What Pens Are You Traveling With?

[SilverStoneMetallic]

I took my Conid Regular, and two M800s on a road trip to the gulf coast to visit family.

 

[inkstainedruth]

Currently, I've got some of the ones I have inked up, plus (assuming I have time tomorrow, a couple of empty ones and ink to test in them).

Inked: 

Sheaffer Star Wars Pop "Yoda", M nib -- diluted Monteverde Mulberry Noir.

Sailor 1911S Loch Ness monster, MF nib -- Sailor US Series Pennsylvania.

Noodler's Poseidon Pearl Konrad, flex nib -- slightly diluted Noodler's El Lawrence.

Lamy Azure al-Star, M nib -- Sailor Manyo Kakitsubata.

 

Not (yet) Inked:

Sailor 1911S Wicked Witch of the West, music nib (I want to see if Kobe Taisanji Yellow curbs the wetness of that nib).

Parker Vector Shrek "Puss in Boots", M nib (I need a pop of color in my life so I brought along a sample of Monteverde Rose Noir).

Pilot Metropolitan Retro Pop Grey/Herringbone, stub nib (I have been having a hankering for vintage Skrip Peacock recently).

 

Okay, is it weird that I have all those pens with me for a trip that which started Friday afternoon and we'll be heading back home Sunday afternoon?  

And if you asked what I've used them for so far, it's been my morning pages journal, a shopping list of stuff I needed to pick up for myself and my husband and possibly for his two older brothers, and keeping track of what I've spent plus the log of how much was spent on filling up the gas tank, the address to the hotel we're in tonight, and a list of what we are taking out of my late mother-in-law's house that we want to keep, plus a tentative list of things "Well, we'd like X if someone else in the family doesn't, but which we don't have room to haul home this trip....; and (on a later trip) we can get Y and Z out to be donated to charity...."

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

 

[bongo47]

Also just took a road trip to drop a kid off to school.  So I waited until I returned to report back how it went, since the fly home was part of testing out a couple new pens.   So travel buddies were my new Visconti Homo Sapiens Lava Red with Noodler's Purple Heart and a Platinum Prefounte Green with Noodlers HOD filled into a cleaned out cartridge. I carry the Platinum around to avoid touching other people's/shop's pen, while the Homo Sapiens is more for hotel use.  Not too surprisingly, both were unfazed by the trip.  

My trip next week is a more traditional business one, so I'll probably bring a larger selection and my pen roll.

Cheers,

 

 

[The Mustard]

Currently away for a fortnight in a ‘safe’ villa location in Andalusia and so felt comfortable to bring pens without too much fear of losing them. I tend to travel with cartridge pens as I don’t use them much at home or in the office.
 

As such I have MB’s POA Sir Henry Tate (large Boheme) travelling with me who is being used to record my daily and usually epic struggle with my eldest son over a chess board. He’s inked with MB Winter Glow, a colour I love (only three cartridges left 😬) and the irony of using this ink on a day last week when Spain recorded its highest ever daily temperature hasn’t been totally lost on me.

 

I also bought my MB Starwalker (rubber version) which is inked with MB Midnight Blue and us being used for everything else.
 

My 147 travels with me everywhere and is of course here, but hasn’t seen the light of day yet, I use it often at meetings outside the office at home and so I’m enjoying the opportunity to use the others.

 

I hope all FPN members who are on holiday are enjoying some extra time to do some writing (or enjoying having a break from writing!) and travel safely and in good health. 

[TravelCommons]

Ever since I lost a stainless steel Lamy 2000 somewhere between a rental car trunk and a plane flight, I'm a bit more careful about the pens I travel with. As I pivot from business to leisure travel, my trips are lengthening -- going from, say, a couple of days in Phoenix to last month's 2-week ramble from New York City to Portland, ME -- and so I'm paying more attention to ink capacity.

 

I don't like to carry spare ink with me, so I'm carrying more piston fillers. On the NYC-Portland trip, I packed a Wing Sung 698 full of Diamine Regency Blue and a Pilot Custom 823 topped up with Papier Plume Calle Real. To break up that blue streak, I also grabbed my green Kaweco Sport with as much Birmingham Pen's Sport Donnelly Grass Stain as I could fit into its little Kaweco plunger converter.

[thott]

When I am travelling, I have usually my pens in a shockproof and watertight box.
Together with a small amount if MB Irish Green......

 

Thomas

[brokenclay]

Leaving tomorrow for a week of watching paint dry at Vandenberg SFB, so I suspect I'll be doing a lot of writing (journal, letters, etc).

 

I am taking:

Kanwrite Desire Orange Swirl, fine/flex, Fritz Schimpf sundowner

Edison Menlo Sweet Honey, 1.1mm stub, Iroshizuku Take-Sumi

Italix Parson's Essential Blue, medium cursive, Waterman Serenity Blue

Pelikan 120 Green/Black, broad, a mix of Colorverse Walk the Dog (which I find pale and boring) and DeAtramentis Jane Austin

Pelikan 400NN green stripe, medium, Fritz Schimpf gelassenheit

Pelikan M200 Brown Marbled, stub, Akkermann SBRE Brown

 

A happy variety of nibs and inks, I think.

 

[N1003U]

On 8/28/2021 at 8:37 PM, brokenclay said:

Leaving tomorrow for a week of watching paint dry at Vandenberg SFB, so I suspect I'll be doing a lot of writing (journal, letters, etc).

 

I am taking:

Kanwrite Desire Orange Swirl, fine/flex, Fritz Schimpf sundowner

Edison Menlo Sweet Honey, 1.1mm stub, Iroshizuku Take-Sumi

Italix Parson's Essential Blue, medium cursive, Waterman Serenity Blue

Pelikan 120 Green/Black, broad, a mix of Colorverse Walk the Dog (which I find pale and boring) and DeAtramentis Jane Austin

Pelikan 400NN green stripe, medium, Fritz Schimpf gelassenheit

Pelikan M200 Brown Marbled, stub, Akkermann SBRE Brown

 

A happy variety of nibs and inks, I think.

 

Great ink colors! How do you like the Menlo? That is one Edison model I am still debating buying.

 

The Gelassenheit is has nice purple hues, without being in-your-face purple.

[brokenclay]

46 minutes ago, N1003U said:

Great ink colors! How do you like the Menlo? That is one Edison model I am still debating buying.

 

The Gelassenheit is has nice purple hues, without being in-your-face purple.

 

I like it a lot. It's a little large for my taste - I like the Pelikan M200/400 size, so I don't post it, but the acrylic is beautiful and the nib is super. I wish he made a 0.8mm stub, though. I think this is one of the smallest Edisons, alas.

[N1003U]

6 minutes ago, brokenclay said:

 

I like it a lot. It's a little large for my taste - I like the Pelikan M200/400 size, so I don't post it, but the acrylic is beautiful and the nib is super. I wish he made a 0.8mm stub, though. I think this is one of the smallest Edisons, alas.

 

I have only had a Menlo in my hand one time at the Edison booth at a pen show, and my memory of it is that the Menlo is similar in size to the Pilot Custom 823, which is a pen I like very much.

 

If you like the M200/400 size, the Edison Pearlette is darn close in key dimensions to the M200, and posted, it is a joy to use. Unfortunately the Pearlette has been discontinued from the Edison's "Production Line", and is now only available as a "Signature Line" model, which means it is about $100 more expensive (but also means you have a huge choice in material colors, nibs, etc., plus the possiblitiy of other customizations). Edison might even stub an M or B nib for you--the Grays are pretty good nibmeisters. Or you could certainly get a custom nib from somewhere: Edison uses JoWo nibs and collars so it is pretty easy to find a nib and get it ground any way you want.

 

[bongo47]

Another trip down.  Went with these pens:

Sailor Realo

Homo Sapiens

Platinum Prefounte

Platinum Curidas

TWSBI Vac Mini

 

They all did great!   A good mix of formal and casual pens.

[brokenclay]

6 hours ago, bongo47 said:

Another trip down.  Went with these pens:

Sailor Realo

Homo Sapiens

Platinum Prefounte

Platinum Curidas

TWSBI Vac Mini

 

They all did great!   A good mix of formal and casual pens.

Agreed! Mine did fine, even the eyedroppered Kanwrite. The cartridge in the Italix came loose, so that was a little messy, but I don't think that has anything to do with taking it on a plane 

[txomsy]

I'd say, it depends on the travel.

 

For a long time I just carried my pen. In ye olde tymes of one man one pen (or almost), a Montblanc Slimline. When I started to look for more pens, and discovered that now one can get pens to one's heart content, things changed. Or not.

 

For work, I do still carry my MB Slimline. I usually carry too a Kaweco Sport or a Liliput.

 

When it is leisure, it is a metallic pocket pen, a Kaweco Liliput, a Sport or one of its clones. Lately I also carry a Kuretake brush pen and a 5.6mm Kaweco brass sketch mechanic pencil for quick sketching.

 

In general, when I'm moving around I want a sturdy, metal pen, few beat a MB for formal occasions and the Slimline/Noblesse line (now discontinued) is a great workhorse. When it's leisure, convenience gets priority and a small pocket pen that can go on a jeans pocket is (for me) great.

[inkstainedruth]

Yesterday it was the two new-to-me Parker Vectors in case I had to sign any paperwork yesterday, both inked up with whatever reconstituted ink was in them.  One ink is definitely blue (there was a Quink Permanent Blue cartridge installed); the other seems to be more of a blue-black, and I can't tell whether it was an iron gall ink (it has that look to it on the page) or whether it's just diluted, or both....

Next weekend I'll have several pens with me -- I have a meeting to go to on Saturday morning, and I suspect I'll want to be making notes; but then from there we head up to New England because I have some pens I'm bringing to the Commonwealth Pen Show to get ID'd and to get repairs done or both (a number are vintage or semi-vintage, but one of the ones needing repairing is the grey Pilot Decimo -- the nib assembly got knocked out of the votive candle holder it was draining in after getting flushed a while back, and the nib is now bent at a really horrible looking angle.  And since it's both 18K and rhodium plated, I want a pro to be doing the work.  

Pens to ID are the Eversharp/45 hybrid I picked up at an estate sale last spring (I haven't been able to determine the specific model) and the little ringtop I picked up yesterday which I *think* is a Mabie Todd Swan.  I also need to see about getting a converter for the Vanishing Point I gave my husband and possibly one for the Penatia (a Cross sub brand, which takes International Standard but the long Pelikan cartridges I have don't fit inside the barrel -- although they do fit the back of the feed).  And maybe (although I suspect I'll do better at a larger show) converters for the two Sheaffer school pens (although in another thread I've just learned that they can be turned into eyedroppers).

I have a bunch of other pens which need new sacs, etc., but those will be for a longer show when I can be there for most of the weekend; because of juggling schedules, I'll be lucky to get to the Commonwealth Show by noon (depending on where we stop en route the night before, and then basically get to be at the show for the afternoon).  Then get picked up and my husband and I get as far as we can on the trip home Sunday evening....  While I'm at the show, HE gets to get furniture from his mother's house out of storage and loaded into the back of the van -- a friend of ours came over this afternoon to help unload the previous trip's furniture -- a wooden file cabinet and the stacking units for a barrister's bookcase, and then help him re-arrange stuff in my husband's home office to make room for the stuff (and just to make things, um, INTERESTING, the file cabinet drawers have to go back in the same order they came out because everyone one is just a LITTLE different in size.... 

Ruth Morrisson aka instainedruth

[ethernautrix]

A coupla weeks ago, I took a day trip to Kudowa-Zdrój to check out the bone chapel there (kaplica czaszek, or skull chapel) (I've been to the one at Kutna Hora, Czechia, so was curious about this one for a long time and finally went).

 

I had to transfer from the train to a bus at Kłodzko (a city I'd like to revisit), and the hour-long bus ride to Kudowa-Zdrój nearly did my poor dog, Łapa, in, it was so bumpy and jarring!

 

Anyway...as usual, I carried my Moonman C2 (Pilot PO) (Noodler's Black) and Nakaya Piccolo Cigar kuro-aka (EF) (Platinum Carbon Black). And a Uni-ball Signo RT.

 

These three pens comprise my EDC.

[bongo47]

On a domestic 4 city, 4 hotel with 6 planes and a 6ish hour drive thrown in over 11 days.  I brought these along.  So far all behaving admirably. I did empty the forward reservoir in the vac fillers just in case.  From left to right: Platinum Prefounte, PenBBS 355, Sailor 1911 Realo, and Visconti Homo Sapiens Bronze Age.  All but the PenBBS have Noodlers HOD so that I can reliably use them on anything, while the 355 has Monteverde Brown Sugar.

[empliau]

I took my Sailor Black Velvet with me, on a total of eight different plane flights.  (Lots of connections - do not recommend.). Absolutely no leakage and behaved like an angel.  I didn't use it on the plane, just on the ground.  Still, happily surprised.

[miwishi63]

Currently considering the following for a five-day trip back east to see family (2 planes, rental car, and hotel stay):

 

1. Nemosine Fission - F nib

2. Conklin Duragraph - EF nib

3. Diplomat Magnum - F Sheaffer vintage nib

 

Chosen for durability and ink capacity.

[ParramattaPaul]

51 minutes ago, miwishi63 said:

Chosen for durability and ink capacity.

That is the reason I pack my Gravitas Entry.  It is bulletproof.

[miwishi63]

1 hour ago, ParramattaPaul said:

That is the reason I pack my Gravitas Entry.  It is bulletproof.

The Nemosine Fission has a metal body, is heavy, and looks like it could survive the heat death of the universe - another reason to travel with it!