How do you organize yourself on vacation?
Aug 21st, 2014, 10:39 AM
#61
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I can't believe that happened again! I'm tap-typing this on a tablet.
Anyway, I make notes about where and what we ate, what we did that day, etc., in the margins of the printed agenda. This is a useful basis for a trip report, or for helping to sort out photos, reconcile credit card receipts, and so forth.
Please excuse the three installments!!
Anyway, I make notes about where and what we ate, what we did that day, etc., in the margins of the printed agenda. This is a useful basis for a trip report, or for helping to sort out photos, reconcile credit card receipts, and so forth.
Please excuse the three installments!!
Aug 21st, 2014, 11:37 AM
#62
And just as an aside, around the breakfast table in the Moroccan Sahara at Erg Chigaga last year, a French-Canadian girl was asking for some uncooked rice. She had used her iPhone as a flashlight to visit the non-flushing toilet in the middle of the night . . . all of her contacts, tickets, confirmations were obliterated. She was lost. 
Ian
Ian
Aug 21st, 2014, 01:13 PM
#63
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Yes, and no one has ever lost a piece of paper or left a file folder behind in a hotel... the fact is, loss is loss and cannot be protected against 100%. The idea that paper is always safer is silly. The idea that a phone is always safer is silly.
Aug 21st, 2014, 02:40 PM
#66
<<I feel that clinging to old methods is...old. Sorry, I know that sounds rude. Maybe it is rude.>>
<<we must encourage each other to find better ways of doing things>>
That's my problem. Why can't we just share the ways that work for each of us... without getting a bunch of flack and criticism?
<<we must encourage each other to find better ways of doing things>>
That's my problem. Why can't we just share the ways that work for each of us... without getting a bunch of flack and criticism?
Aug 21st, 2014, 08:00 PM
#67
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One thing I can suggest. Collect your credit cards, driver's licence, senior's card, pension card - any card that's important to you. Put them together face down on the photocopier, photocopy then write the relevant phone numbers for cancellations beside each card. Make extra copies and keep in each piece of luggage. Also take photocopies of your passport - easier to get a replacement if you have all the details.
I also type out every hotel address/phone number plus family contact details on one sheet of paper which also goes in every piece of luggage.
I also type out every hotel address/phone number plus family contact details on one sheet of paper which also goes in every piece of luggage.
Aug 22nd, 2014, 05:04 AM
#68
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Marg,
Things have changed for me.
Yes, I do put airline and contact information inside our suitcases if we are checking.
We usually are not, and now I try to keep any information in and on them that can be stolen to a minimum.
For that reason, only names and cell phones are on our luggage tags.
Along those lines, I used to photocopy my passports and credit cards and carry them with me.
I do not anymore.
If those photocopies are stolen, you can end up in deeper doo-doo because you have provided all vital information to the thief on a silver platter.
There was little alternative just a few years ago. Before integration of electronics/internet into travel was so simple, carrying hard copies and/or mailing copies to a trusted friend/relative before leaving were the only safety measures we could take.
But now access to WiFi is ubiquitous, so quick access to a worldwide email accounts/internet storage such as Gmail/Google Drive is simple. It is just safer to upload info before a trip.
Plus I store sensitive docs under code names so that anyone who steals my Android doesn't see "Passport" or "Credit Cards" in the filing system right away, too before I can do a data wipe.
I DO still carry one hard copy of sensitive info: a small coded cheat sheet for my credit cards/ATMs with contact numbers since time would be of the essence.
On this cheat sheet, everything from the passwords to the name of the cards to the expiration dates to the CVCs is in a code that only I can read. This coded doc can be safely placed on Kindle and iPad files without fear that our accounts could be compromised should someone steal my electronics, too. As I indicated above, our smartphones and iPads have data wipe features, but it would take some valuable time to activate everything.
Ironically, as belt-and-suspenders as I am, we don't use money belts
Heck, when the kids were little, I used to pin a laminated cards I made inside their backpacks and their coats with their names, their hotel(s), and their airline reservation in whatever language of the country where we were. I always figured we were one metro door away from being separated in a crush of people.
Things have changed for me.
Yes, I do put airline and contact information inside our suitcases if we are checking.
We usually are not, and now I try to keep any information in and on them that can be stolen to a minimum.
For that reason, only names and cell phones are on our luggage tags.
Along those lines, I used to photocopy my passports and credit cards and carry them with me.
I do not anymore.
If those photocopies are stolen, you can end up in deeper doo-doo because you have provided all vital information to the thief on a silver platter.
There was little alternative just a few years ago. Before integration of electronics/internet into travel was so simple, carrying hard copies and/or mailing copies to a trusted friend/relative before leaving were the only safety measures we could take.
But now access to WiFi is ubiquitous, so quick access to a worldwide email accounts/internet storage such as Gmail/Google Drive is simple. It is just safer to upload info before a trip.
Plus I store sensitive docs under code names so that anyone who steals my Android doesn't see "Passport" or "Credit Cards" in the filing system right away, too before I can do a data wipe.
I DO still carry one hard copy of sensitive info: a small coded cheat sheet for my credit cards/ATMs with contact numbers since time would be of the essence.
On this cheat sheet, everything from the passwords to the name of the cards to the expiration dates to the CVCs is in a code that only I can read. This coded doc can be safely placed on Kindle and iPad files without fear that our accounts could be compromised should someone steal my electronics, too. As I indicated above, our smartphones and iPads have data wipe features, but it would take some valuable time to activate everything.
Ironically, as belt-and-suspenders as I am, we don't use money belts
Heck, when the kids were little, I used to pin a laminated cards I made inside their backpacks and their coats with their names, their hotel(s), and their airline reservation in whatever language of the country where we were. I always figured we were one metro door away from being separated in a crush of people.
Aug 22nd, 2014, 05:38 AM
#69
>I always figured we were one metro door away from being separated in a crush of people.
So true. We each carry a note in our wallets with hotel info & it came in handy when we got separated in the Sistine Chapel years ago. I went right & she went left & we met 2 hours later at the hotel.
Ian
So true. We each carry a note in our wallets with hotel info & it came in handy when we got separated in the Sistine Chapel years ago. I went right & she went left & we met 2 hours later at the hotel.
Ian
Aug 22nd, 2014, 07:13 AM
#70
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<There was little alternative just a few years ago. Before integration of electronics/internet into travel was so simple, carrying hard copies and/or mailing copies to a trusted friend/relative before leaving were the only safety measures we could take.
But now access to WiFi is ubiquitous, so quick access to a worldwide email accounts/internet storage such as Gmail/Google Drive is simple. It is just safer to upload info before a trip. >
Excellent point, AZ. Even granted that there are places where WiFi is not readily available, there are safer alternatives to paper most of the time.
I can't stop playing with Evernote, btw--this is a genius app!
But now access to WiFi is ubiquitous, so quick access to a worldwide email accounts/internet storage such as Gmail/Google Drive is simple. It is just safer to upload info before a trip. >
Excellent point, AZ. Even granted that there are places where WiFi is not readily available, there are safer alternatives to paper most of the time.
I can't stop playing with Evernote, btw--this is a genius app!
Aug 22nd, 2014, 10:01 AM
#73
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Hmmm---
I did a quick scan of above posts, but I'm not sure that I saw that anyone is putting photocopies of passports and credit cards in a suitcase.
At least I hope not.
I know even when I did photocopies eons ago (the dark ages), I never put the copies somewhere that I could not physically control. In fact, I was always nervous mailing copies to my mother before I left US turf.
However, I always did wonder how keeping an alternate copy in my husband's backpack etc was actually safe. So I'm happier with what I'm able to do now electronically.
Other:
I LOVE learning new things. I have not checked out Evernote, and now shall. Thank you, all of you.
TripIt:
As I indicated above, I used to love TripIt until it and FlyTrackPro got a divorce. Now I'm seeking alternatives, and I'm praying that FlyTrackPro 5 will get the goods it thinks it can eventually deliver.
The advantage to TripIt was the ability through FlightTrack to actually track a flight across the country and come up with alternative flights/seating, etc.
TripIt has tried to justify what it's doing now; I'm sorry--I'm not buying.
And two more points:
--We are "dis connectors" when we travel to Europe, but...
--That does not mean we become Luddites.
I automatically connect to WiFi via smartphones and iPad when we get to a hotel and scan emails just in case there's been some sort of emergency with my aging Mom or our two daughters.
Other than that, when we leave the US, we LEAVE. We dedicate our WiFi to reading, not contacting. I don't even want to do any kind of live blog to my relatives or to strangers. I want to be present as much as possible. I want my eyes to look up, down, around, not at some screen.
I guess the analogy is the decision we made years ago when videotaping came into being. I got fed up with seeing things through a lens: I wanted to LIVE it.
Yeah, so my kids are missing a few videotapes of choral concerts and swim meets. I think they've been able to deal.
I did a quick scan of above posts, but I'm not sure that I saw that anyone is putting photocopies of passports and credit cards in a suitcase.
At least I hope not.
I know even when I did photocopies eons ago (the dark ages), I never put the copies somewhere that I could not physically control. In fact, I was always nervous mailing copies to my mother before I left US turf.
However, I always did wonder how keeping an alternate copy in my husband's backpack etc was actually safe. So I'm happier with what I'm able to do now electronically.
Other:
I LOVE learning new things. I have not checked out Evernote, and now shall. Thank you, all of you.
TripIt:
As I indicated above, I used to love TripIt until it and FlyTrackPro got a divorce. Now I'm seeking alternatives, and I'm praying that FlyTrackPro 5 will get the goods it thinks it can eventually deliver.
The advantage to TripIt was the ability through FlightTrack to actually track a flight across the country and come up with alternative flights/seating, etc.
TripIt has tried to justify what it's doing now; I'm sorry--I'm not buying.
And two more points:
--We are "dis connectors" when we travel to Europe, but...
--That does not mean we become Luddites.
I automatically connect to WiFi via smartphones and iPad when we get to a hotel and scan emails just in case there's been some sort of emergency with my aging Mom or our two daughters.
Other than that, when we leave the US, we LEAVE. We dedicate our WiFi to reading, not contacting. I don't even want to do any kind of live blog to my relatives or to strangers. I want to be present as much as possible. I want my eyes to look up, down, around, not at some screen.
I guess the analogy is the decision we made years ago when videotaping came into being. I got fed up with seeing things through a lens: I wanted to LIVE it.
Yeah, so my kids are missing a few videotapes of choral concerts and swim meets. I think they've been able to deal.
Aug 22nd, 2014, 10:01 AM
#74
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I've always been a paper girl. Printing out maps, contact information, addresses, site data, all organized by date in a folder with tabs and sticky notes.
In this electronic age - I'm still a paper girl. I keep some things on my phone, and have compacted my folder a lot, but still do the paper route. I've had equipment fail on me too often to be reliant.
I also use a paper notebook to write my trip report notes, usually at meals.
In this electronic age - I'm still a paper girl. I keep some things on my phone, and have compacted my folder a lot, but still do the paper route. I've had equipment fail on me too often to be reliant.
I also use a paper notebook to write my trip report notes, usually at meals.
Aug 22nd, 2014, 10:45 AM
#76
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I use Tripcase. I have 4 trips booked for the remainder of the year (so far) and some have multiple flights, destinations, hotels, other bookings. It's the best way to keep them all organized for me. And like someone says, if there's a change to a flight or a modification, my Tripcase account lets me know.
I suppose if I lost my iPhone I'd be in big trouble. But my old print outs used to be kept in my briefcase, so if someone stole that I'd be in the same big trouble.
I suppose if I lost my iPhone I'd be in big trouble. But my old print outs used to be kept in my briefcase, so if someone stole that I'd be in the same big trouble.
