Dear reader: thanks to the generous people over at Pocketcultures, I have enrolled in the MatadorU travel writing course, and will publish writing assignments as a part of this course – and will obviously do so here on my almighty blog. So, if you’re not interested in my progress please ignore all posts tagged with “MatadorU” going forward (=sarcasm). But if you’re interested, here’s my first assignment:

In my opinion, there are two things a traveller cannot travel without. And I’m not talking knickers and towels here, I’m talking about something even more basic: a pen and a notebook. Take away all my electronic gadgets like GPS and smartphone, and even my dog-eared guide books, but leave me pen and notebook. Why?

It stores all information in one place:

Even when I’ve printed out my boarding pass or train ticket, I always note down reservation numbers and booking codes to be on the safe side. Plus, all key data of my travel planning goes here as well, hotel addresses, embassies, emergency phone numbers. All this information can by now be managed online with the most user-friendly software and online tools possible, but still these tools need internet access and even more important, electricity. And my notebook always works, however reliable the local power supply is. Oh, and it’s bio-degredable.

It provides entertainment:

I often find myself waiting on bus stations, and most times I’ve finished the book I was reading five minutes before and no newspaper agent in sight. And the same might happen to you. So why not doodle something, try your poetic skills at a limerick cursing the local bus operator, or prepare the email you’re going to send from the next hostel. When it does one thing, it passes the time. And you may even discover your vocation as a writer.

It can become your very own guidebook:

If you’re going to a location a second time or visit it regularly, your notebook can become your very own guidebook. It lets you organize things you want to keep for future reference or for your records, such as the names and addresses of restaurants, shops and other important places. You can even note down interesting information at a museum for further investigation, or websites you may want to look up later and recommend via Facebook.

I am not trying to stir up a debate on principles here (and I am not promoting certain products – a nibbled-on pencil plus an old receipt book will do just fine), but the pen/notebook-combination that works best for me is my trustworthy 12-month-Moleskine-diary and an Enzo Varini ball-pen. And these two items must have saved my travel planning and sanity more than once.

Image by See-ming Lee