Vacation -- What pens to bring?

Next week I will be going on vacation and I'm having a difficult time picking out what pens to bring with me on the voyage.

I'll be going to the Sheaffer Pen Museum in Fort Madison, IA, as well as the southern Wisconsin area (including Janesville, where I plan to drive by the famous Arrow Park), so I'm naturally planning to bring Parkers and Sheaffers with me on the trip. Also on the agenda are plans to visit antiques stores in the areas I am visiting. Maybe I'll find a good pen or two.

In my pocket, I plan to use either my Parker "51" Special with 1940s Parker Quink Washable Blue, or my Sheaffer Snorkel Statesman with 1950s Sheaffer Skrip Peacock Blue (depending on which state I'm in!). I will be keeping those company with a Parker Jotter ballpoint or a Sheaffer Sentinel ballpoint (again, state dependent).

For permanent writing in my journal while on vacation, I am bringing 3 pens: my 1940s Sheaffer Tuckaway with Noodler's Bad Belted Kingfisher, my 1970s Sheaffer 444x with Noodler's Black, and my 1970s Sheaffer 330 with Noodler's Blue-Black.

Picking out the "permanent" pens was the toughest task for me. My Tuckaway starts hard if I don't use it everyday, so I wanted to have a back-up with me in case it failed to perform. I couldn't choose between the 330 and the 444x, so I just decided on bringing both.

This is subject to change, of course! :) I'm tempted to bring a Parker in place of one of the two 1970s Sheaffers... or maybe I won't bring the unreliable Tuckaway with me, even though it should be a great travel pen (in theory). Perhaps another Parker "51" or a Parker 45? Decisions, decisions... :)

Have a great week,

Derek (ThirdeYe)


Edit: I decided not to bring the unruly Tuckaway and I'm going to be bringing one of my Parker 45s instead. Now I have a nice, comfortable mix of Parkers and Sheaffers for my pilgrimage ;)