Scott started using Moleskine notebooks a long time ago, as they are a tool for any writer (Hemingway famously used on) and I have long been fascinated by them. Especially recently now that the line is quickly expanding and incorporating things that matter in this digital day and age, all through a paper notebook.

Their latest creation is the Moleskine *City Notebook that covers cities like Boston, London and Amsterdam. There are forthcoming editions on Chicago, Los Angeles and Montreal and I hope I can write the one on Toronto. In the meantime, I’m loving my New York and San Francisco editions.

Small enough to carry around in your purse or jacket pocket, the New York one for example, has a subway map and station index, along with maps and a street index to help you find your way from the fantastic sandwich bar (BLT Fish Inc 21 W 17th St) to the museum (New York Museum of Water 525 W 23 St).

What sets this guide apart from others is that you can make it as personal as you want. There are up to Up to 76 blank pages, so you can write down where you saw that cool shirt and make a note to go by that bakery in Bed-Stuy that everyone’s been telling you about.

And Moleskine has done it again. They include 12 tabs in two series of 6. The first tabs are marked so you can easily find the number of Le Cirque (yeah, like you’re going to get in, but you’ll try anyway) and copy down the email address of that guy that you ran into who used to be your neighbour back above the antique store ten years ago. The rest are blank and they’ve included stickers that you can use (i.e. events, markets, musts) or you can just write in your own (to return to, best drinks/food, and US only shops would be some of mine).

And in yet in another stellar move, they have included 32 removeable sheets so that you can make notes and take them with you or give them to someone should you need to (and you will). And here’s the most amazing feature – there are 12 translucent sheets that you can stick and restick in another place SO THAT YOU CAN TRACE YOUR ROUTE AS YOU GO OR CREATE A ROUTE OF THE PLACES YOU WANT TO GO BEFORE YOU LEAVE AND FOLLOW YOUR OWN LINES WITHOUT MUCKING UP THE MAPS PAGES!!!

These are all things that will help you enjoy the city that much more. And you won’t look like a dope holding a huge fold-out map on a busy corner and trying to balance a notebook at the same time.

I am going to New York City as soon as humanely possible. And while I may go back and forth about which shoes to bring, the first thing I will pack will be my Moleskine *City Notebook.