin
This pen has large capacity and has actually gone on quite a few trips with me. As well, it's not one I would get fussed about if I were to lose it.
Pen: TWSBI Vac Mini 1.1
Ink: KWZ IG Turquoise
As I mentioned, this is a new pen to the line up. This is also a smaller pen but not exactly pocket sized. I wanted to take some time to compare th Vac mini with th 580. So far I love the form factor. KWZ IG Turquoise looks pretty good in it.
Pen: Kaweco Brass Sport EF
Ink: KWZ Brown Pink
Pocket pen and virtually indestructible one at that. Perfect for road trips!
I think KWZ Brown Pink is pretty funky and looks good paired with the Brass Sport.
Pen: Tactile Turn Gist Titanium EF
Ink: Noodler's Raven Black
This is not exactly a pocket pen but it's on the smaller side of my July lineup. I'm loving the awesome soft titanium nib. It's smooth and offers the semi-flex personality of gold. Such a stealthy pen is pairs nicely with the Wonder Pens Canadian exclusive Noodler's Raven Black. Since we're celebrating Canada Day, some Canadian exclusives are called for.
I selected only 5 pens as is as only to be gone for a couple days. I wanted everything to fit inside the chosen case. I tried to go with sturdy and compact pens as I didn't want to worry a tossing them about in the car or in my luggage.
Accessories and Stationery
Nockco Sinclair Case I love this zippered case that holds pens and pocket notebooks together in a self contained bundle. I slipped 3 pens into the built-in pen sleeves and another 2 pens in the space between the pen sleeves and the notebook pocket. No pens were scratched or damaged in the production of this EDC.
Nockco DotDash Pocket Notebook This top staplebound notebook has great fountain pen friendly paper. I think it's got a cute form factor and is handy for list making and on-the-road games of Tic-Tac-Toe and Hangman with my little guy.
Nockco DotDash Notebook hanging out with Tactile Turn Gist
Limited Edition Pen Addict Notebook I was planning to do something fun with this notebooks, like writing about pens, but I ended up taking some meeting notes when an urgent conference call for work came up. It's a little smaller than I'm used to for this purpose. In a pinch, this notebook plus the Tactile Turn Gist was all business.
Limited Edition Pen Addict Notebook gets matchy with a couple of TWSBI's
Nockco DotDash Notecards Since I had room to spare in the Sinclair case, I threw in a small stack of these notecards. I always love to use these for important messages like the nightly love notes to my son.
So all the above were jammed into the Sinclair case which expanded nicely to enclose everything safely and securely.
Separately I also carried my Travelers Notebook (Passport size) with its usual 3 inserts.
I also brought my Hobonichi Techo which I've been using to write my mantra-of-the-day and as a gratitude journal.
Final Thoughts
All in all I was happy with my loadout for the trip. The Sinclair case makes it a breeze to travel lightly and easily. For example, I could decide to head out to the cafe and just pick up the Sinclair knowing that I had a selection of papers and pens on hand.
My Galen Leather zippered pen case came along while I relaxed on the docks at the lake. Fountain pens living dangerously on the edge...