Right now, I just have 1 master google spreadsheet with food places on 1 tab and activities on another tab. I can sort it a bunch of different ways and it's good for planning, but it's not as good when I'm out and about.
I know there has to be a better way to keep travel recommendations and ideas straight. Anyone know of one?
Eta: apparently my sweet geographer h has been creating a color coded Google map out of my spreadsheet. I should have just assumed he already took care of this since it's map related.
Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime. Mark Twain
I love google maps and usually make one for each trip. I use color coded markers for activities, restaurants, hotels, etc. You can add comments, like entrance fees or who suggested it, to each marker.
I also use Pinterest, google spreadsheets, and I bookmark threads here and websites in general.
I am usually mentally planning several trips at once because I love it and this seems to keep things fairly organized.
Just for straight up recommendations and the like I email it to myself in the previously mentioned master list format. But if I I really want to remember it and organize dates, times, maps, etc I add it to TripIt as a maybe event and add and delete until I'm happy with it. They produce maps automatically so I don't have to. Then everything is in there and easy to find and track.
Post by wanderlustfoodie on Jan 28, 2014 14:20:18 GMT -5
OCD travel-planner here:
I have a master google doc that lists almost everywhere in the world. Then as I read a travel magazine or article with a restaurant/hotel/sight that seems appealing, I add it in the doc next to that location.
Once I start planning a trip to a specific destination, I create an itinerary in Microsoft Word, one page for every day. The last page of the itinerary is called "Notes" and it's where I drop any information I had stored in the master google doc as well as things culled from online, tripadvisor, guide books, friends' recommendations, etc. Once I have all that in one place, I just start cutting and pasting restaurants/activities/sights from the Notes page onto specific day pages of the itinerary to create our itinerary. I also schedule free time (This attention to detail/planning is why my husband jokingly refers to our trips as "death march to fun" but don't worry, I also try to schedule some free time
I print out this rough itinerary before we leave and once we're on said trip, I add written notes to each page so that it reflects what we actually did since sometimes plans change as well as what we ate. Then when I'm back home I type up the actual final itinerary and save it.
This way I have all my itineraries on my computer for quick reference whenever friends are planning their own travels. I have a horrible memory and love looking back at these.
Post by Wanderista on Jan 28, 2014 22:21:02 GMT -5
My trip planning varies a little bit, but I definitely made a folder for my trip to somewhere new last year with all the confirmations, vouchers and relevant phone numbers. Outside of the US, I usually have a guidebook which I use mostly for its map and for suggestions if needed. I tend to find things that I want to do while researching and then I organize which days I want to do things on but my itinerary largely stays in my head. If I keep my confirmations in order and have a guidebook with good maps/key phrases, I'm usually good to go. I'm also fairly spontaneous and enthusiastic when I travel. I tend to get more of a sense of what I want to do when I see a place.
Me too. Any time I plan a big trip I create a Pinterest board to pin hotels / restaurants / activities that I want to do, then about 3 months out start actually planning (since some of those restaurants and tours book up in advance).
wanderlustfoodie, have you ever looked at TripIt? I feel like that could be an app you'd enjoy.
I joined TripIt when it first started. I like it but still prefer my old way. I'm a techie's worst nightmare