newestorRefillable Leather Journal Travelers Notebook - 8.5 x 4.5 Travel Diary with 5 Inserts + Pen Holder and Binder Clip, Standard Size, Brown

I was very pleased to open my journal today (which was well presented and would be great as a gift). The leather cover is finished well and a lovely dark brown colour. Great amount of accessories included with this product making it really good value for money. Highly recommend.

As most others have said, the paper quality is excellent and is good with many pen and paint types. I've added a fourth book to mine (on an elastic hung round the back of one of the books), Which I use for scribbled brainstorming lists. Cut down from a standard A5 book (they are the right height, just too wide) it was a Sea Salt notebook given to me as gift last Christmas; although a pretty cover, the paper in that is nowhere near as good. However, there are other A5 books out there that are a lot easier to find than this narrow size so that's where I'll look when I need some good quality refills.Yes, the cover does mark but this doesn't bother me. I have recently treated it with a leather restorer and that soaked in and covered all the marks so this might be an option for those who don't like the scuffs. I've had it for 6 months so just feeding the leather twice a year doesn't seems too onerous a tasks. The leather is tough and fully protects the contents but is flexible at the same time.The original pen was lovely but I wasn't able to find refills that fitted it so instead I now use a waterproof fine liner pen, and this is a good substitute.The plastic pockets are just the right size for small Post-Its, a folding ruler, some postage stamps and some pretty paperclips. Although I have included them in the notebook, I haven't used the carboard pockets yet and if I want to make a criticism it is the the little bit of double sided tape closing the bottom of these packets doesn't stay tightly stuck. Truly, that is the only thing I can find wrong with the whole notebook. I am so glad I didn't spend out on one of the expensive 'named' versions.

Pros: it’s beautiful- very well made and beautifully presented. See photos.It’s very practical and I like the three note books- lined/graph/plain; the plastic pocket and storage wallet and the nice thick card holder.Accessories include additional elastic band and a very good quality clip.I liked the pen and good quality pen clip, abd method of putting the notebook together- using the elastic straps to put the notebooks and wallet in preferred order.It smells good too- a nice leather smell and it’s a lovely chocolate colour leather.Cons: any slight scratch - putting the band round, handling the notebook-putting it on a shelf- leaves scratches on the surface. This is due to the way the leather has been treated-and will definitely give it a worn and well traveled look as it’s used over time.It’s an odd size- there’s not going to be any notebooks to fit other than ones that may be available from the company - or cut or ripped to fit with a book binding tool. That could actually end up being quite fun and looking very original- you could use hand made paper- lots of different styles- so the Cons might well end up as pros:)

I'm not sure how/why this is so much less expensive than the vast majority of leather traveller's journals I've seen, because the quality really doesn't suffer from that lower price point at all. The leather feels lovely, it's all very well cut, it's satisfyingly soft so it doesn't have that stiff new leather look I hate but it still feels nice and sturdy. The notebook inserts are really nice too, the paper is smooth and a nice off-white colour. The additional accessories provided are very high quality and mean I've managed to fully set up the journal with everything I need to take it out and about without hassle.I do have a couple of very minor pieces of feedback, but they're definitely not big enough issues for me to knock my rating down from 5 stars. The pen loop attachment is great and the included pen is pretty nice to write with, but the pen loop is slightly too small for it so it's a bit of a struggle getting it in and out. Also I think it would be great if a pencil board was included in this set to provide a more stable writing surface.