There’s a lot to keep track of when it comes to travel. You’ll have different accommodations and transportation with varying confirmations and tickets. Especially on longer, more complicated trips, it’s easy to get confused and lose information buried in an email or in a specific app. Here’s my advice for keeping everything organized so you’ll feel at ease.
Tip 1. Keep a digital itinerary.
If you keep all of your plans, confirmation numbers, and contact info on one simple digital itinerary, you will have everything in one place. This comes in especially handy when you are staying in a variety of of accommodations. If it’s all in one document you don’t need to frantically search for the address or phone number of your next check-in destination. I like to store this in a cloud based storage service like Google Drive or Dropbox so that I can access the digital itinerary during my trip. Because it’s digital, I can include links I know I’ll need while traveling, like helpful blog posts or contact information for tour companies. I also personally like to print out and carry the finished itinerary.
Travel planners in the form of books or printables are not ideal for a number of reasons. Here’s why I prefer to make my own:
If it’s not digital, it’s harder to make changes, and links can’t be included.
The formatting is either too small (especially those shaped like calendars), or too complicated. (Who needs each hour written out for a personal vacation?)
The books include way more than I need and that starts to feel like homework. Plus, I don’t want to pack around a heavy book.
If it’s digital, I can copy-paste information like confirmation numbers and contact info instead of writing it out by hand.
By keeping a digital itinerary in Google Drive or Dropbox, I can access it from any device.
So instead of buying a cute, fancy book, save your money and set up a simple, 2 or 3-column table. (K.I.S.S.: “Keep It Simple, Stupid!”) Type in the dates and days of the week in the left column, and prep the right column for flights and accommodations.
Here’s the skeleton version of what I start with:
As you decide on more details for your trip, you can add all kinds of information. I include things like:
Hotel contacts and check out times
Confirmation numbers
Activities I want to do on specific days
Links to blog posts or information pages that I will need during the trip
Transportation information
Exercise goals
Here’s a section of one of my completed personal itineraries:
On the same document, at the bottom of the table, I include any information I want to remember that doesn’t necessarily fit on specific days, i.e. restaurants. I also keep a running To Do list for my planning. As I think of things I need to do, I add them to the list and I can just delete tasks I have completed. It keeps my thoughts organized. For example, here’s a more detailed list I made for a client going to Rome:
Tip 2. Make a folder in Google Drive or Dropbox.
Both of these cloud based storage services are perfect for traveling because you can open documents on any device. In your account create a specific folder for your trip. This folder will hold your digital itinerary, tickets, and any other documentation that you’ll need to access during the trip.
Bonus Tip: Before you leave home, open each document on your phone so that it caches. This stores data locally, making it faster to retrieve at a later date. That way you won’t need the internet to access it during your trip.
Tip 3. Make a special folder in your email.
Every email related to your trip, be it confirmation emails, tickets, or price quotes, should l be easily accessible during your trip. Create a folder with the name of the trip and place in it all emails related to the trip. This will keep you organized.
Tip 4. Make a “travel” folder on your phone.
If you know me, you know that I have plenty of go-to travel apps that I use during my trips. Triposo, TripIt, Rick Steves’ Audio Guides, and CityMaps2Go are just a few of my favorites. I keep all of these in one easy-to-find folder in my phone.
Tip 5. Use organizational apps.
If you sign up for the free version of TripIt, you can automate your organization. This app will automatically find confirmation emails in your inbox and import the data into the app. I find this most helpful for flights.
Tip 6. Make a to-do checklist.
I like to keep a running to-do list at the bottom of my digital itinerary because I can include appropriate links and open it from anywhere to add or delete tasks.
A great place to start is with my time-based travel planning checklist. If you have less than four months to plan your trip, that’s fine. Just move everything up to fit into your timeframe.
