Travel Planning Tools

[a60dan]

For 2022, we're planning several bucket list trips.

We know the risks given the current COVID-19 environment, and are looking for a tool that can be used to construct an itinerary that can be gradually fine-tuned as our travel dates change.


I'm a TripIt fan, and the tool is great after you know where & when you want to go. They told me that it is not for what I'm trying to do, but they'd consider it in future versions. We also use TripAdvisor.

I don't expect that it would re-book but do expect that I could easily enter reservation numbers or confirmation dates without starting over. As with TripIt, we'd fill in the final details as confirmations were received.

It would be great if it pointed out gaps like "no place to stay on day 29, you have 2 places booked on day 7, etc." and suggested points of interest that we may not have thought of.

In the meantime, I'm asking for input from ACTUAL USERS:

1. what tool do you use for your trip itineraries?
2. how easy it is it to change dates and do "what-if?"

Thanks!

 

[2017ish]

DW uses pencil and paper calendar pages to verify everything is good to go on our long multicountry, multiplane trips. Haven't seen anything that looks like it handles multi-month hopping around with stays at places that are pretty much off the grid.

Looking forward to other responses.

_____
E.T.A., we actually print off itineraries and receipts and put them in binders when going places that have unreliable internet. If using an online tool, you'd be in trouble. Favorite was getting "e-ticket" from intra-Solomons (or new guinea or Vanuatu?) airline, with instructions to print off before getting to airport. When we got there, we understood!

 

[OldConch]

We use Google Calendar. One color for flights, one for accommodations, and one for day trips and tours. Simple. On our trip to Thailand and HK last year we had 8 different flights, stayed in 16 different hotels/AirBnb's/huts/catamaran/floathouse and had numerous planned and unplanned day trips. Looked at the Calendar most days to keep track of the big picture. Due to COVID, we decided to leave Chiang Mai early and spend some extra time in HK before heading home.

Super easy to make changes in Calendar and I "what if" by plugging in the must see/do's and then filling in with other activities.

I looked at TripIt and even signed up. When it requested access to my email accounts and contacts I decided to keep using Calendar.

 

[DrRoy]

We have sometimes used a spreadsheet to do trip itineraries. Columns for date, activities, and lodging. Pretty flexible.

 

[Jerry1]

I’m not a big traveler, but isn’t this what travel agents do? What you’re asking for reminds me of a GANTT chart that the project managers used at work. I’m not sure how automated that process can be which indicates any tool would be lacking or cost money to purchase. That type of tool would probably be marketed to travel agents who would use it often enough to be willing to pay for it.

I’d use a spreadsheet set up as or in conjunction with a calendar and create a GANTT chart. It would be crude but it would work.

 

[sengsational]

There's utility in something that lets you plan/visualize. I've not had found a great planning tool. What I do (not suggesting it's any good), is paste screen shots into PowerPoint, and add text notes. So flight options, accomodations options, transfer options all get pasted. Not a lot of filtering, more options. Then I begin trying to find components that I think might work best together, and incorporating more and more details and ideas as I go.

Once I've nailed down the specifics, I have a spreadsheet (when DON'T I have a spreadsheet?) that has date/time calculations. It started out with putting in flights (which required time zone math), for the purposes of knowing when I needed to get up and out the door to catch the flights. So now I have forward and backwards-driven time calculations. It's a one-sheet itinerary with all the essential info (dates, times, reservation numbers, phone numbers, web sites, etc). I like a hard copy, but it's also electronic and shared with those back home.

 

[OldShooter]

We have sometimes used a spreadsheet to do trip itineraries. Columns for date, activities, and lodging. Pretty flexible.

Yes. I can't imagine a canned program that would suit everyone's planning needs. It has never occurred to me to even look for one.

I actually use two Excel files. The first one sketches the trip with columns to suit our needs. Like this:

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The second Excel file is formatted to be statement size, suitable for punching and carrying in a Day-Timer type book. It is partially a reference and partly a journal. DW typically makes notes as we go. Here is one page from a self-drive trip:

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For a trip where we have a guide/driver and the route is planned by the arranger, the journal pages are simpler but I typically paste it the arranger's text describing the day. I also have lodging and contact info as I leave a copy at home for DS's reference. Like this:

​

 

[Pellice]

This is such an interesting topic! I have a group of friends with whom I go on birding tours. We travel with commercial tours, but we also put together our own. I generally take on the role of coordinator (not the leader), and I have used the overall Google complex - Google Drive, Google Docs, Google Calendar, Google Sheets, etc. With Drive, you can set up a site specifically for your trip and give only those involved the link for that site, which can contain a mix of documents, spreadsheets, and other information.

So at any point they can check online what has been decided, what the next steps are, open questions, etc. I would also send periodic emails with some of the information and reminding them of the url of the site. The site was open to the other participants to contribute their own information and ideas, but that did not happen, alas - but it did keep participants from complaining they didn't know what was going on. I put the final spreadsheet for shared expenses there too. I even had a fancy google map with our itineraries color-coded for different days. (Can you tell I like doing this kind of stuff, lol!)

Google Drive allows you to set up offline access, so right before the trip began, I'd also download most of the info for easy access from my phone.

I will definitely use these google tools again.

 

[deserat]

Great topic-thread!

I am the planner. For research I use my extensive library of travel books, the library and on line information. I also have some pages from older newspapers and magazines to help guide me. I also talk with friends and family to get info on what to do, etc.

I track it all in an excel sheet and print it out and put it in a plastic sleeve to take with me. I also have word documents that have specific details. I use pen/pencil for changes when traveling.

When I get where I'm traveling, I also ask locals about where they would go or eat, etc. That way I'm not locked into only the tourist trap places.

I've found that Trip Advisor ratings and some other online travel places have become like Amazon in that reviews are biased. That's why I like some of my older regular books.

If I am going somewhere I have not been or been near, I do look into using a tour or guide. I've also used day tours that cater to cruises even though I wasn't on a cruise. Worked really well in my Baltic trip.

I also have international friends and visit them as well as ask them for information and advice. They can be a great source of information that us definitely not touristy.

 

[jcfradio]

These sound way more complex than what I use (and yes, I have travelled, A LOT! A couple of multi week vacations each year and 20 plus overseas work trips per year).

I like Sloooww travel, so my itineraries whether on the computer or a sheet of paper just have the flights listed and accomodations (to give to the kids or my wife in case they need to track me down). What I do when I am in each city depends on my mood that day.

It works for me, but as Koolau says - YMMV!

 

[Helen]

I go the low tech route and make a copy of calendar pages and write on there to keep track of hotel stays and transportation. It was really helpful in Australia and Europe where we used a lot of public transportation.

I never thought of using Google calendar, I will have to check it out.

 

[CoolChange]

I generally use https://www.kayak.com/trips for anything with complicated itineraries subject to change.

 

[davebarnes]

Anal retentive? Yes.

what tool do you use for your trip itineraries?

Numbers. I am a Mac person. One column per day. Rows are lodging, food, museums, transportation, etc.
I enter costs every day whilst traveling.
Everything at a glance.

But, planning uses TripAdvisor, AirBnB, Rome2Rio, Planapple.

I tend to over plan. Blame it on the engineering degrees and the MBA.

 

[Out-to-Lunch]

How about https://www.tripit.com/web

 

[Huston55]

Great thread topic. I typically put travel, lodging & activities in my calendar and use color coding, and I create an email folder with booking confirmations in case I have to reference it. Plus, for any significant trips, I like to have a hard copy with reso details, which I keep in a plastic folder.

I'm interested in hearing about experiences with the free apps (like Kayak, Planapple, etc.) and how easy they are to use (on & off line), how user friendly the itineraries are, and how quickly you get updates about changes. Also, of course, if they're inundated with ads or flood you with emails.

 

[DrRoy]

I actually use two Excel files.

Nice job. More detailed than mine.

 

[Ole Red 29]

I am in the spreadsheet camp. I plan my trip in spreadsheets to the detail, then print hardcopies and compile in a folder to carry with me. There have been times I have been places with no access to digital data.

 

[Chuckanut]

I've been happy with Tripit for the skeleton of my plans. Where and when I will be and sometimes what I will be doing (if advance reservations are required).

I create a document where I label each area I may/will visit. Into this document I copy and paste information I may need, such as a description of a historical walk through Szootsengrad the capital of Lower Slobovia, or a highly recommended restaurant from cousin Ragashi who travels to that area regularly. I also paste in things like Metro maps so I can zip around the big city unencumbered by a car. I also make note of the exchange rate so I don't outsmart myself when haggling with the local vendors.

I also have one old fashioned hard copy calendar page with the barest of details. There are times I just want an overview of the entire trip.

Good Topic. I've already leaned a few things.

 

[brett]

Pre covid we did two international trips per year. Seven-eight weeks each.

Much of it is spontaneous. We have a general idea of where we are going and what we want to see. But it can change. We seldom reserve accommodation anywhere from a day to three days in advance. Often the only definites are where and when we fly in and where and when we fly home. Our last trip to Greece was seven weeks. We flew into Athens and home from London. We had a month sketched out but two weeks was wide open.

Halfway through our trip we decided on two weeks in Cyprus.

We use itmatirx and skyscanner. The latter is very good for regional airlines. We have also found some very significant price deltas between carriers web sites and third party such as expedia. Skyscanner is good for this. On our last trips in Greece and in Mexico we found price differences of as much as 40 percent of the exact same flights. We also check domestic airline in country web sites. Doing so in Turkey and in Argentina saved us a fair amount of money on in country domestic flights.

We have saved a fair amount of money by buying travel products in country instead of from North American or internantional websites. For accoomodation we may use third party sites to research but we always try to deal direct, and deal for cash. The last time we did the this in Greece the price went from 350E through a booking site to 250E cash negotiated direct with the owner.

 

[OldShooter]

One thing maybe worth mentioning is the availability of planning information when people are on the road.

My solution is to save emails, web links, printed info, etc. in Evernote. This includes scanned passports, medical information, and copies of trip insurance policies with claims procedures. Lots of "probably won't need but might need" stuff that would be a huge burden to carry as hard copy and dangerous to lose to carelessnexs or theft.

EN is fairly primitive in some respects, not having folder hierarchies, but there is some clumsy folder organization and extensive tagging and searching tools. EN is free and you will have your data stored both locally and in the cloud. I have the cheapest upsell tier called "Plus" in order to have the data also synchronized and stored on a tablet computer I travel with. So I don't need an internet connection to get to my records.

 

[brett]

We have been travelling with ipads since we retired nine years ago.

By far, the best travel tool we have ever used. What surprised us was how good and how available the internet is in some of the most out of the way places we have visited.

 

[braumeister]

My solution is to save emails, web links, printed info, etc. in Evernote.

I used to use Evernote Premium when it cost $45 a year, and I liked it very much. It costs about double that now, and I dropped it back when they started raising the price somewhat aggressively.

Now I use an equivalent note app called Bear. A fairly new app but exceptionally well written and supported. For $15 a year it's hard to beat.

 

[YVRRocketSurgery]

We primarily use a Google Sheets spreadsheet with multiple tabs for trip planning and re-use the format for different trips. In Google Sheets, our main worksheets are: a main summary&planning tab, travel tab, and accommidations tab with secondary tabs like budget/spend, climate/sunrise/sunset, time zones, cell phone, key URL's, etc. We generally only link date and city info across the sheets.

We still use TripIt superficially for flights but it's not our main tracker because it doesn't have a summarized view in the format we want, it can't handle the confirmation emails of many of the accommodations we book directly with (so we would end up having to manually enter anyways), and there's certain info it doesn't track that we want a view of.

Beyond the spreadsheet, we keep a Google docs doc to gather key info for the city and a folder in gmail to store all of our confirmation emails/correspondances for the trip.

 

[naggz]

I've used Sygic Travel for my past couple of trips.
https://travel.sygic.com/en

I paid for the full version so that I could use offline maps (while using location on my mobile device) for when I am in the new place without mobile data.

I found it to be a bit "finicky" for setting up but worked well enough once I got used to it.

 

[Chuckanut]

I used to use Evernote Premium when it cost $45 a year, and I liked it very much. It costs about double that now, and I dropped it back when they started raising the price somewhat aggressively.

Now I use an equivalent note app called Bear. A fairly new app but exceptionally well written and supported. For $15 a year it's hard to beat.

I noticed that Bear seems to be written for Apple products.

Have you tried Apple's Note app? If so, how does Bear compare to it?

Thanks.