When flying with your fountain pen – keep it full and upright.

First my credibility, and some blatant bragging. I spent 25 years traveling the world as a seminar speaker. On Alaska Airlines I hold a Million Miler card. Before I stopped flying on United there were years I logged over 200,000 miles a year – multiple trips to Australia and New Zealand every year do rack them up. All of that time I carried a sketchpad, pens, and watercolors – thus the moniker of “theTravelsketcher.”

At first I carried Micron pens for sketching, but eventually switched to fountain pens exclusively. So I have a lot of experience to share. Here are three that have logged many thousands of miles – they are like friends.

There is a lot of unwarranted fear, and inaccurate advice, on traveling with fountain pens. People are afraid of fountain pens leaking. Simply put, I have had more trouble with Microns leaking than my fountain pens (out of consideration for your reading time I will avoid the tirade that I could give about Micron changing something that caused this to happen.)

Have I ever had a fountain pen leak, yes, of course, but it is rare and I have had them leak while I was just walking down the street when a cap came loose; I have a couple of shirts with wonderfully decorated pockets. Fountain pens need a bit of care and they can be fickle if you don’t.

First off, when you fly you want your pen full, yes I said full. The changes in air pressure on airplanes is what can cause leaking. Air pressure affects the air more than the liquid (ink). So if your pen is half full the change in air pressure causes the air in the pen to expand and push the ink out – liquid does not react to pressure as much as air so a full pen is better.

Secondly, keep your pen upright, the nib pointing up. When you do this any bit of expansion in the ink will usually be absorbed by the bit of air in the nib itself. So I carry them in my pocket, or in my bag situated so they are upright. Laying sideways is just asking for problems, though I have often neglected this point and still had no leaks.

Note: If you are going to sketch on the plane once you are at cruising alltitude, take the cap off slowly just in case this is one of the rare times there is a bit of leakage.

If you follow these two tips you will rarely have a problem.

One other concern I hear is a fear of the ink bottle breaking, now this one I just don’t get. Yes, ink is a liquid and it is in a glass bottle, but have you checked the thickness of the glass and considered how the manufacturer ships those bottles? Here are four of my favorite inks.

Note how thick the glass is, it would be hard to break even if you wanted to. These are shipped by the manufacturer protected only by these thin boxes. If they can withstand the rigors of container freight I think they can handle being packed in your suitcase. OK, give yourself peace of mind and use a ziplock bag. (BTW, this applies to wine bottles which are just not that fragile either.)

Our pens bring us joy, and they love to travel along with us to help capture the moments, either in a sketch or some thoughts in a journal. If you leave them home both you and they will miss out on a lot.