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[babieemelly]

Hey everyone! I'm currently planning a trip to Boston/New England for next summer and was thinking about how I could organize my plans. In the past I've used a binder and kept all of our printed-out itineraries, plans, menus, etc in there, and I also kept a folder in the binder to keep our passes and documents in. I'm trying to think of something new and a little easier to carry around. Any ideas? I'd love to hear what you all use to organize your plans - any suggestions are appreciated. Thank you!

[starlagurl]

Oh wow, you certainly are organized. Usually I'll take one or two guidebooks depending on the destination(s).

And I have a really simple organization system:

I take a journal, and just write everything I need to know in there (hotel address and important phone numbers of people I am meeting etc. etc.) alongside my journal entries. This way, I know I won't lose it, because I CAN'T lose my journal, I carry it everywhere.

So usually I'll have one page for each place I am visiting at the beginning of the section of my journal that corresponds to the trip.

[mmbcross]

Last time I was in New England I met a person just like you. he was from the UK, and he had organized his tour down to the most minute detail, all in binders. It was quite amazing. He told me that, like cooking, it took far longer to get this organized than to actually do the tour. On the other hand, he enjoyed it so much that he felt he was taking not just one, but two vacations. If you want my advice, carry on with what you are doing. I also enjoy planning for my trips, and feel that's half the fun. Nonetheless, it may be a problem if you are backpacking!

[starlagurl]

Yeah, don't stop it if you like doing it, I didn't mean to imply that of course. But for sure you'll want to cut back if you are backpacking.

[starlagurl]

Wow, that's awesome.

Haha! Even the weather is in there!

[babieemelly]

Thanks so much! Yea, I'm one of those people who thinks planning's half the fun I love to find as much info as I can, print it all out and put it together somehow. It helps me feel more prepared and makes the wait-time before trips go by a lot faster! I love hearing how everyone else goes about planning for a trip! We're not backpacking but I think I might skip the binder this time and just write everything down in my planner. I also always bring a journal and I may write everything down in there too. Thanks again!

[mmbcross]

Hey Melissa, we all look forward to reading the travel blog on your trip.

[babieemelly]

We may be travel soul mates. I do the exact same thing, for the same reason. I love to have a working knowlegde and a crude sense of how places are laid out before I go, and to get underneath all of the typical guidebook nonsense and figure out how I can really enjoy the place, instead of mindlessly taking the expected tourist routine.

That's a big part of why I plan it all out, too! I'd hate to miss anything buried a little deeper under the surface of a place. In past trips we've seen and done all the basic experiences, monuments, attractions, etc but some of our favorite things were the out-of-the-ordinary experiences/attractions I found from planning things out in advance. There's so much information out there that's so helpful to be able to find beforehand. Granted I do sometimes go overboard with printing out menus and everything Haha, it's fun though!

[mynetdude]

We may be travel soul mates. I do the exact same thing, for the same reason. I love to have a working knowlegde and a crude sense of how places are laid out before I go, and to get underneath all of the typical guidebook nonsense and figure out how I can really enjoy the place, instead of mindlessly taking the expected tourist routine.

That's a big part of why I plan it all out, too! I'd hate to miss anything buried a little deeper under the surface of a place. In past trips we've seen and done all the basic experiences, monuments, attractions, etc but some of our favorite things were the out-of-the-ordinary experiences/attractions I found from planning things out in advance. There's so much information out there that's so helpful to be able to find beforehand. Granted I do sometimes go overboard with printing out menus and everything Haha, it's fun though!

Thats exactly why I'm trying to plan/gain as much info as I can because if you don't you're going to miss them like they didn't exist.

I actually like planning, it gets me very involved and shows me what I might expect and gives me a "birds eye" view of what I'm doing in general.

I agree having a paper copy of your itineraries (not just confirmation numbers jotted down on some notebook paper, you really need your confirmation documents that they give you) however there is a website called www.tripit.com that will read emailed confirmations that you forward to them and it will add it to your personal itinerary generator and will show you what you're doing on those days with maps, weather, etc all in one centric location.

The downfall of using tripit, is you need internet access or a PDA that has wifi/3G/EDGE so you can access your data (I'd still want a paper copy as a backup).