Moleskine City Notebook New York [Flexibound]

This is a very unusual product and I would strongly encourage anyone considering getting one to be completely aware of what it is before they purchase it. First, if you are looking for a single travel guide to prepare you for your trip to New York (or anywhere else there is a guide for), this is very close to worthless, if not entirely worthless. I would call one's attention to the title of the product. It is a "Notebook." That means that most of the pages are blank. This literally is a book for taking notes in.

So what do you get when you buy this? Every book in the series follows the same format. First there is a personal information page with address, phone, allergies, family doctor, passport number, then map information with public transportation maps. Then follows information on the various forms of transporation with phone numbers and websites, including cabs, buses, other forms of public transportation, and airports. There are some blank itinerary pages, measurement and speed conversion charts, size conversion charts (for shoppers), then a long series of neighborhood maps, including an index. And that's it. The final two-thirds of the notebook are blank. The next 20 or so pages are completely blank and unlined for whatever use you want to put them to. Next come several pages intended for writing down names of restaurants, bars, museums, historical sites, hotels, or whatever. The book also comes with unlabeled tabs with stickers to use as desired (for theaters, concert halls, or whatever you desire) as well as tracing paper for, as the label says, "Itineries or Whatever." Finally, there is the usual pocket at the back that is found in all Moleskine products.

For some people this is going to be an absolutely useless product. But for many this will be remarkably useful. In fact, I can invision two uses for this notebook. First, those who are planning a trip to one of the places for which Moleskine has produced a book. Let's say one has consulted the Blue guide, the Eyewitness Guide (by DK), a Rough Guide, the Michelin guide, and the Let's Go guide. Maybe you've bought all of these, making for five guides. No way do you want to drag all of these on your trip or more than one on your flight. So what might you do? You might take the Moleskin Notebook, record into it all the places you want to see, restaurants you want to dine at, museums you want to stroll through, and anything else you want to do while in your destination of choice, and record it there. So the Moleskine City Notebook can serve as a distillation of all the various travel guides, web sites, and other resources you have consulted. And instead of hauling about a large Fodor's guide, you can carry about this small Notebook that can easily fit into a backpack, purse, should bag, or even pocket.

The only downside is that the Moleskine City Notebook is only as good as you make it. If you do a good job of planning your trip, it will be filled to the brim with useful and helpful information. If not, it will be as unhelpful as you have made it.

There is a second use to which the City Notebook can be put to use, though it is not one for which it was primarily designed. You could use it for the city in which you live, should you live in one of the cities for which one is made. I live, for instance, in Chicago. I have bought one of these so that I can over time use it to record every bit of helpful information that I might find useful or helpful. I can record what hours the Seminary Co-Op Bookstore (the real one, not the trade version on 57th Street) is open. The hours for the Chicago Public Library and the Newberry Library. Phone numbers of restaurants and addresses of bars. And so on and so forth. Granted, these books will only benefit those who live in one of those cities, but for the U.S. New York, Chicago, Boston, Washington D.C., Seattle, San Francisco, and Los Angeles are pretty populated areas.

So this is a very well conceived product though it absolutely has to be stressed that it is a specialized one. Please note: THIS ISN'T FOR EVERYONE. If you don't want to use the Notebook to plan your trip it is going to be very close to worthless. I'll emphasize again: this is only as good a product as you make it. But if you use it to help you plan your trip, it could be the single item you would most loathe to be without after your notebook.

This little book came in very handy during my first visit to New York. The best feature was being able to sneak a peek at the subway and street maps without looking clearly looking lost. It also has lots of places to list your places of interest, as well as a back pocket to keep cards, etc. of places you want to remember for next time.

I have heard that not all cities are equally stunning in this series, but I have to say that the American and European cities I've seen are fantastic!
-Sleek & soft exterior is a Moleskine standard
-incredible detail of city & inner nyc metro area- both the subways and the tiniest residential streets are mapped, not just the Broadway/5th Ave/Union Sq etc
- plus bus map; index by street, by station name, by neighborhood map area (i.e. A1, B1, H12, etc)...

When I first moved to New York and was paranoid about looking like a tourist, the city notebook from Moleskine proved totally invaluable!
-Soft, classy, incredibly useful city guides -
--Fits EASILY into purse or pants pocket (provided they're not super tight or you don't mind the square shape obviously)

-It is, like Moleskine across the board, a thread-bound notebook - and offers PERFORATED PAGES!! It is SO useful to have some pages to detach without pulling apart the other half -
-even when pulling out normal pages, the threading is superior in design and I have never lost a page.
-It was an absolutely wonderful gift because I felt better with the notebook over a thick, awkward map or clearly clueless person's guide to the biggest little city in America.

-PERSONAL practicality: there is a little accordian folder in the back and it actually fits business cards + note cards + bits & pieces like scrap-paper ... it's awesome!
I stopped losing addresses once I kept things in that folder; cards don't fall out from the bottom like in normal notebooks.

-INCREDIBLY UNIQUE to have the post-it style clear tabs for use over the street maps - you can stick it over one page of the map and draw a map route or mark where a favorite place is, and they even have a corresponding key of places you loved, would avoid, must go back to, etc. They are cute phrases too, a very individual-oriented approach, as it's definitely a good gift to yourSELF in YOUR city!!
--And in pencil, it's Totally temporary! won't smudge at all and also erases well!! (just dont press hard - that wouldn't erase from paper either)

BOTTOM LINE SUMMARY: You cannot go wrong as an owner, recipient, local, traveler, or giver of this notebook - unless you were expecting a standard outline of attractions and/or suggestions. I am stunned to see that it has less than 5 stars, and think it's unfair to blame the product when the consumer misunderstood. Yes, I naturally agree that if you prefer city insights there are sources for you and this will be your daily guide - While we're on that, I'd recommend Top 10 for very brief visits and Lonely Planet for long, exhaustive city exploration - or Not For Tourists (NFT) somewhere in between - and yes, it does say that on the front.

MOLESKINE CITY NOTEBOOK- a note book and a stunning combination of
map+ notepad+ folder for business cards/little notes+ personal musings+ perforated pages for neat removal+ marking spots on map with flexibility to erase+ sleek, elegant design+ calendar+ closure band+ single-side folder across from accordian folder (AMAZING! SO USEFUL!)+ practical size+ fun approach to travel+ subtle and unique

and I honestly could go on, and am getting another one now :)