Traveler's Notebook, Regular Size, Brown 13715006

For the price I was initially reluctant given I can find these in San Francisco for double the price and could guarantee authenticity but I was very pleased with my purchase. I received an authentic Midori Traveler's Notebook in camel. I noticed straight from the box/shipping warehouse that it came from, the immediate leather was very light in color and slightly scuffed from transport but the texture of the leather indicated this was because the leather was dry. I quickly remedied this with rub-down with a leather moisturizer (use an unscented body or hand lotion if this isn't available) and the color deepened into its camel caramel shade once the lotion had fully absorbed and dried into the material and the scuffs were gone. The charm with a Midori Traveler's Notebook is when you get it it's pretty plain and straight-forward but with its simplicity comes a myriad of customization and no two Midori Traveler's Notebooks age the same way based on care and daily use. Over time the leather will soften, the color may darken or lighten with use if camel or brown and will develop a natural glossy patina through daily handling and use. My brown is my oldest and has become a glossy shine with few character-growing scuffs from rough handling as my travel journal. My black Midori is is younger by several months but in the short time I've had it, it has slowly taken on its own patina from more daily use as a schedule planner for work and is less prone to visual scratches like my brown. I'm sure the camel will take on its own patina in time, a slow process that will be a pleasure to observe over the years. I love the camel shade and I know the camel tends to be more sensitive to scuffing which may be a plus for those who want a notebook cover to reflect an Indiana Jones-like level of daily use quickly. If this is a determent then I recommend the Traveler's Notebook in either black or brown. Brown is darker in shade than camel and is less prone to getting scuffed about but will still age in time. The black I've had for a while as my daily planner for work and it shows scuffs and scratches the least of all the Midori colors but as a result won't share the aging characteristics that lovers of brown and camel may prefer. You have to be pretty rough with the black to make it look like it's been around the world. Just note if you order either black or brown then you will get either the updated "Traveler's Notebook/Traveler's Company, Japan/Made in Thailand" stamping like the camel or the outdated "Midori/Made in Thailand" stamping on the back. Same product, the stamping was changed in early 2016 the same year of the camel color became part of the main line. Don't fret. Like, seriously, don't fret...it's the same notebook product. I've noticed folks freaking out that they got a fake for the brown or black when ordering from Amazon when really they got the updated stamping from 2016 onwards or the older stock from pre-2016. I own both versions in different colors and the leather has been consistent. Just do a quick google image lookup on branding and you'll know which you have but know you won't get the camel with the outdated Midori stamping. :)

Whew! I was a little worried after reading reviews, but what I received is exactly what is shown in the photos above with all the Midori / Traveler's Notebook packing details exactly as I've come to expect them with other Midori and Traveler's Company products. The notebook that arrived is exactly the color and texture shown in the photos with one exception: Amazon's photos above of the inside interior surface look like it is fabric lined or perhaps fabric bonded to the leather but what I received is just plain leather surface inside. No fabric or any other material in the cover except a very thick leather. No scratches or marks on mine, although it does mark fairly easily which is the point of choosing a vegetable tanned natural leather like this--to show marks and use. Three reasons I chose the Traveler's Notebook before I learned it is a popular item with a cult following: 1) Was using a Moleskine Classic and needed to separate the planner from other writing books so I can track projects, vs tasks, vs calendar vs journal and sketching in separate books without having to put it all in one bound planner. The bound Moleskine has a lot of pages but I have to search week by week to find where I recorded that one task or project. The TN system lets your three "books" be chosen and changed separately, and keep tasks and project notes listed sequentially where I can find them. 2) Needed something about half an inch narrower than the Moleskine Classic (with OLPR leather cover) so it can drop in a sport jacket / blazer hip pocket, and this size is perfect. Pages almost the size of Moleskine. They are both 19mm thick, though in the photo the TN looks thicker because it's on top and because it's new and doesn't lay as flat. 3) Was tired of the absorbent paper used by Moleskine. It's nice paper but not if you write with a fountain pen or even a gel pen which lays a wet line. All the various paper use for TN products (not just from Midori) are finished in a way that is right for fountain pen use. Moleskine Classic has mastered the binding to have a planner lay open flat, so I'll have to get used to the TN which needs to be held open, so I'll see how much I miss that. Also I'll have to trust Midori or someone will continue to make a good weekly planner for this size notebook. The TN cult makes it strong enough in the market to be likely to continue.

I can't recall ever being so anxious waiting for anything but i just couldn't wait to get my hands on my very own Midori. I've seen it price upward of $57! I could just buy another version or even be ambitious and make my own, but amazon had the lowest price I saw on the web, so I decided to save myself the time and heartache of having an imitation. The brown leather evokes a vintage past. Even though it's meant to be used and scratched, i can't help but be a little protective! The cover is smooth and mine is a rich coffee color! The inside is so soft and has the fibers fray which I like; add to the charm of its handmade quality. The edge is black; i'm not sure what covers it, but it's to keep the cover clean. Yes, there is a faint scent to the leather---doesn't all leather!? Have you been to a leather shop? expect it. like going into a bakery and not expect to smell the sugar and cream--not going to happen. I actually encounter the insert first, years ago when i was living in Taiwan and since then have even made my own booklets base on it. I LOVE the long slender size of it. It's not bulky. I also love the paper. it's very smooth (i find Japanese-made paper to always be better, so smooth and clean) and easy to write with. I bought an additional grid insert and wrote w/ .5 pen on both sides and it's fine. The paper is thin, BUT it shouldn't bleed through. I want to get the perforated sketch paper insert and weekly calendar w/memo insert for 2016 next. ^__^ I've always had a schedule diary planner but it's so complete once the year is over it's done. I love the idea that you can put in and take out whichever booklet (insert) you want, and mix and match line/grid/blank/calendar! It's non-committal to a complete bound (or spiral) notebook. I have 3 inserts in my cover, find that's plenty especially with accessories I plan on getting. I wish i ordered the pen clip but will soon. One of my goal is to do more scrapping/travel logging/recording... just keeping it creative. I have a romanticize version of what I want my notebook to be and that really is the purpose of the Midori, to inspire. I've already personalized mine with little charms and bead I had. Looking forward to more accessories.

This was my very first travelers notebook and it’s my favorite to this day. I now have every single standard and passport size color and this is my favorite. The leather feels like leather should. Other colors have a sort of velvety feel to them which is nice but the brown is smooth and feels like you’d expect leather to feel like. It will get scratched up as you use it and eventually it’ll take on a character of its own. After a year with this notebook being carried back and forth with me to work and around the house I have to say that it looks very distinct. It looks like MY notebook and bears the scars of being thrown in bags, carried in larger coat pockets and generally being used heavily by me. It’s a very wabi-sabi thing. After a year you’ll notice that the leather gets a little darker and shinier from being handled and the scratches are still visible but are smoothed over. I want to be clear about the scratches: they look good and give this notebook character. They definitely don’t look like defects and they will likely help you bond with the notebook as you’ll be the only person with a Travelers Notebook that looks exactly the way yours does. The notebook is also infinitely customizable. Of course you can add all sorts of inserts as you please but the real self expression comes when you realize that you can do things like change the color of the elastic bands, add additional bookmarks, and even cut more holes to run more elastics through the cover if you don’t like the idea of multiple notebooks sharing the same elastic. At first I was in love with this notebook because of how beautiful it was and wanted to keep it looking pristine. After a year I find the beauty of this notebook comes more from the functionality and it’s ability to allow to me to customize it so I can use it the way That works best for me than from any beauty that you see when it’s brand new. Both new and used, the Travelers notebooks have a certain charm to them that isn’t for everyone but if you’re looking at this flap of leather with an elastic enclosure and see a beautiful object then don’t hesitate and buy one. You won’t regret it.

I’ll try to keep this short, but in order to truly understand the quality of this product, you’ll need a little backstory. I’m 39, so I’m starting to get just a little vain about the condition of my skin. I found a product here on Amazon, since I buy everything from Amazon, that proclaimed “time-erasing” benefits that could “take years off” your skin. I gave it a try. Talk about misleading advertising! The directions said to put a pea-sized squirt in your palms and gently massage into your skin, leave on for a minute and rinse with cool water. Well its cold out, so I used hot water, instead. Big mistake. My face started to tingle and then the floor opened up beneath me, a widening maw into the depths of nowhere. I fumbled for my footing and grabbed at anything. The face towel, with the micro-dry weave, which I also bought on Amazon, spun through the chrome loop, giving me no purchase. I slipped further, grasping now at the cabinet under the sink. It slung wide, moving me directly over the void and further from my bathroom. The rusted hinges gave way and I tumbled through an infinite darkness. I had no idea how fast I was falling, but it seemed more like I was moving through fluid because when my feet finally touched something, it was a soft landing. Suddenly, the world appeared around me. Instead of my bathroom sink, though, I was standing in front of a scraggy tree draped in Spanish moss. Instead of the cushy-absorbent bathroom mat I got on sale on Amazon, I was ankle-deep in soggy marsh. I was outside in nothing but my waffle-knit robe (which I had also purchased on Amazon), face cream all over my face, carrying a face towel! Can you say embarrassing? I searched the ample pockets of my robe and found only a wadded up tissue and a cough drop in one pocket and my Midori Traveler’s Notebook, another Amazon purchase that I carry with me literally everywhere, especially the bathroom! Suddenly, a swarthy pirate with long, dark curls jumped from behind a nearby cypress. I swear to god, a pirate! Sunlight penetrated the canopy at the right second to reflect a beam of light off the hilt of a very ornate dirk aimed menacingly at my throat. I yelled “STOP!” as the knife came at me. And he stopped. “Anglais? Parle vous Anglais?” he said in a throaty French accent that made me suddenly remember I was wearing a bathrobe. “I thought you to be Atakapa. Why you paint your face like native, woman. Why the savage dress?” I used the face-towel to quickly wipe my face, but I know I missed some because my cheeks continued to tingle. “It is a war, here, for Campeche! Go home, settler,” he barked. Just then, an arrow zipped past my ear, striking the tree behind the pirate. The arrow managed to slice across the bulging round of the pirate’s shapely left bicep. In one fluid, motion, he loosed his torn shirt from the arrow, swooped low, grabbed me around my waist and tackled me to the ground. “Stay down, idiot girl,” he hissed. “Do you want the Karankawa to kill you?” His arrogance was annoying. That arrow had his name on it, not mine. I started to yell my protest, but he clapped a muddy palm over my mouth. After an eternity of awkwardness, he said. “It’s not safe, here. We must go.” He hoisted me up by my wrist as I clutched close the waist of my robe. We ran for shelter under an assault of arrows toward an overturned canoe. Once safely concealed, we examined our wounds. I had an arrow protruding out my robed backside, but I didn’t feel pain. Turns out, the arrow lodged into the thick leather cover of my Midori Traveler’s Notebook, which is stuffed three-inches full of inserts, also sold on Amazon. Le Pirate Mystérieux, however, had no such journal to save his hide. He had an arrow around the area of his left kidney and one stuck square in his neck. It didn’t look good for him. “Mademoiselle, nous avons pas le temps,” he said in raspy French I was able to understand because of CD series of French lessons I bought on Amazon. Despite panting out these words with an eerie rattle, it was still strangely erotic. “Le Captain must have his treasure now. Maintenant! You must get his treasure and deliver it to him at Maison Rouge!” Go to the mission at the end of this bayou and ask for Sister Carmen. Mais, Mademoiselle, it is no mission and she is no sister. Hu-hu-hu.” Despite the trickle of blood now burbling out of his mouth, I was surprised at how scandalized I was by his remark. I admit I blushed, but that also could have been the still-tingling face cream. “You must tell her ‘Allez-vous donner le confort à cette brebis perdue. Allez-vous lui apporter son lait?’ Tell her also that Julien sent you,” he said, his voice sounding almost tender. A feeling of envy buried itself in the pocket of my robe next to the wadded up tissue. “But, je ne parle pas francais!” I have no idea what you just said!” Wait, can you write it down?” I opened up my now beat-up Midori Travelers Notebook while Julien gave me a withering look. “Quel Idiot,” he mumbled. “Hey! I understood that!” He hastily scribbled his code for Carmen, his blood gently accenting his scrawl. “Go! Run!,” he panted. “Don’t be stupid!” So here I am, plopped down in the middle of 200 years ago, trying to get treasure back to Jean Lafitte, or so I presume. Still in my bathrobe, with cream and mud smeared all over my face and a rude, but sexy pirate just bled all over my journal. Now I’m supposed to go to a brothel? What the hell? I had to be at work early tomorrow, so this was not convenient to me at all. I figured I might as well take one adventure at a time, so I started to run the length of the bayou. Before I got even a few yards, I tripped on a felled oak and fell face first into the icy bayou. I struggled to disentangle myself from a tree limb or something. I couldn’t get up. I felt I would drown. I passed out. When I woke up, I was disgusted by how badly my bathroom floor needed mopping. I guess I time traveled back because of something sciency. Now I have this dilemma: Do I try the cream again and try to get the treasure? Or what? I really don’t know how this works. I called the company’s hotline but they said I couldn’t get a refund because by my own admission, I used hot water and didn't use "as directed." But I’m definitely happy with the Midori Traveler’s Notebook. I’m probably going to get the passport-sized one, too. Because you never know when you might need to write down your adventures.

I've used this for two months and it's the most customizable planner I've used in my 37 years of using planners. When I first saw them, a few years ago, I liked the idea, but I wasn't about to pay $57 for a flap of leather and two elastic bands. This spring, I tried a knock-off from September Leather, but returned it because of the quality of the leather and the notebooks and bought this one. PROS: * Good quality leather. The September Leather journal was split grain. The Midori is full-grain, vegetable tanned cowhide and should last for a really long time, if properly cared for. However, I knocked one star off the rating because it's only partially finished (says so in the instructions). It also said the color will transfer to other stuff, and wouldn't do well if it gets wet. I decided to treat mine with a leather conditioner. I know the whole "it's supposed to look old" thing but, I did a lot of leather work in my younger years, so I know that good quality leather needs to be fed. Conditioning the leather gives it a head start on developing a patina and protects it somewhat from scratches and the elements. I used one application of Fiebings 4-Way Leather Care. I could have used Lexol or Fiebings Leather Balm. All are good. Because the leather was so dry, it darkened considerably from medium to dark brown. I expected that, but felt it was worth it over the long term. Plus, I like the look of well-oiled leather. I'll need to do it again, soon, because it's starting to get dry again. If you choose to condition yours, don't over do it. Use just enough so that the color is uniform. Then, do it again a few weeks or months later, if you think it needs it. * Very good quality paper. The paper is both thin and fountain pen friendly. The September Leather journal used a thick, heavy paper, probably to achieve "fountain pen friendliness." I didn't write in it, but it looked like the ink would feather. There is no feathering with the Midori paper. Because of the better quality paper, my journal is much thinner and lighter than the other one was. It was thick and chunky for the same number of pages. CONS: * Leather finish. See above. I used leather conditioner to alleviate it. Leather conditioner is not a finish, but it serves the purpose, here. * Notebook inserts. The covers are of very stiff stock which makes it hard to flip through the the journal. The notebooks do not lay flat, so I may have to resort to to bulldog clips. In a meeting, it tends to fan open on the table. About my planner solution- I needed a calendar, a space for To Do lists, space for work related notes, and a separate space for non-work related notes. I used a weekly "free" calendar with days on one page and graph paper on the facing page, which I use for a weekly To Do list. Then, I have two plain inserts. One work related, one personal. It works for me, so far.

I'll admit it, I was skeptical about this. It's awfully expensive for a piece of leather and some elastic. I looked into making my own, but time constraints pushed me to bite the bullet and purchase this on Amazon. I AM A MIDORI CONVERT! The quality of this notebook is spectacular. It's made of thick, pliable leather that smells like a new leather jacket. The edges are burnished. The packaging and presentation really reflects the care with which they are manufactured: the elastic is capped with a tin bead at the spine; if you don't care for the brown elastic surrounding the notebook they provide and orange one; it comes in a dust bag (that I use to store extra inserts to be used later) and a blank paper insert is included - the paper quality is wonderful. The first thing I did is customise mine because… that's what Midori lovers do! I'm looking forward to customising the layout with inserts, both purchased and homemade. Along with Midori's standard inserts, many Etsy shops have created unique inserts, meaning that this notebook can be as unique as you are. As a PhD student, I use mine as a planner and life organiser. I have a calendar that I created to fit my schedule in a grid insert, ruled insert for lists, blank insert for doodles and mind maps, and I made a folder to hold loose papers. I also highly recommend purchasing the 008 clear zipper pocket Midori Traveler's Notebook Refill #8 Clear Zipper Pocker because it expands the usefulness by providing a place to tuck office supplies like stickies, stamps and clips. And if you feel like splurging (I did after having mine for a week), purchase the 016 pen loop, which matches the leather and clips on to the cover to fit up to a 12mm diameter pen. Midori Traveler's notebook Pen holder, Brown 016

I got my Midori after watching a review video by Kristina from PrettyShinySparkly on YouTube, and I definitely fell in love. I was never into using a planner or journaling and would just use my iPad calendar to organize, but this Notebook has been so nice for organizing my thoughts. I bought it while it was on sale ($30) about a year ago, and it came so well packaged and so high end looking. The more you use it, the softer and more weathered the leather becomes and I feel like it makes it that much more beautiful a piece! I got 2 extra refills, but I wish I had gotten more bands (I probably will when I get more refills) because I kept having to interchange the notebooks rather than use them all at once. I used one as a planner and a place to write organized to-do lists or plan my work-school schedule, which I kept in my bag almost all the time. I used another for records for my student organization, which helped so much to keep everything in one place. I used the last for creativity- I really enjoy handwriting and practicing my penmanship, so it was a great place to practice my writing, create new fonts, or journal out quotes that I found inspiring. The paper is so high quality and I've gotten so many comments and compliments about how professional and well-made this journal looks! I will be purchasing some washi tape and scrapbooking decorations to get more into planning, but I just love how this journal can be used for so many things- productivity, organization, and creativity!

Amazing notebook which opened me a new level of writing!

Very pleased to find this product in Amazon Japan as it was sold out in many places in Singapore. And direct shipping to Singapore! The camel leather is very soft and suede-like. Be aware that it scratches very easily, that is part of its charm to look rustic and show where you have been. I still try to protect it but don't want to be too fussed about it. There is a nice leather smell which is not strong. Everything is well made. There are many videos on YouTube on how ti use the Traveler's Notebook for different purposes, including planning, journalling or even as a wallet. The main attraction for me is the ability to swap in and out different inserts depending on my needs. Now I'll never have to worry about running out of pages in my notebook! There are a few small inconveniences like the pages not lying flat, but you can use a clip (I bought the Traveler's Notebook brass clip which is nice and heavy so helps weight the pages so they stay open). But the feeling of the leather is so nice. And I like the narrow format, not so wide as A5, it's just the right size for free-flow journalling, or making lists.

I think I am the first one to write a review from India. First a word about the seller. The seller is quite responsible. Whenever I had a question and tried to contact him, they replied. They promised to deliver it by 08th and did it. However, I ordered for brown colour but they delivered a blue colour traveller's note book. Now about the TN book. It's a beautiful peice and complete value for money. Got it during Amazon Diwali sale.

Love my journal already, it’s great just to hold and have, but also as a practical tool for my writing.

Magnifique qualité, la matière est lisse et parfaitement travaillée. Un marque qui continue a faire ses preuves.