Itinerary's - how do you do yours?

[shushh]

Would you like to see my upcoming "trip" on Tripit? I am happy to share it with you so you can see how easy it is to use. It really saves a lot of typing and formating!

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

Would you like to see my upcoming "trip" on Tripit? I am happy to share it with you so you can see how easy it is to use. It really saves a lot of typing and formating!

Oooooh yes please !!!!!!

 

[shushh]

Oooooh yes please !!!!!!

Done!

 

[JessNewbs]

Yes please share share share, Trip it looks so efficient and I am a control freak when it comes to planning.....this might be right up my alley My husband can now tell everyone how much of a psycho I am with organising, this will be about my fifth time of noting the trip down

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

Done!

Thanks babe. I guess I know what I'm doing today .

 

[shushh]

It will be time well spent I promise!

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

Ummm, it adds up the cost of stuff. That can't be good .

 

[alicia1506]

I may be a little late jumping on this forum but i have a notebook for each trip. I sort out dates and crowd levels and budget and sections of our trip in different colour pens. I then transfer it all into word and excel docs i email to myself for ease of access then i use waterproof zip folders for printed info for each leg of the trip...

Shushhh if you would mind also sharing your planning with me i would be hugely appreciative

 

[shushh]

Alicia and Jessnewbs I don't mind sharing! PM me your email address and I'll send you an invite to share my trip. It's not complete but you'll get the gist of Tripit's capabilities

You can use tripit on a web browser or through an app on the phone. The online browser has more functionality in terms of editing but the app's editing power is enough to suffice. The app version is much 'cleaner' so works really well as a summary. I would look at both to see if it is something that you would use.

 

[shushh]

Ummm, it adds up the cost of stuff. That can't be good .

Don't tell DH...he hasn't noticed that bit yet!!!!

 

[zanzibar138]

For my actual itinerary I just use a word doc.

I start with all the dates and destinations listed, and include under each date what we will need to book - eg flights, transfers, accommodation, tours etc. I put these in red for now.

Tuesday 1st Feb
Anaheim - Las Vegas

Accommodation - Anaheim
Transfers - Anaheim - LAX
Flights - LAX - Las Vegas
Transfers - Las Vegas airport to hotel
Accommodation - Las Vegas

When I have locked in a specific provider (or specific service), I enter these details as well and change the colour to blue.

Tuesday 1st Feb
Anaheim - Las Vegas

Howard Johnson Resort Anaheim
(Address and phone number)

Transfers - Anaheim - LAX
Flights - LAX - Las Vegas
Transfers - Las Vegas airport to hotel
Accommodation - Las Vegas

Then when I actually make the booking I add the booking/ref # and change the colour to green.

Tuesday 1st Feb
Anaheim - Las Vegas

Howard Johnson Resort Anaheim
(Address and phone number)
Booking #XXX

Transfers - Anaheim - LAX
Flights - LAX - Las Vegas
Transfers - Las Vegas airport to hotel

Paris Hotel Las Vegas
(Address and phone number)

I personally like this system because it tells me at a glance what I've decided on, booked, and what I still need to organise. Then I'll just add in extras like meals or tours as I book them.

As far as taking the documents with me, I also use the envelope system like PIO. One envelope for each destination, which gets disposed of as we go, with all the confirmations and information for that destination. And one 'master' envelope with the full copy of our itinerary, plus copies of our passports and travel insurance paperwork.

I make EXACT copies of all the envelopes and their contents for each set of parents. Overkill? Yes. But it keeps me happy

Having said that, on our first trip to the US, I accidentally left all our envelopes at the first hotel. Since we were staying for a max of 3 nights at all our other destinations, the envelopes never caught up to us And you know what, as much as I panicked when I realised, we actually managed just fine without them!

 

[alicia1506]

As i cannot seem to access a pm at the moment or send one, my email address for you shushh is: supersquishy@hotmail.com.

 

[shushh]

As i cannot seem to access a pm at the moment or send one, my email address for you shushh is: supersquishy@hotmail.com.

That's a great email address!

 

[alicia1506]

That's a great email address!

Why thank you!

My best friend created it for me back in 1996. Its been around for a while

also as i put on weight it has become more and more apropos

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

Why thank you!

My best friend created it for me back in 1996. Its been around for a while

also as i put on weight it has become more and more apropos

bwahahaha

 

[Marlea98]

For my first o/s trip I didn't really have a plan as my SIL basically organised everything . For our 2nd it was a P&O cruise so I only had to organise flights and the cruise and shore tours and that was it. On our last trip I planned a lot more but in saying that, much of what we did was kind of made up on the go once we got to the U.S. We had things that were must-dos of course, like our cruise, Disneyland, Montana, Vegas and that was really it. I printed out a blank calendar for the months we'd be gone and filled in all the firm bookings and worked from there. I like to see at a glance what we have to do and when and work from there. We just filled in our gaps based on what we came across on our travels.

I realised I planned our last holiday, and am tending to do the next one, similar to how I plan for lessons. I have a visual planner (the calendar) and I have filled in the dates for our booked cruise so far (like it's a set exam period or an assignment due date I guess) and then work from there based on what we need to do and be where when. I know our cruise will sail the day after school term ends for Christmas so we will aim to be in Florida for a week before then. I can't book flights until later so I can't fill that in. We plan to be back in Montana for Christmas and New Years so I've tentatively penciled that in. We have to be back home at least half a week before school returns for term 1 so there is my 'end' date. As I go, I will be able to see what days I have available to me on the calendar and work from there. I only threw out my last trip's calendar only a few days ago so I can't even post of picture of it to show my 'working out'.

My SIL is also our TA so she has the formal itinerary for us on her computer and I keep a copy on each of our two email addresses plus two paper copies - one in my luggage and and another in my little folder. I'm not as 'organised' as others with spreadsheets or apps or day to day plans.

This is what I took last time. I got the A5 zipper thing from Officeworks (bright pink so see easily in my bag). It has on one side a zippered pocket and some pen holders with a little open pocket at the top. Underneath that is a thing for slipping papers or whatever in. On the right side is another full length pocket with a separate pocket at the top.

I printed off tickets and things and put them in little plastic pockets that I labeled 'tickets', 'accomodation', 'esta' etc. That way everything was there and ready to go. It was all put in order of dates when I'd need them. For accomodation I would throw them out once we had stayed at the place, but I also had a hard copy on email anyway. I kept copies of loyalty cards in one of the right-hand side pockets, plus had a piece of paper with addresses and phone numbers of family members for post cards or whatever (we only sent a couple anyway). I also had a list of tips for DL and DCL reminding me to get pillow cases and photo mats signed, get 1st visit badges etc. I was going to keep our passports in there but I ended up being one of those women with the passport thingys dangling off her neck instead. I carried my pink folder through the airport with me and then kept it in my carry on bag until we got to our destination.

Other than that, at the moment I've got bits of paper all over the place of things I've noted or printed off. I have an old Winnie the Pooh folder that I used at uni with dividers that I'm thinking of using to organise things in, but then again, I love stationery and keep buying cute spiral A4 notebooks from Typo that I think will be great for keeping notes in I'm still in the early stages of planning and this is where my little pink folder is up to right now...

I love reading how everyone else plans. I'm nowhere near as fanatical as others I've read about on other threads I'm sure if some could schedule in toilet stops they would

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

For my actual itinerary I just use a word doc.

I start with all the dates and destinations listed, and include under each date what we will need to book - eg flights, transfers, accommodation, tours etc. I put these in red for now.

Tuesday 1st Feb
Anaheim - Las Vegas

Accommodation - Anaheim
Transfers - Anaheim - LAX
Flights - LAX - Las Vegas
Transfers - Las Vegas airport to hotel
Accommodation - Las Vegas

When I have locked in a specific provider (or specific service), I enter these details as well and change the colour to blue.

Tuesday 1st Feb
Anaheim - Las Vegas

Howard Johnson Resort Anaheim
(Address and phone number)

Transfers - Anaheim - LAX
Flights - LAX - Las Vegas
Transfers - Las Vegas airport to hotel
Accommodation - Las Vegas

Then when I actually make the booking I add the booking/ref # and change the colour to green.

Tuesday 1st Feb
Anaheim - Las Vegas

Howard Johnson Resort Anaheim
(Address and phone number)
Booking #XXX

Transfers - Anaheim - LAX
Flights - LAX - Las Vegas
Transfers - Las Vegas airport to hotel

Paris Hotel Las Vegas
(Address and phone number)

I personally like this system because it tells me at a glance what I've decided on, booked, and what I still need to organise. Then I'll just add in extras like meals or tours as I book them.

As far as taking the documents with me, I also use the envelope system like PIO. One envelope for each destination, which gets disposed of as we go, with all the confirmations and information for that destination. And one 'master' envelope with the full copy of our itinerary, plus copies of our passports and travel insurance paperwork.

I make EXACT copies of all the envelopes and their contents for each set of parents. Overkill? Yes. But it keeps me happy

Having said that, on our first trip to the US, I accidentally left all our envelopes at the first hotel. Since we were staying for a max of 3 nights at all our other destinations, the envelopes never caught up to us And you know what, as much as I panicked when I realised, we actually managed just fine without them!

I do something very similar with the different colours for things to remember to do/book and things I haven't done yet.

For my first o/s trip I didn't really have a plan as my SIL basically organised everything . For our 2nd it was a P&O cruise so I only had to organise flights and the cruise and shore tours and that was it. On our last trip I planned a lot more but in saying that, much of what we did was kind of made up on the go once we got to the U.S. We had things that were must-dos of course, like our cruise, Disneyland, Montana, Vegas and that was really it. I printed out a blank calendar for the months we'd be gone and filled in all the firm bookings and worked from there. I like to see at a glance what we have to do and when and work from there. We just filled in our gaps based on what we came across on our travels.

I realised I planned our last holiday, and am tending to do the next one, similar to how I plan for lessons. I have a visual planner (the calendar) and I have filled in the dates for our booked cruise so far (like it's a set exam period or an assignment due date I guess) and then work from there based on what we need to do and be where when. I know our cruise will sail the day after school term ends for Christmas so we will aim to be in Florida for a week before then. I can't book flights until later so I can't fill that in. We plan to be back in Montana for Christmas and New Years so I've tentatively penciled that in. We have to be back home at least half a week before school returns for term 1 so there is my 'end' date. As I go, I will be able to see what days I have available to me on the calendar and work from there. I only threw out my last trip's calendar only a few days ago so I can't even post of picture of it to show my 'working out'.

My SIL is also our TA so she has the formal itinerary for us on her computer and I keep a copy on each of our two email addresses plus two paper copies - one in my luggage and and another in my little folder. I'm not as 'organised' as others with spreadsheets or apps or day to day plans.

This is what I took last time. I got the A5 zipper thing from Officeworks (bright pink so see easily in my bag). It has on one side a zippered pocket and some pen holders with a little open pocket at the top. Underneath that is a thing for slipping papers or whatever in. On the right side is another full length pocket with a separate pocket at the top.

I printed off tickets and things and put them in little plastic pockets that I labeled 'tickets', 'accomodation', 'esta' etc. That way everything was there and ready to go. It was all put in order of dates when I'd need them. For accomodation I would throw them out once we had stayed at the place, but I also had a hard copy on email anyway. I kept copies of loyalty cards in one of the right-hand side pockets, plus had a piece of paper with addresses and phone numbers of family members for post cards or whatever (we only sent a couple anyway). I also had a list of tips for DL and DCL reminding me to get pillow cases and photo mats signed, get 1st visit badges etc. I was going to keep our passports in there but I ended up being one of those women with the passport thingys dangling off her neck instead. I carried my pink folder through the airport with me and then kept it in my carry on bag until we got to our destination.

Other than that, at the moment I've got bits of paper all over the place of things I've noted or printed off. I have an old Winnie the Pooh folder that I used at uni with dividers that I'm thinking of using to organise things in, but then again, I love stationery and keep buying cute spiral A4 notebooks from Typo that I think will be great for keeping notes in I'm still in the early stages of planning and this is where my little pink folder is up to right now...

I love reading how everyone else plans. I'm nowhere near as fanatical as others I've read about on other threads I'm sure if some could schedule in toilet stops they would

Love the pink binder thing. A5 would be too small for me I know but I wish wish wish I could get my head around that size because it would be much easier to transport.

I also do a Visual Planner. I just draw up a grid on A4 paper. I use this especially for WDW so I can see our whole stay at a glance. That way if we get up and want to do something different than I had originally planned, I can see straight away what I can swap.

I haven't previously done this with anywhere other than the Disney portion but on this trip I've done a visual plan for each city as well.

 

[Marlea98]

You can buy them in A4 size, zippered folders with 2 ring binder things inside, plus the A4 plastic zipper pockets as well, but I wanted something that was not too big and I could easily throw in my bag that wouldn't take up too much space. And the bright color can be easily seen at a glance. I used the A4 size at uni and because it was zippered I didn't have to worry about things like USB sticks and the like falling out and getting lost in my bag.

I keep telling myself that soon I'll sit down and start compiling and taking notes again but then I get sidetracked by something else that needs doing - like housework or baking (or heaven forbid, working )

 

[JessNewbs]

Alicia and Jessnewbs I don't mind sharing! PM me your email address and I'll send you an invite to share my trip. It's not complete but you'll get the gist of Tripit's capabilities

You can use tripit on a web browser or through an app on the phone. The online browser has more functionality in terms of editing but the app's editing power is enough to suffice. The app version is much 'cleaner' so works really well as a summary. I would look at both to see if it is something that you would use.

Thanks shushh, I have tried tripit and don't seem to be getting it b_jessie@hotmail.com

 

[shushh]

Thanks shushh, I have tried tripit and don't seem to be getting it b_jessie@hotmail.com