How Do You Organize Your Fodors Info?
 

Hi,

I love all the different advice on what to do and see in various cities, and I promise myself I am going to try to follow at least some of it. I was just reading Degas' old thread about what is left to do in Paris, and I would like to save the various tips.

The problem is I can't ever seem to organize the info. Right now I am preparing for our almost-month long trip to France. I am collecting info by putting some threads in Favorites, copying and pasting info to an Excel document (broken down by the various locations we are going), etc. I think by the time I go I will have waaay too much.

How do you organize your info? Thanks in advance for any info.

As I am not very good on the computer so I can only put what interests me into 'Bookmarking'/or send a reply. That way when I click on my name I can review all the posts I have interest in.

Like you, Celiaanne, I cut and paste a LOT of info into an Excel document as I'm planning a trip - I have different worksheets for packing lists, important subway/bus lines, notes on distinct areas, restaurants, attractions, etc. I do print off the entire workbook to take with me (to read on the plane and in the hotel) but I create a summary page for each day with all the important info to slip into my purse each day. I've also e-mailed the whole document to myself so that if I'm stuck without some important piece of information I can duck into a web cafe to check it out.

Whateever you do please DON'T reply just to bookmark a thread as a thread you've replied to. Both IE & Firefox have a VERY easy way of adding the thread to your favorites -

IE : move mouse to link and click using the RIGHT mouse button and select the "add to favorites" option

Firefox : same as IE except it's called "bookmark this link".

It then means you can then categorise each thread under your own system (eg all London threads in a folder called "London")

I also respond to posts so they are at my fingertips when clicking on my name. However, I have so many posts now that it is very time-consuming to find what I want. I try to stick to posts that have an informative title.

For my 3 week trip to Europe last summer, I copied small portions of posts which I wanted to try onto word documents for each country or city. Before leaving, I arranged them according to museums, restaurants, etc. and printed this list to take with me. It was very helpful.

I also cut and paste info into a Word document for my trip. I organize it by Food and Sightseeing, and then by neighborhood if possible.
However, it usually gets HUGE by the time I'm done (20+ pages). I wish there was a more organized way to do it.

alanRow, That is what I do (rightclick, add to Favorites and save to my own computer), but I still don't understand the objection to others doing as you describe.

I see a lot of threads with "bookmarking" noted by others, but I just pass over it. What am I missing?

Val, I like the idea of emailing the file. It's so hard to decide in advance what you might need.

kwren and Kristina, thanks. My "system" is similar, but it still gets confusing.. All this, plus the guide books -- yikes!

I'm not sure if it would work with threads, but I'm currently crazy about the Suitcase feature on concierge.com, it's a really great way of organzing links and online articles, plus you could access it while traveling!

I find that sometimes an informative thread is worth bookmarking not only for myself, but as a chance for other to see. It's a shame when some information falls into the deep well of Fodor's past threads.

I can safely reply because this thread is at the top as I start to write.

When a person bookmarks or tops a thread, it suits that person; it also pushes other discussions down the list, which can be a disservice to others.

Use the search function.

Once a person has added "bookmark" to a few hundred threads, the method is rendered practically useless because of the sheer volume of data the user still has to sift through.

Creating a "Favorites" folder for each trip or destination or topic is much more efficient, and it doesn't clutter the board. You could make a "July 2007" folder with sub-folders "France" and "Germany" and "Italy," and each of those could have sub-folders "Paris" or "Munich" or "Venice" with "Food" and "Transportation" and "Sights" under that.

I take a 21st-Century approach to travel documentation, and simply copy entire threads to a PDA (I use an iPAQ Pocket PC, but there may be a way to use an iPOD as well). I make one .txt document of it so that the entire text can be searched in one operation. (There is no reason to use <i>Word</i>, and plenty of reasons not to.)

I also have .pdf maps and guides, but they're a little harder to search, because it has to be one at a time. But since the <u>Rough Guide</u> series are so comprehensive, I find I rarely need anything else for a given destination except perhaps a few web page captures or scanned brochures.

I copy the specific information I want (not whole threads), put a header on it, paste it in an email, email it to myself, and print out a copy. I save the email in an AOL folder. Then I group similar headers together, for example, &quot;Restaurants in the 5th Arr.&quot; When I'm done, I have a pretty thick folder, which I definitely refer to while on the trip. Works for me because we don't have a laptop or Ipod, and then I don't have to worry about going to a cafe to read what I want.

I cut and paste info into a Word doc and then ask the printer to print my itinerary &quot;booklet style&quot; so that the amount of pages I'm carrying around is greatly reduced.