Travel Organiser?

When you travel or you are frequently away from home, do you change what type of organiser you use? 

I tend towards using an A5 Zip as they can be put in and out of a back without worrying about loose papers slipping out undetected. 

I have two A5 Zip organisers, a Filofax Lockwood (left) and a Filofax Holborn (right) 

The Lockwood is quite compact with 25mm rings, the Holborn has 30 mm rings but the leather is very soft and supple. Both will fit in my backpack without any issues at all. 

Do you change size or type of organiser when you travel? 

Travel Journal

Keeping a travel journal is something I often do when I'm going away to visit somewhere, even if I have been to the place before. 

I'm sure a lot of people will think of a travel journal as being kept in a travellers note book or some other kind of bound book. 

However, I think a Compact or Slimline Filofax would serve as a great travel journal. You have more flexibility as to what pages the journal contains and you can archive the pages each year. You have the option of slotting in extra pages too. Of course you also don't end up with a half finished notebook either. 

Having convinced myself that this would be a great idea, I started gathering together some templates from our existing ones and designed some new ones as well.

I put together this daily travel journal page from a few examples on-line and adapted it to Personal Size. 

On the reverse side I've just left it for notes for that day. That way you can archive the individual days or keep them in reverse order. 

And I thought a simple index page would be useful to go with these pages. 

Looking through our own list of file templates, I was also able to pick out some suitable files to go with these new files for inclusion in a Filofax Travel Journal. 

Here are the links to the documents in Word and PDF format, they have been left fairly plain, so you can adjust them to your taste easily. 

All are set for printing on to Personal Size blank paper with the exception of the Time Zone map. 

Clicking on the file titles below will give you a preview of the file. 

• Trip Log .docx .pdf
• Trip Index .docx  .pdf
• Travel Planner for recording the times of trains/flights etc .docx .pdf
• Travel Packing List - Blank for you to customise .docx .pdf
• Conversion factors .docx .pdf
• Undated Day Planner .docx .pdf
• Photography Recording Record .docx .pdf
• Time Zone Map - Print on A4 then trim to size and 'Z fold' in to Personal size.  .docx .pdf

Printing Personal Size Pages

I hope you like this collection of files to enable you to put together a Filofax Travel Journal that meets your own needs perfectly. 

Now to just pick a suitable organiser from my collection for a Travel Journal. 

From Left to Right: DeVilliers Compact, Lefax City 10, Filofax Holborn Slimline, Filofax The Journey Travel Companion. 

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Using my Filofax Chester A5 Compact

It is nearly 5 years since I got the Filofax Chester A5 Compact organiser to review. It hasn't had a lot of use in that time.  Well its time has come. 

I'm travelling soon and I wanted to reduce my back pack load a bit. I had a week away in France recently and I was amazed at the weight of my backpack by the time I've put in laptops etc. 

Reducing the 'tech' was one thing, but my organiser and journal also needed to be considered. In the past I have used the organiser out of my Fusion iPad Organiser/Case that has 20mm rings in it. It's tough and it doesn't mind being stuffed in a suitcase or similar. 

The Chester has smaller 16mm rings although later models (August 2021) come with 20mm rings. It is therefore a little slimmer than the Fusion and definitely more stylish to be seen using!

Sadly it no longer appears to be for sale on Filofax UK, only the Filofax Heritage is still available in Compact A5 size. 

When I have used the A5 Heritage before, I was able to get all my essential pages in the rings:

• 12 months of my diary inserts
• 12 months of my blog planner
• Blank lined paper
• Essential information notes 

The rest of my normal A5 organiser was left in a 25mm ring organiser at home. 

I could have also considered using some of my other 25mm ring organisers that are not that much bigger, but I liked the idea that for this week, this is all I would need with me on paper. 

The spine is quite square in profile but that does help reduce the overall size of the organiser, larger ringed organisers can have quite curved spines in profile which makes them a little wider. 

The Chester has two pen loops, but they are not very large, but I did have to dig through my pens to find one that would fit without too much of a struggle. The mechanical pencil fits easily, it always does! The Chester does lay perfectly flat when open, which is also a bonus. 

Using my usual inserts, no need to change these for just a week away. 

And my usual blog planner. I find visually this layout works better for me than a list of dates, I'm not sure why that is. 

To reduce the weight of my journal, I will be using my Letts Travel Journal You will find a review of that here on Travellers Notebook Time.

Travel Filofax

I'm currently on holiday in Solvenia, a new country for us and it is a delightful place. 

I was faced with the usual issue of selecting a suitable organiser to take with me for the two and half week trip.

I could have selected a smaller size, but instead I opted to stay in my usual A5 size, and just reduce the number of pages I needed to take and use a smaller ring organiser. 

I have a couple of A5 Filofax organisers with 16 mm size rings, a Heritage and Chester. But I also have two with 20mm rings. The organiser parts of the organiser/iPad case in the Fusion and Malden models. 

I picked the Fusion in the end mainly because it is the most robust of the four I picked out. The slightly bigger rings meant I didn't have to cut down what pages I'm carrying. 

I have all of 2023 for my Planner and also my blog planner for 2023. I added in some simple lined paper that I had lurking around! 

With so many things going on at the moment it was good to not have to transfer lots of appointments/events in to another size format and just move my usual pages across to a different organiser. 

What do you do when you travel? 

One planner or more than one planner/organiser?

For a few years now I have been an advocate of the thought that 'You have one life, therefore you should only have one planner'

For several years I used an A5 at my desk and carried around a Filofax Personal size, occasionally an A6 or Pocket size depending on the phase I was going through. Whatever the size though, there was duplication. A diary insert in the A5 and another in what ever I was carrying around at the time. In general it worked, but occasionally there was a hiccup when something didn't get written in to either planner. 

This practice ended with the review of the compact Filofax Heritage that opened up new possibilities for me. I was able to carry the A5 size where ever I intending to go, leaving behind some of the A5 sections at home in another larger ring A5. Just keeping the essentials in a compact A5. This has been working well for me now for more than 5 years, possibly longer. 

That said, I'm about to break my own rule again! Travel, or more precisely air travel, something I've not done in recent years. I prefer to travel in Europe by train when I can. 

Budget airlines and some of the main carriers these days are quite restrictive on their baggage limits. I have a couple of trips coming up in the next few months, one a very quick two night stay in UK the other a couple of weeks in two European countries for a holiday we intended to take in 2020... and we all know why that didn't happen! 

In essence I'm looking to cut down my baggage to just a carry on bag for the short UK visit and a small light bag and case for the longer trip. I'm looking at everything I need for each trip. My 'packing list' has expanded over the years, it was therefore time to examine everything on the list and ask the question: 'Did you use this during the last 2-3 trips?' if not then it gets dropped. 

Naturally my organiser has come under examination. Yes I do use it whilst I'm away, life continues! But do I need something as big as an A5? 

I've been getting on well with my Pocket Kensington. Mainly as a notebook with a year planner. I decided to expand on its planning capability by adding a Month on Two Page diary insert and add in up coming appointments to it for the next few months to see how workable/useful it was. 

It is certainly a winner in terms of compact and light weight. When I'm travelling I like to be able to jot down things as I think of them. Also have a written record of booking numbers etc. The Pocket Kensington will be more than ample for these tasks. 

I was also considering using a Compact Personal size Filofax as an alternative. However, I will see how well I get on with the Pocket over the next week or two before trying that out. 

Silent Sunday

 

Purple personal Malden - holding important paperwork and maps for a trip to Reykjavik, Iceland (some years ago)

Travel Lists For Your Organiser...

After what seems to have been a life time, we are about to go on a trip for more than a night away from our house. It will involve going in to isolation for up to 10 days, so my travel list is even more important than ever. 

I've put together several over the years. I have my favourite ones printed off in my A5 organiser but they have been a little under used for nearly two years. It was time to 

I started off with a variation of my 'Weekend Travel Packing List'

• Weekend Travel Packing List - .docx .pdf

My own version has some headings already filled in for a typical weekend. I will be review this and make some 'adjustments' 

There is a personal size version available as well. 

• Weekend Travel Packing List - .docx

The reverse side has a 'Things to do' section I used this to list things to do before I leave home, but you can adapt this to your own needs easily. 

If you have an even bigger trip planned, you can use one of my very first template files, it's best printed on a sheet of A4 and fold it to fit in an A5. It has a lot more headings for a variety of trips. It is based on an old 1980's Filofax insert that was available back then. 

• Travellers Check List (A4) - .doc .pdf

You can of course edit this one to suit your own needs, I'm sure you could cut it down to just be a single side of A4, or two sides of A5. It is a little OTT! 

Happy and safe travels....

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Planning Travels In Your Organiser

This coming weekend starts off one of many journeys I will be doing this year. It's quite a busy year in several ways.

So I always like to use my organiser to prepare for these trips and to make sure I have all the information I need on the journey and to make sure I have packed everything, even forgetting the smallest of things can create a bit of a headache like leaving a charging cable behind or forgetting to pack a tie or similar.

Over the years I have created/developed several inserts to ease the pain of travel planning. I have evolved these over time to meet my needs.

I keep my plans in my Filofax travel wallet that I use for long distance trips.

So what inserts are there that can help you in planning your trip?

I like to have the details of the different parts of the journey on paper, using this insert. Yes, it is quite detailed, but I learnt from our trip to the USA in 2015 that I needed all the various bits of information I have included because the different airlines had different restrictions!

However, you can of course customise the insert as you wish.

Personal sized insert:  Travel Planning .docx .pdf

I use this packing list form for short weekend trips when it tends to be just me. On the reverse side I have included a 'Things to do before leaving' area. I've customised my own version of this with all my usual things I take on trips, you can do the same of course.

A5 size: Weekend Travel Packing List - .docx .pdf
Personal size: Weekend Travel Packing List - .docx
A6 size: Weekend Packing Lists  .docx .pdf

Here is my own personalised version, I leave the blank spaces for specific things to be added for a particular trip.

If you are going away on a much longer trip with your family. You might find this insert of interest, it is similar to one that used to be available from Filofax back in the 1980's in Personal size. I found it far too detailed, but it is quite easy to remove the things you will never take and get the list down to a single sided page.

A4/A5 size: Travellers Check List (A4) - .doc .pdf

If you are doing any long distance travelling I find having a Time Zone map handy, I nearly got caught out a few years ago by my electronic calendar adjusting the time of a flight!

Time Zone Map

• A5 .docx .pdf
• A6 .docx .pdf
• Personal .docx .pdf
• Pocket .docx .pdf

Printing the above:

• A5 Print on A4 size paper then fold in half and fold back to the edge (Z fold)
• A6 Print on A5 size paper then fold in half and fold back to the edge (Z fold)
• Personal Print on A4 size paper cut to 171 mm high then fold in half and fold back to the edge (Z fold)
• Pocket Print on A4 size paper cut to 120 mm high then fold in half and fold back to the edge (Z fold)

You might also like to listen again to Episode 6 of The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Plannerverse which was dedicated to Travelling with your planner.

Happy and safe travelling this summer....



This work by Philofaxy is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License. Please download, adapt, use, share, but do not charge or use commercially.

Filofax Bromley Travel Wallet - Adaption

I enjoy using my Filofax Bromley Travel Wallet when I need to travel, it holds all my tickets and cards, change, passport etc.

It is of course far too big to use on a normal day to day basis unless you wear a jacket with a deep pocket. But for travelling it just perfect.

The wallet can take a thin travellers notebook if you size it correctly with the wallet being about A5 in height.

On the inside you might remember from my review it has the facility to hold personal size pages with too press-studs the correct spacing apart for the inner two holes on a personal page. However, I don't use personal size very often these days. So I wondered could it take a folded A5 page instead.

It can but you have to punch an extra pair of holes in the pages and then fold the page length wise as shown. It will be fine for occasional notes and written details about my flights/trains etc.

I'm always looking for different ways to use existing items!! This is just yet another example!

Free For All Friday No. 443 by Anita

I recently had a lovely week's holiday by myself in Cyprus and as usual, my Filofax was the perfect travel companion. The Winchester's internal layout isn't quite as perfect as some for use as a wallet, so I just added my plastic pencil case for holding important items like my passport, boarding pass, credit card and cash.

My binders have now visited various places in the UK, Iceland, Malaysia, Greece and now Cyprus.

Which is your favourite binder to take when you're away from home?

You can of course also ask any questions, or discuss anything organiser related. Have a great weekend.

Guest Post - Filofax Ranger as a Travel Filofax - Amanda

Thank you Amanda for this post.


Using a planner as your wallet is a long standing challenge amongst Filofax users. I have always been on the fence I’m afraid. I tried a Malden for a day and it worked fine until I was actually in line at the supermarket, trying to juggle change, notes and receipts. Similarly an attempt with a zipped Holborn failed because of the same lack of easy access, not to mention opening up the contents of my life to sundry shop assistants and shoppers waiting for me to wrestle my purse into submission.

Enter holiday season. I’d previously travelled with a Malden as my travel Filofax and also with an A5 Chilli Cuban. Filofax is definitely a traveller’s friend for keeping everything together for the trip. But of course we’re always looking for a way to make our planners even more efficient aren’t we?

The Malden was too floppy and unstructured and I feared essential things, like my passport, disappearing from the easy access back pocket in between checkpoints. Using the more secure  back pocket had me grappling with bag, Filofax, boarding pass and stern looking Immigration officials more than once since that is very, very secure.

The Cuban was a monster to carry and it only lasted the one trip. An additional kilo makes quite a difference marching the length of Heathrow. Not to mention hoisting it on to Immigration Counters to unearth papers and passport. I’m sure more than one Officer was fearful of what may lay within.

So I needed a travel filofax that was easy access, secure and fairly accommodating of my peculiar travel style. One that  would see me through checkpoints and itineraries as if I were a well organised jetsetter.

Enter the Filofax Ranger. The perfect combination, so I discovered, BUT not the most attractive, nor tactile, of the Filofax line. I think someone blogging referred to it as ‘masculine’ and I’d have to agree. It has that sort of rugged folder, on the truck seat, feel to it. I purchased mine from eBay as the pictures looked good and didn’t quite betray how rugged it feels. It was definitely NOT love at first sight and it barely received a planner layout and pen before, like so many “Planner Nirvana” purchases, it went into a drawer unused, in favour of a much lovelier Holborn for my daily use.

But the Ranger ticked all the boxes for a travel Filofax, even if it does feel a little like a piece of saddlery. The front cover contains a purse with single button closure which is surprisingly well designed and easy to use. The back cover contains a passport sized pocket which locks the passport in place when the planner section clasp is closed. The inside cover holds all the cards one could want on holiday, and the inside back cover has a large pocket for receipts and such. My measuring says 23mm rings which is quite adequate for holiday planning and keeping in touch with daily life when you return.

Yes, plain as he might be, my Ranger may have won me over to being my daily planner - non-tactile practicality, thick edges and all. (did I mention it is very ‘chunky’, more so than the pictures suggest).

As a purse it has been wonderful. Two large notes pockets have sorted different currencies, and make it easy to separate larger denomination notes, and to quickly hold the occasional receipt until it can be filed in the depths of the planner. And the major advantage is that the business part of my planner says securely shut whilst money changing and such is occurring. A change compartment, with standard Filofax zip is easy to access and bulges when it needs to accommodate a load of loose change.

Surprisingly the Planner section is unaffected by the outside cover purse section and the back pocket contents. When opened it lies flat and the bulk of the covers flattens out coins, notes, passports and such quite well, to give a conveniently flat writing surface. It is as comfortable to use as my Holborn in that regard.

Presumably the Filofax Ranger didn’t take the Planner World by storm and was dropped from the Filofax line, which is a pity, since it is a very practical and well thought out Filo in my view - and I’m quite picky there.

There’s nothing I’d change in layout really, and in terms of the Planner itself, well I’d simply go for something a bit more elegant in stitching and colour. Perhaps Van Der Spek will be the remodelling option when this Ranger’s life is nearing an end, and the external purse is a definite addition to consider if asking for something bespoke. It will be on my list.

This might be a while in the future though, considering how rugged the Ranger construction appears to be. I’d also like to make it a little less imposing. For comparison, I think the Pennybridge zip with purse is too small, just as the Ranger sans zip is a fraction too big. But as I said, I’m picky. Now a Holborn styled Ranger in Crimson would be almost exactly right - as Goldilocks might say!

And that is the clue. After its holiday the Ranger has moved into my handbag and as simply as that, my Filofax is my purse. I think I’m happy with that arrangement.

The Ranger is Ready.

Purse Section and Spending Money

Back Pocket and Passport

Inside Front Pocket and Cards

Inside Back Pocket and Receipts

 Ranger’s Flatability

The Ranger Standing on Duty

Thank you Amanda, the conundrum of a wallet/purse/organiser is a long standing one and the Ranger certainly satisfies most if not all of the requirements as you have proven. 

Once again thank you for sharing this with us. 

What do you use when you are travelling? 

Free For All Friday - No. 411 by Anita

I've just arrived home after a wonderful week away by the sea with my family.
My Kensington has been invaluable in helping me plan for the holiday, and I just can't imagine going away now without taking it with me. I use one page for to-do items and useful information, and a separate one for my packing list. I will write down things like where the nearest supermarket is, or possible routes for going walking or running.

Do you take your binder with you when you travel?  

And as always on Fridays, please feel free to discuss anything ring bound planner related.
Have a great weekend.

T is for Travel

As it is a Thursday and we are approaching summer when people might be starting to think about holiday plans, may be it is time to start using your organiser to help you plan your holiday break.

I like to have my travel plans on paper, I then don't have the fear of not having an internet connection on my phone or enough power in the battery etc. I keep my plans in my Filofax travel wallet that I use for long distance trips.

So what inserts are there that can help you in planning your trip?

I like to have the details of the different parts of the journey on paper, using this insert. Yes, it is quite detailed, but I learnt from our trip to the USA last year that I needed all the various bits of information I have included because the different airlines had different restrictions! However, you can of course customise the insert as you wish.

Personal sized insert:  Travel Planning .docx .pdf

I use this packing list form for short weekend trips when it tends to be just me. On the reverse side I have included a 'Things to do before leaving' area. I've customised my own version of this with all my usual things I take on trips, you can do the same of course.

Personal size: Weekend Travel Packing List - .docx
A6 size: Weekend Packing Lists  .docx .pdf

If you are going away on a much longer trip with your family. You might find this insert of interest, it is similar to one that used to be available from Filofax back in the 1980's in Personal size. I found it far too detailed, but it is quite easy to remove the things you will never take and get the list down to a single sided page.

A4/A5 size: Travellers Check List (A4) - .doc .pdf

You might also like to listen again to Episode 6 of The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Plannerverse which was dedicated to Travelling with your planner.

Happy and safe travelling this summer....



This work by Philofaxy is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License. Please download, adapt, use, share, but do not charge or use commercially.

Guest Post - Using an Organiser to Plan Your Travels - Alison

Karine and I mentioned in a recent podcast about using your planner to record details of key information for your travels. It seems we were not the first to think of this point. Alison Day contacted me and shared the details of how she records information for her globe trotting journeys around Europe and to the USA. 

A raised eyebrow is a typical reaction when I pull out my trusty pocket Filofax, along with my iPhone at the airport. I am certainly not a technophobe and embrace the option of having an electronic boarding pass, however I am a paper lover when recording my travel plans. 

Key advantages of paper travel planning include:-

• A visual record of past trips. As I fan through the pages, memories come flooding back. Comparing previous flight times, routings and hotels is useful when rebooking a similar trip.

• Avoiding iPhone battery death! When the French air traffic controller strike delayed my return from Portugal and chaos reigned at the airport, I was able to locate my booking reference number and subsequent flight details from my paper pages. Whilst using my precious battery life to phone and change my flight I was able to access the reservation quickly (am I the only person who finds it a real pain to speak and access info on my phone at the same time?).

• Consciously checking the dates, times and addresses as I write down my trip details. Especially useful when a third party confuses my travel dates. Had I have just mindlessly forwarded the booking e-mail to an on-line travel-scheduling app I would not have spotted the error.

• Checking that I have all aspects of the trip booked including flights, hotel, car parking and car hire. I don’t seem to process each distinct part of a trip when storing electronically.

• Actively checking that miles have posted to my frequent flyer accounts post-trip. As a keen travel hacker it can get confusing as to what should post where and when, being able to manually tick off the deposits gives me some control and reassurance.

So my system… I write the details on yellow paper (yellow as it is the colour of sunshine, weather I associate with travel even if I am travelling to Chicago when it is -15C!). I keep my travel pages in my day-to-day Filofax until after the trip when I transfer them over to my travel storage Filofax. 

Also in my travel section I have my frequent flyer information, the phone numbers of my nearest and dearest (in case my phone dies) and the log in details for a pre-charge calling system (I use Keep Calling) which always has money loaded on it for emergencies.

Thank you Alison, I think this is a great use of a pocket Filofax. I recently acquired a small ring pocket which would be ideal for this sort of use, small ring size therefore quite slim and light weight. 

Do you record details of your past trips?

Free for All Friday No. 317 by Nan

As you read this, I'm on vacation in sunny San Diego, California. My suitcase contains 3 organizers as well as new swimsuits and some clothes.

I thought it would be appropriate to talk about travel. Do you vacation with your Filofax? Do you transfer to a special organizer for travel?

But since it's Friday, all topics are welcome!

Guest Post - My Summer 2014 Vacation Setup - Alan

My wife and I spent nearly 4 weeks in Greece this summer, and as you might guess, Filofax was there with me.

First, there was the wallet.  I always use a Slimline Personal as a wallet, but so far, I have used only 11mm-ringed models.  I had never used my Slimline Holborn due to the fact that the 13mm rings made it somewhat thicker, such that it did not slip comfortably in a jacket pocket.  However, I knew that whilst traveling, the pockets and layout of the Holborn would probably come in handy and, as I would not be wearing jacket in the heat, the extra slimness was not a factor.  I thought about what the Holborn might look like after nearly 4 weeks in my front trouser pocket, and decided that if it got ruined, so be it!

The other factor was that I knew that the Holborn would nicely take my passport and International Driver Permit:

Of all my slimlines, the Holborn has the deepest back pocket for paper money:

Receipts that I would need for reimbursement had their own pocket:

The last two pictures also showed the fantastic Lamy Multi Pen that came as an add-in with some Filofax I bought a year ago.  It was a great pen, giving me Red, Black, and Blue.  (There is Green as well, but I need to replace the green ink cartridge!)  It was great to have this versatility in such a slim pen!

Other than that, my wallet was loaded with lined and quad ruled paper for notes, to double as a capture device.  I mentioned above being concerned about the wear the Holborn would get.  Frankly the leather seemed to improve as I (ab)used it!

The other consideration was that we had some family matters to deal with that would involve paperwork, and I knew that the papers would be A4,  Therefore, I reasoned that having an A5 binder with me might be useful, as I would be able to fold the A4 papers in half and slip them in a full-length pocket.  I was unsure of the abuse that this would take, so I chose my Finsbury, which already had signs of wear:

The Finsbury has a good full-length pocket in the front for the legal documents we had to bring back:

I set up a daily diary/itinerary/log section – but never used it!

I had a section with printouts of airline and hotel reservations, as well has the travel insurance information.  I also printed on maps from the Michelin website.  (Note for next time:  Get a good map of Athens!  It is easy to get lost driving there!)

I also had an envelope designed for North American letter page, one-fold, that I punched for the A5, but because it was slightly narrower than A5, meant that I could hide it behind the notepad in the back cover, if I wanted to delude myself that I had hidden anything.

The nature of the things in the A5 meant that we didn’t carry it around with us, and it was usually in our room or in the car.  Next time, I might also print out some materials about some of the places we would visit.

Greek Highways are often lined with Oleander.  Note my Holborn on the dash board!

Overall, it was a wonderful vacation.  Greece is a beautiful place and the people are wonderful.  Part of my soul is still there!

Thank you Alan for a great guest post, stunning photographs too, they reminded me a lot of Cyprus.