For the love of pens and journals

I am a person who likes nice pens. Having the right pen for me is very important. Some can be expensive like a Montblanc or the good old Bic clear plastic ball-point where the ink color matches the plastic cap color. So, yes, I have more than I need, but hey life is short.

However, what are we to do if we like writing in our journals or just using a nice pen when we travel, and specifically internationally? For me I wanted to have a pen I like using but if I lose it I am not too upset (or out of too much money)? I tried for a few times to just take a pen that you can get a pack of 10 for $5 at Office Depot, but that just was not the same as using one of my pens.

So, I started to search for a pen that solved my need of a pen I liked using, but I could live with losing. And from my search I found the pens I was considering were all metal pens (I think I liked the sense of sturdy while traveling that appealed to me).

Here are the brands that I considered and the one I decided on (as well as the link to Amazon if you want one for yourself).

First there is the long time good old Cross ball-point classic chrome or black pen. They are available everywhere (even in the one pen store in Nikolaev Ukraine City Center Mall). This pen is solid and it works well. And priced at $15-25, it fits in my price point.

Second was the Parker Jotter Classic Stainless Steel ballpoint pen. This pen is the lightest pen of the ones I looked at. It writes well and fine (I bought one in the Nikolaev City Center mall pen store), but it just did not do it for me enough. I do use it when I am walking around somewhere and need to write something down a lot. When visiting private dog rescues in the Ukraine I will stick this pen into my moleskin notebook for the day.

Third, and the one I picked, is the Rotring Rapid Pro Retractable Ballpoint,

Now I have been a fan of the Rotring brand for several years and I loved their pens for the weight and durability and engineering. This pen feels sturdy, writes well, and has a techie look and feel to it.

The Rotring ended up being the right pen for me. Your tastes and likes likely differ from mine.

I hope that this was both helpful and interesting for you. And I hope that you do not mind my first attempt at Affiliate Marketing. I am still in the process of building out the business sites from my personal social media ones.