While planning our upcoming trip, I created a secret board on Pinterest labeled European Travel and pinned everything of interest there. It is kept together in one easily accessible place, and since it's a secret board, none of my followers are disturbed by 10 pins about apartments in London.

planning trips was much simpler before I discovered fodors. I had no idea that I should be making spreadsheets, packing lists, google-maps, and that other stuff.

OTOH I was known to go to a place with a really wonderful museum and not know it was there, or to go to a place specifically to see something that turned out to be closed on that day.

I don't do that any more.

Pininterest sounds, well, interesting, Amy.

What's nice about Pinterest is that it's graphic... you pin a URL and pick an image from the page... and can see immediately what each Pin is about. Works better for me than having to open a bookmark and remember what it was about (no matter how well I labeled it.)

That's brilliant amy torres (from san diego?)! Thank you so much!

I don't begin planning until the trip and approximate dates have been decided. Then I read up a little on the place and make a very tentative plan to decide on how many days and make that the things I'm interested in will be open. Usually I do this on a paper calendar.

Next I research hotels and major transportation. That research is online and I put everything in a folder on my desktop. I will download whole pages of information or cut and paste details on a word dicument.

After I buy plane tickets and make hotel reservations, I start a paper and an e-folder for reservations.

The next thing I do is research the places I am interested in and decide on anything that needs to be booked in advance.

I have a multipocket notebook where I keep print outs of information for each place. This may range from discount coupons to list of tips, to background information.

Though I will have a calendar and a cost spreadsheet to help me plan, I keep the itinerary fluid. There are always a few things that have to be reserved in advance (a special dinner, certain tours, etc.) but I try to leave other things flexible.

Just before leaving on the trip I'll sort through the paperwork and leave out what is no longer relevant (for example information about places there won't be time to visit) make sure I have detailed maps of areas that interest me, etc.

I put backup information-- including a scan of my passport, drivers license, insurance cards, etc-- in a thumbdrive that comes with me also.

The

We have a travel cabinet in our basement that we keep all of the travel books and information that we've gathered over the years. It really needs to be cleaned out. After our trips I put a copy of the trip report and all of our paper souvenirs into a large manilla folder just for that trip.

I worry less about keeping articles for "possible" trips (they are out of date very soon) and more about keeping information "after" a trip. That is when there are questions about who/what/when/where/how etc. I have referred back to the names of places and people for years after we have traveled.

For an actual trip, I keep a slim 3-ring binder with dividers. All the paperwork goes inside from airline itineraries to ideas printed from the Forums. When its time to travel, I sort through and take all the needed paperwork in a clear 8.5 x 11 plastic envelope. The backside displays a daily itinerary and the inside is divided into dates with the corresponding paperwork needed for each. I always have blank paper or a small notebook to jot information along the way. It all goes back into the 3-rings when we get home and they are sitting on a shelf in my office for easy reference.