Itinerary

I craft my travel plans in a draft itinerary that develops over time and, once finalized, helps me keep track of a myriad of little details that I need to know while on the road.  When I’m ready to leave, I put one copy in my luggage, save one in Dropbox so that I can access it online if I lose the printed copy, and give copies to my family.  After the trip, I file my itinerary away, to serve as a reminder of trip details, in case I want to repeat an experience, like scuba diving at Love’s Resort in Moalboal, Cebu, Philippines.  It also comes in handy in giving references to friends (just last week I gave my friend Liz the contact information for Istanbul’s Gedikpasa Hammam, so that her aunt can experience one of their wonderful honey massages when she travels to Istanbul next year).  What goes into my itinerary?

At the top: of the page

• Destination, Year, Month of travel.
• Airline Information.  Confirmation #(s) and ticket #(s) (if flying on more than one airline, there will be different codes and numbers); flight numbers, schedules, cities, layovers, and time traveled (for each leg of the trip).
• Exchange rates for each country I will visit (from www.xe.com).
• Time zone differences.

Next, a 3-columned table with a line for each day of the trip (including travel days):

• Column #1 = Date and day of week (e.g., “1/7 TU”).
• Column #2 =  My location on any given day.  Sometimes this will be a city and country; on travel days, this section contains flight #s, times, connections, and confirmation #s.
• Column #3 = Additional details about my location.  On the 1st day in a city, this column contains hotel address, website, phone/email, rate per day and status of payment; transportation arrangements (such as taxi pick-up, walking or metro instructions, etc.  On subsequent days in the same city, this column is blank.

At the bottom, another chart reflects deposits made and method of payment, balances due, confirmation numbers, etc., in both U.S. dollars and local currency.  If traveling with others, I include amounts paid by each person, so that we have a running tally and can settle accounts later.  This section helps in projecting my budget, estimating amount of cash to bring with me, etc.