Planning a trip is a ton of work, but it can also be a lot of fun! The more organized you are the less painful the process. One of the best tools I’ve discovered for planning travel is Google drive. Steve and I used it to plan our Peru trip and it made things so easy. I used it again for Morocco and I’m officially convinced it’s the best way to go. Just start with an excel sheet and share it on Google drive with each person involved in planning. Everyone can add notes, ideas, and details to the same master document. It’s a great tool for before, during and after your trip!

Peru-plan-screen-shot

1.       Before:  one of the toughest parts of planning with people- especially remotely- is keeping track of all the info. E-mail trains get long and painful. With a shared document you can have different tabs for different items- itineraries, ideas, expenses. Track everything in one place, and hyperlink to websites to share with friends. Once you have a formalized itinerary you can invite your family to share the document so they know where you will be during each stage of your trip  in case of emergencies.

2.       During: print out your itinerary and you now have all of your important details in one master document. No more carrying around fifty confirmation emails or praying you have internet access in remote places.

3.       After: this sheet also serves as a detailed record of your trip. When an old friend wants to know where you were in that awesome facebook photo, you can just shoot them the document. Or if your like me and don’t get around to scrapbooking your trip until a year later- it’s an easy reference!

Do you have any stellar travel tips to share?

love and candy,

lindsay