28 March 2012

How do you use: Travel?

Continuing with our series of how you use for your Filofax for specific tasks.

So this week, how have you set up your Filofax to plan travel, be it for holidays or for business trips. Do you use calendar pages at all to record the details of your travel schedule or just jot them down on note paper.

Tell us in the comments.

Are there any specific inserts you use, or require? If they don't exist already I'm sure we can create them and make them available for you.

If you can share pictures on Flickr or your own blog post then please post links in the comments.

14 comments:

  1. I would only note down general information in my calendar pages, like "10:45 departure BRU". For the detailed planning I am using a service called WorldMate. I only have to forward the booking e-Mails that I get from our secretary and WorldMate will automatically build an itinerary for me with all relevant confirmation available at a glance. (Ticket and flight no., departure and arrival times, phone numbers, etc.).

    After all information is in, I print it out in an A5 booklet, along with other relevant information like airport maps, an expense form for all expenses made during the trip. That is punched and goes into a specially reserved section (Tab Nr. 6, if you must know) in my A5 Kendal.

    The advantage? WorldMate syncs it's information with my Android phone and my iPad too. I can call the information up wherever I might need it. But most of the time I use the booklet in my Filo. That is what I call a "digital / analog fusion". ;-)

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  2. Good morning!

    Funny , I had a blog post prepared about how I use my Personal Baroque as a Travel Filo, so I just published it! Have a look here:
    http://stationeryhappiness.blogspot.com

    I'm looking forward to seeing how everybody else uses their filos!

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  3. I made a travel tab and keep several pages there. Because I travel by train and to London lots, the Tube/National Rail map. I also have the Central London maps in the back pocket of my Malden to bring out and put on the rings when I'm there - I use them often enough to merit carrying them around, so I always have them, but not often enough to use up valuable ring space on them. I'm slowly adding maps for other Euro cities, though they don't come out as often.
    Then I made a page listing peak/off-peak times for the Tube and the West Coast Main Line. When I lived in London for several months, I also had pages I made with Overground schedules for the stations I used.
    Then for air travel, there's a page with carry-on sizes and restrictions for the 3 airlines I fly most (of course they are just *slightly* different in ways I can never remember!), plus my frequent flyer numbers and customer service numbers for those airlines. And another page with my travel insurance details and contact numbers.
    I use 1DPP now, so there's enough space to record flight/train times, confirmation numbers etc w/in my regular diary.

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  4. This is interesting - I didn't think I needed to do this and just have a list of things to remember to take when I do my training courses. However having read this I can see a lot of advantages to what has been mentioned so far.

    My only niggle is that I prefer to use A5 for so many reasons, but I don't really want to carry it when I travel. I really wish FF would do a super slim (i.e. lightweight) A5 version then I could transfer the bare minimum and carry it in my bag. It could also hold any tickets etc and be really useful. I don't mind carrying my A5 to a meeting or something, but when I am also taking my overnight stuff and laptop/training materials it all gets too heavy and bulky.

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  5. I don't change my inserts in any way, but I do keep detailed information on my diary page for the travel day - flight information, etc. I might also have a separate sheet or two behind my notes or projects tab for travel phone numbers and the like. And because I want to remember everything I did while away, I do write down the activities I do and places I've been. And if there is any specific music that seems to go along with my vacation, I make note of that too. I have a "vacation" playlist on my iPod so that I can always revisit my travels.

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  6. For ultimate weight saving with a travel fax, use the lightest pocket fax you can find, fill it with 72gsm paper from a pocket sized Moleskine (140mm x 90mm paper exactly matches pocket faxes, using up all that spare space where the binder overlaps the pages to provide space for dividers), dispense with dividers completely (just fold the corner of the first page in each section and they're easy to spot), and insert a G2 pen inside the rings (the G2 aligns itself perfectly with the top and bottom of a pocket fax when clipped to the top binder ring).
    Whether you're on a high flying business trip or a training mission to Belize, addressing the weight of each component in your "kit" can make an enormous difference to your travel efficiency, and that applies to your filofax too.

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  7. One thing I would also recommend is not to have all your cards and money inside your filofax. Plus, if you choose an unattractive filofax, there's a better chance of hanging on to it if you're robbed - a leather filofax is an easy 20 bucks for a thief. One final thing - some muggers are more clued up than you think, so for goodness sake don't store any pin numbers in your fax.

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  8. Just wanted to say that Transport for London do a large print underground map. I printed it onto A4 for my info Filofax.So much easier to read than the standard ones. Available on their website. Also, for folks who don't know, the E111 European Health card has to be on your person to be valid, ie if you have an accident in Europe, it is no good it being back in your hotel room as that will invalidate the card.A tip I picked up oddly enough from watching Countdown the other day. A Legal Eagle money tips chap was their guest on the show.

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  9. I've been using Filofaxes for travel for years and years.

    I created a personal size travel Filofax (Domino, it's lightweight) specifically for Scotland. I've been traveling there at least once per year for the past 7 years. I have tabbed sections on each region and each major city, maps, reference info and contacts.

    In my reference Filofax that stays at home I have packing lists that I can transfer to my current working Filofax whenever I'm preparing for a trip.

    In my current working Filofax I keep all addresses, phone numbers and other contact info I might need while traveling. I have maps, time zone info, frequent flyer miles numbers, and any other reference info I might need while I'm away from home. I keep all this in my current Filo so if there's an emergency and I need to go right away, I don't have to search for my info.

    If I'm using my Filo as my diary, I put notes pages with relevant info into the diary section at the relevant date. For example, I'll write my flight itinerary and numbers on a page, and on a separate page I'll write my hotel reservations and the address and phone number of the hotel. I put these pages on the rings at the date when I'll need them. Alternatively, if I'm not using my Filo as my diary at that time I'll keep these pages in my Notes section for easy reference.

    I love the flexibility of a Filofax and being able to add in maps and other info that I wouldn't need in my day to day life but do need when traveling. Then when I get home I take those pages out and store them until I need them again next time.

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  10. PS Here is the link to my Scotland Travel Filofax set on Flickr with photos of some of my pages and text with more details on how I use it if you are interested in seeing more:

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/plannerisms/sets/72157622035170176/

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  11. I also did a post on my blog on how I am using my Filo for travel. You can find it here:

    http://rene.raggl.me/post/12390559925/filofax-the-perfect-travel-assistant#notes

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  12. I keep separate filofaxes (Cuban, personal size, I like the mesh zipper sections on the back cover) for cities I visit regularly. In it are maps for the area along with transportation maps and schedules. In the address section I keep regular address pages listing people and businesses and restaurants I like in that city behind the correct letter. (Mary Smith is behind "S", Lord & Taylor Dept. Store is behind "L") In addition, behind each letter I have lists on yellow paper. They are my personal "yellow pages." A list of consignment stores under "C", a list of pen stores under "P".

    When I travel to one of these cities, I bring the filofax for that city. In the front I usually put undated day planner pages to plan what I will be doing each day during my trip. I usually also carry a slimline with me. Chances are I will move the day planner pages into it along with key pages for whatever I am doing on a particular day.

    In my regualr daily filofax, behind the "travel" section, each trip has a page with my travel itinerary on the front, and my packing list on the back. I update it constantly as i think of things to include. In my "list" section I also keep a page for each city I plan to visit. As I come across things to do or places to see I add them to the list. That list will then come with me when I go.

    I have been doing this for years and it works well for me.

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  13. I have a separate tab in my pocket Malden for travel. All my travel details go in there on yellow paper (& I keep these to remind me of those trips later). New page per trip and I include all details (flight times, hotel details, booking ref numbers, phone numbers associated with trip, transfer details etc). My main diary has minimal info (& I refer to this travel section). Also in this section I have the 'Where on Earth' page from the travel pack (and I write all my trips in there so when I moan that I never go any-where, I can review this page!), my Frequent Flyer details (not log-ins but details about tier-points and status targets/reviews), a list of airports reachable from my house with post-code (for sat nav), distance in miles and also average travel times (helpful when booking and looking at departing airport options), my EKit details (for when my iPhone dies in an emergency - it has happened!), phone numbers of my nearest ad dearest for the same reason, map of UK (detailed road map for parts I travel frequently on), world map and underground map. I also use TripIt but would not rely on it!

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  14. Have any of you used the Travel Journal Pack that you can buy from the Filofax UK site? I've ordered a pack but haven't used it yet.

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