I’m a stationery hoarder… whenever I see a super cute notebook or cute fluffy unicorn pen… I have to have it. Every single time. You know when your mom says you have so many clothes you could open a shop… well I have that much stationery at home I could literally open a shop. But it’s all just so damn cute and i’ll use it all eventually, right?
Recently, the Nomad factory reached out and asked me if I wanted to review their Travellers Journal… so of course I said yes. I mean, I’m not gonna turn down an opportunity to get my hands on a cute luxury notebook am I?!
I’ll be honest… I did have to Google them because I hadn’t heard of them before… but then I didn’t feel so bad when I found out they were pretty new in the game.
The Nomad Factory are a pretty new company that makes and sells premium notebooks and cute creative accessories. They are a UK brand - all of the journals are made in London with leather sourced from Yorkshire (not far from where I am!) and their main product is the travel journal.
The journal itself comes in three different colours - brown, black and rustic and you can either buy a journal on its own or as part of a starter pack (I’ll explain that later).
I chose the Rustic colour which is a it unusual for me but I thought it gave the journal a really authentic look. My go to colour is alwaaaays black but when I’m travelling I try not to wear black and wear more ‘holiday’ colours - and the rustic will look perfect with them!
The journal arrived in a pretty large box and it was so well packaged! The packaging itself was such a high quality, I was super impressed. Honestly, it looked like just as much time had been spent perfecting the packaging - Thick kraft card with shredded kraft paper inside to protect it. Every detail had been thought of... Even down to the little sticker outside of the box which told you which way to open it. It just screams luxury.
The packaging for the journal itself is a thick cardboard box with a sleeve over it. The sleeve slides open to reveal the journal carefully wrapped in a cloth bag and placed on top of shredded kraft paper. I also found a few of The Nomad Factory business cards inside which were printed on really cute recyclable paper.
Even the drawstring bag felt high quality and it’s a really decent size to reuse for so many different purposes. If I’m travelling I would definitely keep my journal in it to protect it but whilst I’m home I might use it to keep other bits of stationery in so I can keep them altogether.
Inside the bag was the journal (we got there eventually!). And you probably guessed it already… but the leather felt so soft and expensive! The journal cover is 2mm thick and inside there are three small notebooks bundled together to make one big journal, held together with an elastic string. I thought this wouldn’t be very secure at first but the journal is pretty sturdy and the fact that the notebooks are held in with elastic means that it’s super easy to replace the paper when it’s full. Everything has been thought of - just look at the detail.
The three different notebooks are plain paper, grid paper (perfect for bullet journaling!) and lined paper. These different notebooks are split by two separators - one made of card and one plastic. On the pictures online and some other reviews I’d seen, these had already been inserted into the journal but they came packaged separately in the box with mine, so maybe its a DIY kinda thing? Anyway, they were pretty easy to insert and the elastic holds them in place, the same as the notebooks.
The separators are perfect for cards, money, souvenirs and other important documents when travelling.
One thing I love about this brand is the variation of the journals. Usually when you buy a journal, the only thing that you can choose if the front cover design. With The Nomad Factory you can choose the outside and the inside… it’s literally a ‘build-your-own’ travel journal. It just makes it so much more personal! All of the paper inserts and separators can be bought separately so you can customise your journal however you like.
To keep the journal secure, there’s a handy little elastic which is attached to the spine - you can also use this as a little pocket too!
The journal itself is 21x11cm and each notebook (plain, grid and ruled) contains 32 sheets (64 pages) of 100gsm paper. The paper is the perfect thickness - it’s sturdy enough so it doesn’t feel like your pen is going to put a hole in the paper and it doesn’t show through to the other side of the sheet.
Like I started to explain earlier, the Journal is available in three different colours - they retail at £39.99 and you can buy the accessories such as notebooks, separators and accessories separately… or The Nomad Factory have put together a Travel Journal starter pack which gives you a journal, a brass and leather pen clip, and some skeleton clips. Everything comes gift wrapped too.
If you’re looking for a new bullet journal then The Nomad Factory have put together a Bullet Journalling Starter pack too which includes the journal, tape, dotted paper, pencils and pens.
In with my Journal I also received some gorgeous clips - perfect for holding the Journal open or marking pages.. And they’re all gold, silver and rose gold so they look perfect with the leather cover.
I was also lucky enough to get my hands on the Nomad Factory’s brand new accessory before it’s even launched… drum roll please… the Cable Taco! When I heard the name I was a little confused as to what it actually was… but it’s genius!
It’s the perfect little accessory to keep all of your cables together on your desk… I’m forever tangling my laptop charger,phone charger and earphones so this will be so useful for me! The Cable Taco is genuine leather and it almost folds in half (into a taco shape… the clue’s in the name!) and fastens with a popper fastening. It’s launching soon on The Nomad Factory’s website so keep a look out.
The Travel Journal would be the perfect Christmas present for anyone who loves stationery… even if you’ve got no travel plans it’s so versatile it can be used for almost anything… recipes… lists… bullet journalling… studying… or even just as a day to day diary.