If you're a reader of my or Suzanne's blog, you'll know that we're meeting up in Scotland in two months' time *squeal* ;)
Suzanne wrote a GORGEOUS post on how she's organising for this upcoming trip and I printed off her post to gather some ideas for my own planning.
Why reinvent the wheel, right?!
My system is very simple - we use one of these plastic envelopes and put everything in there, like e-tickets, booking confirmations, things to see and do, etc. That plastic envelope goes with us and fits nicely in the lid of my suitcase.
Once we're travelling however, I like one notebook to serve as a journal and finance tracker. At the back I write down everything we spend and in the front, I jot down some notes of what we do each day. It really helped the last time when I was blogging the photos from Thailand and Malaysia.
When I read about Suzanne's cute notebook, I got all excited and went out and bought yet another notebook!
Then I got home and realised I had this one:
So this is what I'm using.
This one has sections for everything under the sun - itinerary, people met, events and places visited, articles purchased, expenses, embassies, name and address, hotel details, etc, etc. Even if you don't have one like this, you can do what Suzanne did and get one with lots of dividers or as I usually do and use post-it flags to make your own sections.
See that yellow post-it sticking out of the notebook? That's me customising my notebook even further.
Who else has a trip coming up? How are you organising it?
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4 comments:
I leave for my holidays in 16 days. Not that I'm counting or anything silly like that.
My iPod is my favourite travel planning tool. I use it as a PDA.
What I do is map out my rough itinerary in iCal on my desktop calendar. For each day of the trip, I put into the notes for that day any info I'll need for it like travel confirmations, schedules, and notes on things to see and do. Next, I make sure Address Book is updated with any contacts I'll need for my trip. I then synch my iPod with my iMac and, voila!, I have all the information I need onhand.
As a back up (in case I forget my iPod charger or, worse, my sidekick gets stolen), I transcribe any vital information into a GoogleDocs spreadsheet, which I can access on the road via my laptop.
If anything requires a paper document, I print it out before hand and put a copy in the notebook I'll be bringing to track finances and daily happenings. I'll also scan a copy of the document and save it as an image, which I can then call up on my iPod in case something happens to my paper copy.
Ooh, I love the idea about the ipod as a backup! So I will definitely be using that trick of the trade!
Can you believe, Marcia, in two months from today I will be boarding a flight to Scotland and I will be seeing you and Dion in two days following that!?! How flipping exciting is THAT!?!
I put more info/details about using the iPod as a backup on my up-and-coming site: http://www.organizing-ideas.com/ipod.html
being a scrapbooker, i'm more interested in the creative aspect of documenting my trips - not that there have been any in ages...
so, if that appeals to you, i suggest you invest in a tiny stapler and nice journaling pen to take with you, and when you are sitting in a coffeeshop, or waiting for a bus, or just resting your feet on steps at a statue (sigh, now i'm really missing travelling), you staple the tickets, pamphlets etc in the book, and write notes next to them. you might even leave every second page open, and stick your photos in there when they are printed. that way you have your entire trip documented in a 'mini memory book' when you are back home.
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