Travel planning spreadsheet?

[GarrettM]

Done a little searching but nothing has come up.

Does anyone use a particular software or layout for planning your travels?

Something to list possible attractions, restaurants, activities and the like. Plus potential costs et cetera.

At the moment I figure I'll just use a notebook, but there's bound to be a more efficient and use friendly option.

I'm not super technically advanced and I don't care for Excel spreadsheets. But if that's the way to go I will have to suck it up.

 

[Pushka]

I use an excel spreadsheet
I draw up a grid 7 across and start populating it with possibles in one colour for each day then as they are booked I change the colour to black. Booking references are added. Then when finished I take a photo and have it on my phone.

 

[NZflygirl]

Word is fine too. You just need something editable for drafting, doesn't need to be excel.

Just list flights - airlines and costs
Accommodation - costs and comparisons
Attractions - list, try and group them by location
- I like trip advisor, lonely planet (find having an actual book much better than digital when travelling), trip reports but also google maps for some other places. I can't remember how to get there but it comes up with people's photos so you can find some cool lesser well known places off the beaten track. The nitty gritty of any tours I go to the actual website.

Then I put the actual structure by days last because timing of whether you get into a city in the morning and can go straight to tourist mode or arrive in the middle of the night depends on flights. So I'll add flights here once booked, and accommodation once I've chosen between the options.

Accommodation I usually go for location location location.... unless you're resorting it. Then location takes on a different meaning and nearby transport eg train stations don't apply.

If you know how to use Dropbox you can save it there so the other half knows what's going on or can edit and add also. I usually get other half to just add his info another colour so I know what he's contributed. This works for when I'm not home......which is a bit..

Enjoy!!

 

[GarrettM]

I use an excel spreadsheet

Sigh....
Think I prefer to stick to my notebook.

 

[Dr Ralph]

Excel is always what I have used.

 

[Snoopydoo]

+1 for Excel here, I am a bit of a spreadsheet nerd I must admit.

I start off by creating a tab for trip notes of each city I'm visiting which I then convert into an itinerary closer to travel date. I'll have category drop down boxes in the individual itinerary (hotels, F&B, sightseeing etc) along with cost of each line item.

I then link all the itinerary sheets together to a master budget sheet to work out how much the whole trip will cost. The budget sheet is dynamic so it will automatically update with any changes I make to the individual itinerary tab. And if I'm feeling super nerdy, I sometimes put in conditional formatting to see if I'm over/under budget in certain travel category.

Not quite what OP is looking for I know, but I find it easier to read numbers on a spreadsheet than hand written notes here there and everywhere.

 

[VPS]

I like Tripit and you can add notes for whenever - have read some good reviews about google trips but haven't downloaded it yet -

 

[NZflygirl]

Sigh....
Think I prefer to stick to my notebook.

I like word because you can type notes or special points in too. If I do this on excel the note gets lost if it runs into the next box. Easy to sort but still painful,

You just need something editable and word will do this for you.
You can even insert tables into word if you want to take it that far. There should be an icon for this but seriously if it's all a bit much just stick with word.

 

[Pushka]

I like word because you can type notes or special points in too. If I do this on excel the note gets lost if it runs into the next box. Easy to sort but still painful,

Just need to click the 'overflow' icon.

 

[k_sheep]

Google drive - docs or spreadsheets for me. Easy to collaborate with others. Save to PDF to send to the parents. Can save in offline mode on all devices.

 

[aussiel]

+1 for Google Sheets. Supplemented with TripIt to take care of any date errors that I seem to always make.

 

[Major]

Biro and a piece of paper for me

 

[Hvr]

I use an Excel spreadsheet with a column for the T-80 time. It automatically calculates the time based on the entered departure time. An AFFer sent me the formula.

 

[Milboo]

All my initial research is done the old fashioned way - pen and notebook.

Once things are booked I start creating an itinerary in word including flight details, hotels and addresses and costs, any notes and then booked activities, location, cost etc and then other suggested ideas based on area we would be in.

 

[amaroo]

Biro and a piece of paper for me

hahaha, drives the cheese and kisses bonkers

 

[deka2]

I also use an Excel spreadsheet

Three sections, one daily itinerary including where we'll be morning and night each day, second section listing travel (flights, trains etc) and third listing accommodation.

Always include the credit card I paid for each hotel or flight to make it easy if need to produce if required.

 

[GarrettM]

I also use an Excel spreadsheet

Three sections, one daily itinerary including where we'll be morning and night each day, second section listing travel (flights, trains etc) and third listing accommodation.

Always include the credit card I paid for each hotel or flight to make it easy if need to produce if required.

Oh this raises another question! I've since cancelled the card I used to book all the flights and accommodation. I still have the physical card but it is useless for anything. Am I in trouble?

 

[NZflygirl]

Just need to click the 'overflow' icon.

:shock:

I'm so pc illiterate . Ill ask the +1 which icon that is!

 

[astrosly]

I use OneNote. Very easy to group collected info about travel as it works like sheets in a folder rather than a linear flow like Word, and you can embed Excel spreadsheets for calculations so you get the best of both worlds. Can add checkboxes for when I book things and can search text in images that you paste onto OneNote pages which I have found handy in the past to search street names in maps. Also can save them to a cloud account such as live.com or OneDrive for access anywhere including on the phone.

 

[deka2]

Oh this raises another question! I've since cancelled the card I used to book all the flights and accommodation. I still have the physical card but it is useless for anything. Am I in trouble?

I don't believe that would be a problem.

They just want to sight the card.