Attention all OCD planners

[australiankaren]

Ok......

so for those of you who have multiple trips planned at once how do you organise all the paperwork that goes with it...

all the plans, flights, accom, dates , budgets, itin ideas, tips...

I have :
sept WDW & freedom cruise 2012,
Feb DLR 2013,
Oct celebrity cruise 2013

I like paper....how do you keep things organised...my desk is a mess, my tub of travel is normally tidy, it now looks like a crazy schnauzer has done the filing....

heres a pic of her filing

I dont like disorder..help meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee....

 

[Anne_Aus]

Separate folders, colour coded or different travel wallets for each trip

 

[Caroline NZ]

Excel & emails at this stage (along way out).
Closer in I will have a folder for documents and a notebook for the major trips.

Currently on the go I have:
1 week skiing in Wanaka Jul12 - accomodation booked
1 week beach holiday in Golden Bay Jan13 - accomodation booked
4 nights Melborne Formula 1 Grand Prix Mar13 (flights paid today because of a 48 hr special, so the date better be confirmed!)
4 weeks USA Sep/Oct 2013 - nothing booked (too far out) but I know where we are going to stay when (10 differnt places).

See - now I have the Disboards as a planning tool also.

 

[alicia1506]

on our last trip, i bought those clear plastic zip folder/wallet thingos A4 size (a pack of 4 was $2 at crazy clarks) and a pack of a5 size clear plastic zip folder/wallet thingos ($3 for a set of 3 at target).

the big folders got all the confirmation emails for the accomodation, tours etc. as we were going to 4 locations, each folder was colour coded for each location. at the front of each folder was a 'highlights' page with all the confirmation numbers and phone numbers on it, then the actual print outs behind it.

the smaller a5 folders got our passports, esta confirmations, disneyland tickets etc and everything we needed for that day.

each time we went to a new town, the confirmation information got transferred from the big folder to the little a5 pouch (which was kept on us at all times) for ease of access.

I'm doing the same for the current trip and for the 2013 trip.

current trip - disney cruise line fantasy then disneyland + san diego
2013 trip - wdw + universal orlando + disney cruise line fantasy + disneyland

i found that some of it i didn't need and some of it i was really grateful to have and the a4 and a5 pouches were really handy at holding paper souvenirs like menus and tickets and brochures and even receipts etc.

 

[craftymama71]

My DH is in charge of keeping all that stuff organized. He loves it where I get overwhelmed with it all.

Anyhow, I bought a really nice travel wallet from Typo. It has different compartments for your passports and other documents. They came in black, red and gold.

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

I use a folder for each holiday. IN that folder are dividers for each city/country we will be visiting and I just use plastic pockets for each individual booking, ticket, tour etc. I then put them into the folder in the exact order we will need the information/be doing the activity. Any miscellaneous info for that city goes to the back of the city's section.

I am feeling quite overwhelmed at the moment with a trip planned for Dec for 5 weeks and then 2 months later heading off to Europe for 4 weeks. I'm flat out with work at the moment and still have 90% to organise for the first trip and have done absolutely nothing for the second trip. I could almost hyperventilate just thinking about how disorganised I feel. I have alot of work and personal stuff to get through over the next month but then July is my time to plan my butt off before my business gets crazy mental for the remainder of the year. Ugh, I feel even more stressed just typing this out

on our last trip, i bought those clear plastic zip folder/wallet thingos A4 size (a pack of 4 was $2 at crazy clarks) and a pack of a5 size clear plastic zip folder/wallet thingos ($3 for a set of 3 at target).

the big folders got all the confirmation emails for the accomodation, tours etc. as we were going to 4 locations, each folder was colour coded for each location. at the front of each folder was a 'highlights' page with all the confirmation numbers and phone numbers on it, then the actual print outs behind it.

the smaller a5 folders got our passports, esta confirmations, disneyland tickets etc and everything we needed for that day.

each time we went to a new town, the confirmation information got transferred from the big folder to the little a5 pouch (which was kept on us at all times) for ease of access.

I'm doing the same for the current trip and for the 2013 trip.

current trip - disney cruise line fantasy then disneyland + san diego
2013 trip - wdw + universal orlando + disney cruise line fantasy + disneyland

i found that some of it i didn't need and some of it i was really grateful to have and the a4 and a5 pouches were really handy at holding paper souvenirs like menus and tickets and brochures and even receipts etc.

I like the idea of the A4 to A5 pockets. Would love to see a photo if it's possible for you to snap a quick pic. I just use plastic pockets but this sounds like a more efficient system.

My DH is in charge of keeping all that stuff organized. He loves it where I get overwhelmed with it all.

Anyhow, I bought a really nice travel wallet from Typo. It has different compartments for your passports and other documents. They came in black, red and gold.

I've got one of the typo travel wallets and have given tons as gifts, they are a godsend in my handbag.

 

[DizOz]

I love planning.

On our last trip I was way OTT.

I had hard copies of every document in a plastic envelope separated by each segment of the trip. Park tickets etc had a special envelope attached inside with all tickets held in one place. This envelope was always packed in my roll-on bag.

I had soft copies on my laptop of all documents as well.

I also had a planning spreadsheet that had everything in it:

Flights Details - Flight numbers, Departure and arrival times and airline telephone numbers and booking numbers.

Accommodation - Check in and out dates and times. Reservation numbers and hotel telephone numbers

Transfers - reservation numbers, companies telehpone numbers

I even had our DDP with a credit calculator which allowed me to plan out our reservations and automatically caluclate the credits used for each restaurant/meal. It even had links to the website with the restauarant menus.

Finally it also had a budget section with a currency conversion in it to keep track of costs.

For me planning a trip is half the fund.

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

Dizoz - wow I thought I was OCD about trip planning but I'm feeling like a lazy so and so compare to you

 

[WAMUMOF4]

I use those 30 page display books, I have a different colour for each trip
First page is always our flight info, then our ETSA, car hire then hotel and each stop after that I start with hotel confirmation including any added directions if it is suppose to be a hard to find place then tickets etc. if we have lots of stops and I need to I put things b2b so I can see it when I turn the page I leave the last 2 pages for miscellaneous things.
It is the most important thing on our trip other than our passports which I keep in a pencil case it's the easiest thing I have found to keep 6 passports in.
Our back up is all on email the first time I emailed everything as double back up to our other email address last time I decided it was a bit ot and didn't do it.

 

[alicia1506]

i'll post photos of my trip wallet zip up thingos tonight when i get home tonight

 

[Andona]

I would LOVE to be able to go totally paperless but I just can't quite bring myelf to do it, although I am cutting back this trip. Paper is so heavy and I'm always trying to cut back on my luggage weight.

I usually print off every confirmation in triplicate. I keep the primary copies in a manilla folder with post it note tabs to mark bookings by location. I keep them in chronological order so that I can ditch each confirmation as we go along and thus reduce weight. This folder goes in my carryon.

I keep the secondary copies in a plastic sleeve in the checked luggage, it's my backup.

The third copy stays on my desk at home for my non-travelling older kids, just in case.

I keep digital copies in a folder on my gmail account and in Tripit, and also in Dropbox on my iPad. Hmmmm, not a bit OCD....

This trip I am, gulp, going to go without the secondary paper copy.!

If I have more than one trip in the works ( unusual for us) I do the above in duplicate.

DH is currently planning and booking a short break for our wedding anniversary. I have NO IDEA where we are going, and he's not going to tell me. Mostly I love the idea of being whisked away without having to think about it, but the OCD travel nut in me is going slightly crazy at the loss of control!

Andona

 

[shushh]

I am also feeling overwhelmed at present. Usually so OCD that most things are planned by 6 months out, I am feeling quite distressed that at 6 months out, I still have about 70% to organise for our 7 week trip to Europe. I haven't even thought about details for our 6 week to the US in 2013.

I use email folders and a spreadsheet for planning. I literally dump ideas on there to research in more depth when I have time, as I find that sometimes I don't remember little tips that people give me later on. To fine tune planning in particular accomodation choices, I use google maps. I literally "pin" everything I'm interested in (accomodation and sightseeing) to get a feel for location. You can write notes for each place you've pinned. Google maps is handy because it also shows you all the public transport routes and stops. You can then save your map and add/edit it in the future. So I now have a collection of city "maps"....lol

Once booked, I clean my spreadsheet, save it onto laptops that we're bringing, as well as dropbox just in case. We also enter everything into Tripit in as much detail as I can. I love tripit as it lets you enter everything including how you paid, whether or not you've paid, confirmation numbers, contact phone numbers, addresses, who you booked with, maps etc. Also lets you put in itinerary plans of places you want to visit and things you want to do. We then share this with family and friends so they know where we planned to be if we disappear...

I print a hard copy of reservations and tickets and arrange them in order of use. We use 1 folder only because I find that we tend to lose the folders if we have too many! We also keep a photocopy of our passports in the folder. We then have a separate special bag for our visas and passports which acts as a portable safe.

 

[marvel]

Ok now, stop teasing about going on multiple trips will you !!

Hey Karen, what is this celebrity cruise Oct 2013 ?

 

[australiankaren]

Ok now, stop teasing about going on multiple trips will you !!

Hey Karen, what is this celebrity cruise Oct 2013 Karen?

thanks guys for your insights/help/ideas..

the celebrity cruise
http://www.celebritycruises.com/sea....do?packageid=SL12K028&dest=AUSTL&shipCode=SL

cant wait

 

[shushh]

Oooh....on the Solstice! Very jealous! Would be so nice to be able to board a beautiful ship without having to fly ridiculous distances!

 

[Caroline NZ]

I use email folders and a spreadsheet for planning. I literally dump ideas on there to research in more depth when I have time, as I find that sometimes I don't remember little tips that people give me later on. ....
.....Once booked, I clean my spreadsheet, save it onto laptops that we're bringing...
.....I print a hard copy of reservations and tickets and arrange them in order of use. We use 1 folder only because I find that we tend to lose the folders if we have too many! We also keep a photocopy of our passports in the folder. We then have a separate special bag for our visas and passports which acts as a portable safe.

I do all of the above as well

For passports etc I have Kathmandu travel wallets.
Used this one last time
http://www.kathmandu.co.nz/Travel_&..._&_Organisers/40374/Departure_Wallet_v2.html#


And will use this one next time
http://www.kathmandu.co.nz/Travel_&_Commute/Packs_&_Bags/Shoulder_Bags/40372/Transit_Deluxe.html#