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Pack & Porter

The Best Travel Journal

Every notebook in this category is sold on feeling. All three of these publish enough hard numbers to be compared properly, so that is what this page does.

By Sawyer V.Last updated

We have not tested this gear. Every figure here is compiled from published manufacturer specifications and published airline policies, and the arithmetic is public so you can check it. This page contains affiliate links — see the affiliate disclosure.

Buy the LEUCHTTURM1917 Medium A5. It is the only notebook here that publishes numbered pages (251), a blank table of contents and a paper weight (80 g/m²) — the three things that let you find a day from a trip two years later. That costs 3.5 oz against the Moleskine, which carries 240 pages for a published 0.705 lb and is the lighter book per page. For a wet trip, neither: take Rite in the Rain.

Manufacturer-published listing specifications, compiled 17 October 2026. The ounces-per-page and writing-area figures below are computed from those published numbers and are shown with their working. Prices on the buy buttons are live.

Click any row to jump to the full write-up. Published sizes include wheels and handles.
#ProductPublished weightFitsScorePrice
1LEUCHTTURM1917 Medium A5 Hardcover NotebookA long trip you will want to search later0.93 lbNot published0.0$26.50 · Check on Amazon#ad How we earn
2Moleskine Classic Notebook, Large, Ruled, Hard CoverA trip journal you want to keep rather than use up0.7 lbNot published0.0$24.95 · Check on Amazon#ad How we earn
3Rite in the Rain Weatherproof Top Spiral Notebook, 3 x 5 in (3 pack)A hiking, sailing or motorbike trip, or a pocket rather than a bagNot publishedNot published0.0$20.01 · Check on Amazon#ad How we earn

Prices last verified October 19, 2026. Prices move — the figure you see on Amazon at the moment you click is the real one.

LEUCHTTURM1917 Medium A5 Hardcover Notebook

A notebook is paper you have agreed to carry

Journals are sold on cover material and brand history, and judged by almost everyone on how they feel in the hand. Neither of those is checkable. What is checkable is published: how many pages, how big each page is, and what the whole object weighs. Two of these three publish all of it.

So this page computes two figures the makers do not print. Ounces per page is what the notebook costs you to carry, per unit of what it is for. Total writing area is how much notebook you actually get, which is not the same as the page count — a 3 x 5 in page and a 5 x 8.25 in page are not comparable objects.

The three, as published and as computed

Published figures from each maker's listing, compiled 17 October 2026. Ounces per page = published weight in ounces divided by published pages. Total writing area = published page area multiplied by published pages.
JournalPublished pagesPublished page sizePublished weightOunces per pageTotal writing area
LEUCHTTURM1917 A5251, numbered5.75 × 8.25 in0.926 lb (14.8 oz)0.059 oz11,907 in²
Moleskine Classic Large2405 × 8.25 in0.705 lb (11.3 oz)0.047 oz9,900 in²
Rite in the Rain 3 x 5 (3 pack)300 across 3 books3 × 5 inNot publishedCannot be computed4,500 in²

What the numbers actually say

The LEUCHTTURM1917 is 26% heavier per page than the Moleskine — 0.059 oz against 0.047 oz — and 3.5 oz heavier overall for eleven more pages. Almost none of that extra weight is paper. It is the thread binding, the heavier board, the gusseted rear pocket and the published 80 g/m² stock, which is the only paper weight published by anyone in this group.

What you buy with those three and a half ounces is findability. Numbered pages plus a blank table of contents mean a three-week trip can be indexed as you go. The Moleskine publishes neither, so the only way to find the day you ate the bad oysters is to read until you reach it.

The one paper spec anybody publishes

LEUCHTTURM1917 publishes 80 g/m² acid-free paper. Moleskine publishes “thick, ivory paper” and no figure at all. That matters for exactly one decision: whether a fountain pen or a gel pen bleeds through to the next page. With a published weight you can at least compare against paper you already own; without one, you find out after you have started the trip.

Rite in the Rain publishes something different and more important for its own job: when the page is wet you need a pencil or an all-weather pen, because water-based inks bead or wash off. Buying the notebook without buying the pencil is the mistake that category invites.

Which one, and who should skip it

  • A long trip you will want to search later: LEUCHTTURM1917. Numbered pages, a table of contents and a published paper weight. Skip it if every ounce in the bag is already spoken for.
  • The lightest proper journal: Moleskine Classic Large. Published 0.047 oz per page, and a rear folder for tickets and stubs. Skip it if you want to index what you wrote.
  • Hiking, sailing, motorbikes, weather: Rite in the Rain. Skip it if you write at length — see the skip note on its card below.

Every pick, with the working

Each entry below shows the published inputs, the four axis scores they produce, and what you give up. The order is the computed order, not a commercial one.

1 · A long trip you will want to search later

LEUCHTTURM1917 Medium A5 Hardcover Notebook

0.0

The only notebook here that publishes a paper weight, numbered pages and a table of contents - which together are what turn a travel journal into something you can find anything in two years later. It costs 3.5 oz to carry that.

Published size
Not published
Weight
0.93 lb
Capacity
Not published
Weight per liter
Not published
Cost per covered year
Not published
Published list price
Not published

Warranty No warranty term published on the listing

Fits No published dimensions to check.

What it does well

  • Published 251 numbered pages plus a blank table of contents
  • Published 80 g/m2 acid-free paper, the only published paper weight here
  • Thread binding opens flat, so you can write across the gutter

What you give up

  • Published 0.926 lb - 3.5 oz heavier than the Moleskine for 11 more pages
  • 0.059 oz per page against the Moleskine's 0.047, the heaviest per page here
  • Ordinary paper, same as the Moleskine: it does not like weather
The arithmetic behind the score
  • Value not scored — No manufacturer-published price, so this axis is not scored.
  • Airline-fit breadth not scored — No published dimensions to check against carrier limits.
  • Carry efficiency not scored — No published capacity, so weight per liter cannot be computed.
  • Warranty & support 0.0/10 — no published term (0 of 6); no published repair route (+0); airline damage not covered (+0)

Weights and breakpoints are published on how we rank. Where an input is not published, that axis is dropped and the remaining weights are re-normalized.

$26.50 · Check on Amazon#ad How we earn

Specs: LEUCHTTURM1917 published listing specifications, compiled 3 September 2026. Retail-channel pricing only. Check the live price before buying.

2 · A trip journal you want to keep rather than use up

Moleskine Classic Notebook, Large, Ruled, Hard Cover

0.0

240 pages at 0.705 lb is the lightest published page-per-ounce figure of the two hardcovers here, and the rear folder is the only published place on any of these books to put a boarding pass.

Published size
Not published
Weight
0.7 lb
Capacity
Not published
Weight per liter
Not published
Cost per covered year
Not published
Published list price
Not published

Warranty No warranty term published on the listing

Fits No published dimensions to check.

What it does well

  • Published 240 pages for 0.705 lb - 0.047 oz per page, the lighter hardcover
  • Published inner storage folder, which is where tickets and stubs end up
  • Elastic band keeps it shut in a bag, which loose-leaf paper does not

What you give up

  • Pages are not numbered, so there is no published way to index it
  • No published paper weight, so bleed-through is an unknown
  • Ordinary paper: a wet day ends the notebook
The arithmetic behind the score
  • Value not scored — No manufacturer-published price, so this axis is not scored.
  • Airline-fit breadth not scored — No published dimensions to check against carrier limits.
  • Carry efficiency not scored — No published capacity, so weight per liter cannot be computed.
  • Warranty & support 0.0/10 — no published term (0 of 6); no published repair route (+0); airline damage not covered (+0)

Weights and breakpoints are published on how we rank. Where an input is not published, that axis is dropped and the remaining weights are re-normalized.

$24.95 · Check on Amazon#ad How we earn

Specs: Moleskine published listing specifications, compiled 3 September 2026. Retail-channel pricing only. Check the live price before buying.

3 · A hiking, sailing or motorbike trip, or a pocket rather than a bag

Rite in the Rain Weatherproof Top Spiral Notebook, 3 x 5 in (3 pack)

0.0

Skip this one. Skip it if you intend to write at length. A 3 x 5 in page is 15 square inches against a Moleskine page's 41.25 - you get 300 pages across three books, but each one holds about a third of what a hardcover page holds, and Rite in the Rain publishes that you need a pencil or an all-weather pen once the paper is wet. It is a field notebook, and it is the only paper here that survives rain.

300 pages across three pocket books that publish they survive rain, sweat and a trip through the laundry. It is the only paper here that does not end at the first wet day - and the only one small enough to live in a jacket pocket.

Published size
Not published
Weight
Not published
Capacity
Not published
Weight per liter
Not published
Cost per covered year
Not published
Published list price
Not published

Warranty No warranty term published on the listing

Fits No published dimensions to check.

What it does well

  • Published weatherproof paper that repels water, sweat, grease and mud
  • Three books of 100 pages, so one can be lost without losing the trip
  • Published 3 x 5 in - it goes in a back pocket, which neither hardcover does

What you give up

  • Published to need a pencil or an all-weather pen when the page is wet
  • 15 square inches per page, a third of a Moleskine page
  • No published weight for the pack
The arithmetic behind the score
  • Value not scored — No manufacturer-published price, so this axis is not scored.
  • Airline-fit breadth not scored — No published dimensions to check against carrier limits.
  • Carry efficiency not scored — No published capacity, so weight per liter cannot be computed.
  • Warranty & support 0.0/10 — no published term (0 of 6); no published repair route (+0); airline damage not covered (+0)

Weights and breakpoints are published on how we rank. Where an input is not published, that axis is dropped and the remaining weights are re-normalized.

$20.01 · Check on Amazon#ad How we earn

Specs: Rite in the Rain published listing specifications, compiled 3 September 2026. Retail-channel pricing only. Check the live price before buying.

Prices last verified October 19, 2026. Prices move — the figure you see on Amazon at the moment you click is the real one.

Common questions

What is the best travel journal?
The LEUCHTTURM1917 Medium A5, if you want to find things in it later. It is the only notebook in this group that publishes numbered pages (251), a blank table of contents and a paper weight (80 g/m²). The Moleskine Classic Large is the lighter book per page at a computed 0.047 oz against 0.059, and publishes none of those three things.
Is a Leuchtturm1917 heavier than a Moleskine?
Yes, by a published 0.221 lb - about 3.5 oz - for eleven more pages. Per page that works out at 0.059 oz against the Moleskine's 0.047, which is 26 percent more. The extra weight is the thread binding, the heavier board, the rear pocket and the published 80 g/m² paper, not the page count.
What size notebook is best for carry-on travel?
A5 or the Moleskine's 5 x 8.25 in if the notebook rides in a bag, and a 3 x 5 in pocket book if it rides in a jacket. The deciding number is total writing area rather than page count: 240 Moleskine pages come to 9,900 square inches, while 300 Rite in the Rain pages come to 4,500.
Does a travel journal need waterproof paper?
Only if the trip is wet. Ordinary notebook paper does not survive rain, sweat or a washing machine, and Rite in the Rain publishes that its paper does all three. The cost is a smaller page and a published requirement to use a pencil or an all-weather pen once the page is actually wet.
Can you take a notebook and pen in hand luggage?
Yes. Paper and pens carry no restriction in cabin baggage, and a notebook is one of the few things on a flight that needs no power, no signal and no tray table. It is also the only item in this category that is unaffected by the battery rules that govern almost everything else people pack.

Sources