Readers following my blog, and/or those who have read my recently published book Financial Fitness: The Journey from Wall Street to Badwater 135, are aware that I am an advocate for efficiency. I utilize tools, resources, information, and technology to leverage my time and experiences. We live in a world that is rapidly evolving into everything digital. This week’s Chip’s Commentary takes a look at a few tools I use to keep myself organized and on track wherever and whenever I’m traveling.
Managing all the associated tasks surrounding travel such as booking flights, selecting rental cars, finding lodging, scheduling restaurants, choosing entertainment, planning meetings, et cetera can be trying. If completing all the reservations and plans wasn’t hectic enough, we then need to retrieve and organize all the email confirmations. The process can be overwhelming at times. In the past, I would print each document and sort it into a binder. That worked, but was cumbersome and inefficient. Now I use Tripit. Tripit is a free solution that nicely arranges each of my activities in a beautiful format, as shown in this image. Each item is stored in the cloud with full details for every appointment, confirmation, and notice right at my fingertips on my mobile device. The timeline enables me to focus on one thing at a time in an orderly fashion. The layout is ideal for folks like me on the move. Kudos to the developers of Tripit for making travel better.
I function best with a to-do list when it comes to preparing for travel. I’ve been using TripList for packing the past few years. It works well for two reasons: 1) Once I’ve created a list I have it forever to use on future trips, and 2) As I pack my necessities, I check off each item to remove it from the list, which streamlines the ordeal for me.
Disclaimer: I have no affiliation with TripList or TripIt; I am only sharing tips that I’ve found to improve the situation.
