This will just be a quick post about my favorite travel planning website: TripIt
This handy website (and phone app) is amazing! Just forward all your reservation confirmations for flights, hotels, rental cars, buses, etc. to TripIt and it compiles a customized itinerary with all the information you need for your trip. No need to carry around 30 sheets of paper with all your reservation information on it. TripIt includes confirmation numbers, check in times, maps to hotels and airports, phone numbers, flight information and everything else you need to stay on track while travelling.
The Android app is my favorite because you can just click on your hotel and immediately have it entered into your GPS or with another click, call and confirm your reservation.
Additional features include seeing where your friends are and have been, tracking your mileage and trips on a cute little map, and saving all your past trip itineraries for future reference.
So useful and so much fun to play with--- definitely would recommend this for the organized traveler!
Showing posts with label planning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label planning. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Itineraries: A Work in Progress
In planning our itinerary for Costa Rica-Nicaragua 2012 (now only a little over 2 months away!), I've tried to stay flexible while maximizing our time.
Here's what I have come up with so far:
Arrive March 18 San Jose, Costa Rica around 1pm
Stay at Aldea Hostel in San Jose (close to the bus station to grab the early bus to Managua)
March 19- Get on international bus to Managua around 5am (if tickets were successfully purchased the day before)
9 hours later arrive in Managua and get on mini-bus to Leon, Nicaragua
After this it gets much more open ended: From Leon we will head to Granada, from Granada we will make our way to the Isla de Ometepe, from there to San Juan del Sur and then back into Costa Rica. Our last stop will be the Manuel Antonio National Park in Costa Rica before heading back to San Jose for our flight out.
The logistics of all of this isn't quite figured out, but this is the plan thus far.
We are currently working on getting travel vaccinations and prescriptions. For Nicaragua the CDC recommends getting Typhoid, Hepatitis, and Rabies shots. In addition they recommend anti-malarial drugs for certain regions in addition to insecticide treated bed nets. Medicine to treat travelers diarrhea is also suggested. Phew, sounds like fun. Finding a travel clinic open convenient hours is almost just as fun.
Stay tuned for more specific details of these adventures that will hopefully help any future travelers navigate pre-travel preparations as well as in country transportation.
Here's what I have come up with so far:
Arrive March 18 San Jose, Costa Rica around 1pm
Stay at Aldea Hostel in San Jose (close to the bus station to grab the early bus to Managua)
March 19- Get on international bus to Managua around 5am (if tickets were successfully purchased the day before)
9 hours later arrive in Managua and get on mini-bus to Leon, Nicaragua
After this it gets much more open ended: From Leon we will head to Granada, from Granada we will make our way to the Isla de Ometepe, from there to San Juan del Sur and then back into Costa Rica. Our last stop will be the Manuel Antonio National Park in Costa Rica before heading back to San Jose for our flight out.
The logistics of all of this isn't quite figured out, but this is the plan thus far.
We are currently working on getting travel vaccinations and prescriptions. For Nicaragua the CDC recommends getting Typhoid, Hepatitis, and Rabies shots. In addition they recommend anti-malarial drugs for certain regions in addition to insecticide treated bed nets. Medicine to treat travelers diarrhea is also suggested. Phew, sounds like fun. Finding a travel clinic open convenient hours is almost just as fun.
Stay tuned for more specific details of these adventures that will hopefully help any future travelers navigate pre-travel preparations as well as in country transportation.
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Question Number 2...
How do you manage all the planning?
2. First of all, I am lucky because I LOVE planning. Seriously, like almost as much as going on the actual trip. I love reading guidebooks and forums and writing lists and itineraries. My husband...not so much. Because of this I end up doing most of the planning. If there is someone in your travel group who is a natural planner, like me, you will have an easier job of having at least one person familiar with your destination before you get there. But if this is not the case, just remember to start early. Planning a vacation should be fun, not stressful. If you start early enough you can do it when you get the urge or inspiration to do so and not feel a time crunch to get your planning done.
The first time we went to Costa Rica we made hotel reservations for the entire trip. This was because a) it was our honeymoon and we didn't want any added stress of not being able to find a place to stay after we got off the plane and b) it was Semana Santa which is the biggest travel week for a lot of Central America and every website and book told us to make reservations. However, once we got there we realized that it was extremely easy to get around, even during Semana Santa. The hostel staff and locals we met were all happy to help us make plans. Because of this we ended up cancelling the second half of our lodging reservation and going to an entirely new town and hostel. We were still glad that we had a reservation, just in case, but after this first trip to the country we are confident that we can play it by ear on our next one.
For Costa Rica- Nicaragua 2012 we have a hostel reserved for the first night. After that we are going to use a general itinerary as a guideline and find places to stay as we go. This will allow us the flexibility to change our plans and add/skip towns as we go along.
We have pretty much done this for every new country we visit. We go once with reservations to get a feel for how flexible we can be on subsequent trips.
Additionally, as previous posts have mentioned, I love Lonely Planet guidebooks. Nothing sparks my imagination more than seeing shelves of new destinations waiting to be explored. Now you don't necessarily have to go with LP but definitely feel free to find a guidebook that fits your style of travel. Just remember to use these as guidelines, not strict must dos. There are plenty of wonderful things to see, people to meet and activities to try that are outside of the guidebooks.
Here are a couple general tips to remember:
2. First of all, I am lucky because I LOVE planning. Seriously, like almost as much as going on the actual trip. I love reading guidebooks and forums and writing lists and itineraries. My husband...not so much. Because of this I end up doing most of the planning. If there is someone in your travel group who is a natural planner, like me, you will have an easier job of having at least one person familiar with your destination before you get there. But if this is not the case, just remember to start early. Planning a vacation should be fun, not stressful. If you start early enough you can do it when you get the urge or inspiration to do so and not feel a time crunch to get your planning done.
The first time we went to Costa Rica we made hotel reservations for the entire trip. This was because a) it was our honeymoon and we didn't want any added stress of not being able to find a place to stay after we got off the plane and b) it was Semana Santa which is the biggest travel week for a lot of Central America and every website and book told us to make reservations. However, once we got there we realized that it was extremely easy to get around, even during Semana Santa. The hostel staff and locals we met were all happy to help us make plans. Because of this we ended up cancelling the second half of our lodging reservation and going to an entirely new town and hostel. We were still glad that we had a reservation, just in case, but after this first trip to the country we are confident that we can play it by ear on our next one.
For Costa Rica- Nicaragua 2012 we have a hostel reserved for the first night. After that we are going to use a general itinerary as a guideline and find places to stay as we go. This will allow us the flexibility to change our plans and add/skip towns as we go along.
We have pretty much done this for every new country we visit. We go once with reservations to get a feel for how flexible we can be on subsequent trips.
Additionally, as previous posts have mentioned, I love Lonely Planet guidebooks. Nothing sparks my imagination more than seeing shelves of new destinations waiting to be explored. Now you don't necessarily have to go with LP but definitely feel free to find a guidebook that fits your style of travel. Just remember to use these as guidelines, not strict must dos. There are plenty of wonderful things to see, people to meet and activities to try that are outside of the guidebooks.
Here are a couple general tips to remember:
- Call your credit card company to inform them of your travel plans so your cards don't get stopped as soon as you make a foreign transaction. Also ask them of any fees they charge for currency exchange.
- Call your insurance company to see how long you are covered overseas. If your coverage runs out, get travel health insurance!
- Keep all your travel plans (itineraries, reservations, etc.) in one place like a designated folder or drawer.
- Print out a copy of any hotel or flight reservations for each person travelling.
- Make copies of important documents such as passports and other forms of identification and keep them somewhere separate from the originals. If your originals get stolen, it will be easier to replace and in some cases you can use the photocopies instead of the originals (like to give your passport number to a hotel or traffic cop).
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Trip Planning (Budgets, Reservations, Itineraries and More)
In our travels so far I have been asked a few common questions:
1. How can you afford to take trips like this? (subtext: you just graduated college and barely employed--how the f*** do you not just spend all your money on booze and rent??)This is usually followed by "I wish I could travel" (Well, you can!)
2. How do you plan for trips like this? (subtext: I get overwhelmed when I even look at Travelocity's hotel lists, where do you start?)Usually followed by "Wow, you're so good at this, you should do this as a job" (Ha, I wish)
3. Aren't you scared? (subtext: Don't you worry about being kidnapped and held by terrorists in the jungle?)
I will now try to tackle these questions in the next couple posts and outline our travel strategy, giving details with our upcoming trip to Costa Rica- Nicaragua.
1. How can you afford to take trips like this? (subtext: you just graduated college and barely employed--how the f*** do you not just spend all your money on booze and rent??)This is usually followed by "I wish I could travel" (Well, you can!)
2. How do you plan for trips like this? (subtext: I get overwhelmed when I even look at Travelocity's hotel lists, where do you start?)Usually followed by "Wow, you're so good at this, you should do this as a job" (Ha, I wish)
3. Aren't you scared? (subtext: Don't you worry about being kidnapped and held by terrorists in the jungle?)
I will now try to tackle these questions in the next couple posts and outline our travel strategy, giving details with our upcoming trip to Costa Rica- Nicaragua.
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