Do you plan your vacations way in advance? Please share your technique!

[gumbypee]

I am usually working on 4 or 5 trips at a time. There is always a current and impending trip for which I'm actively tweaking our existing itinerary for (December WDW) and a planned trip that I'm booking/researching (a return to Hawaii summer 2016) and a future trip that we're committed to but haven't really started planning/researching yet (Ireland/England summer 2017). Scattered between these trips there are usually several shorter and more casually planned mini-trips (Universal in September, October fall foliage, NJ in November for a wedding, a girl's weekend in Nashville)...

To keep everything organized as I book it, I use the TripIt app. I have the advanced version due to a credit card perk but I used just the free version for years and it's awesome. I forward all my reservation confirmations to the Tripit mailbox and it organizes everything for me. If you've never used it, definitely check it out. I can pull up my reservation and confirmation numbers all from one site on my phone, tablet or pc. The itinerary has links to get directions, see maps of the area, contact the vendors, see restaurant menus etc. I can share itineraries with my fellow travelers and I get text alerts for flight changes. I can also print out a hard copy of our itinerary which I like to have handy in case my phone dies.

While researching hotels/flights/activities/restaurants, I use a Word document for each destination and copy anything interesting into one doc that way I never have to go searching for that discount code I had the other day or that restaurant name that was recommended on the DIS forum or that link to the museum we want to visit.

im going to look into that app - thanks!

 

[gumbypee]

can i just say how much i love planners in here!

 

[cedricandsophie]

We schedule cruise or trips as much as a year in advance just to get them on th calendar. About six mionths out I get air and hotels if needed. But that's pretty much the extent of planning. I might read a book about the place on the plane. I kind of prefer winging it and just enjoying the moments that come when you least expect it.