Pre-Planning Your Trip

(sorry if this is hard to read, the formatting's not working) I like to have general schedules set out for my days. A few main things to see, a few other possibilities I can add in. I do this understanding that it could completely change - but I like to highlight what are my priorities to see in each city and then some other options. Plan out tentative days in respect to where things are located so you are not backtracking across town. Do you want to take any tours or do you want to see everything on your own? It's fine either way, but if you're interested in tours it would be better to arrange those ahead of time.

Plan out what you're going to pack. Make a list of what you need, and then a list of maybe more optional items if you have room in your bag. Planning this out will help you stick to a lighter/smaller bag.

I have a little moleskine journal in which I've copied down all of our flight schedules; lodging-addresses, phone numbers, confirmation numbers; transportation; things to see... It's a personal thing but I like having it all together. Then when we're on the train going to the next city, we can look over the things people recommend there and choose what we want to do. I also include a list of restaurants, bars, etc, that I might be interested in checking out. That way if we can't decide where to eat that night I can open my journal up and find ideas.

I guess that would depend on where you are going and what you plan to see there. If you will be in Milan and wish to see the Last Supper, you will need reservations made well in advance. Reservations are also important to see the borghese gallery in Rome, to climb the leaning tower in pisa, and a very good idea for the Academia and Uffizi gallery in Florence.

We prepare a spreadsheet listing each town. For each town we list the sights we want to see, the days and hours of opening, the cost, and any other info we might need. We group them by days and location to avoid backtracking. We know our lists are tentative. We may add, if while there someone tells us about an interesting sight; we may subtract if we decide to spend more at one sight or another. By listing the sights we're interested in we at least know we won't forget any and if we don't make it to all places it is because it was our choice. We also don't waste time trying to decide what to do each day after we've arrived. We make a spreadsheet with our dates, hotel names, addresses, phone numbers, and dates of stays which we send to our children so they'll know where exactly we are and how to get in touch if for some reason we don't have wifi. It also is insurance against double booking a night or omitting a night, one of my fears.

We also have a separate spreadsheet of important information like credit card numbers and phone numbers, insurance, etc. We don't carry a smart phone but do take a tablet, but we still make copies of our plane and hotel reservations, passports, international and our state drivers licenses and we each carry the copies with us in our suitcase. We travel with 20 inch carry-ons and backpack (him) and large tote (me), so planning ahead what items and clothing to bring is helpful. I usually pack early and then end up taking things out. It's no fun carrying heavy luggage up staircases.

We love travel but it's no secret that arriving in an unfamiliar place with limited communication skills can be a little stressful. By planning ahead we feel we cut down on most of the stress and we're free to enjoy the country.

Is your transportation rental car or public? If you plan to use trains, you can find discount fares now for the end of May, but the very low fares will disappear with every passing day. You will need to commit to a particular departure time as the fast trains have required reservations for seats, but since you already have hotels booked, you know where you will be.

I keep a little spiral notebook with a page (or more) for every day of my trip, listing hotel info, transportation info, sights (including open/closing days and times) I am interested in (I use a map to put these into some kind of order). Sometimes I ditch the whole day's agenda, but at least I know what my options were. I also have a daily budget of estimated costs and while traveling, fill in actual costs (mom was a bookkeeper). On the back of the page, while traveling, I list the photos I've taken that day (I take long trips and sometimes I forget which church/beach is where).

I also start putting everything except clothing into the 20" carryon. I take a tablet with e-books for sightseeing, and start reading those well in advance.

Be sure you allow enough time for daydreaming about your trip before you leave.

I second the "little spiral notebook" idea because I can fit it in my shirt pocket. I have all of the credit card information (card numbers, toll-free numbers) and passport info on the first few pages, which are useful for every trip. The remaining pages are trip-specific, which I tear out before my next trip. For example, I put itinerary information (hotels/cars, rez numbers, addresses, contacts, phones, dates, etc) and transportation information. Next goes my list of attractions with hours and reservation information if applicable. Finally, I leave space for a "mini-journal" to note restaurant names (after a while, they all sound alike and are impossible to remember) and experiences. I try to track my photos by noting the first filename of each shot at a site, but that got way too much, even for an anal engineer like me!

BTW, I'm kinda paranoid about writing down my credit card numbers. I have a system that muddles the real number a bit but allows me to reconstruct it. I don't put down my expiration dates or the CDW security code.

I'm a hi-tech guy who works in software, but since vacationing is about slowing down, I really enjoy writing this stuff out. You could just as easily get an app for your iPhone/Android smartphone or just use the Notes. I do have the important stuff backed up on a Word doc on Dropbox so I can get to it from my iPhone in case I lose my notebook.

After several long vacations in faraway places, you will find your organizational balance.

You should read the RS Italy book, if you haven't already. He's got loads of checklists and helpful info, some of which will inevitably be missed here in response to this posting.

For sure, read the relevant parts of RS's travel guide book, and it's also worthwhile to read one or two others -- borrow them from your library if you don't want to buy them: e.g., Fodor's, Frommer's, Lonely Planet. And like Carol mentioned, I also prepare a spreadsheet! I'm a bit anal, but our travel friends appreciate it. On the spreadsheet I list out the itinerary with ideas of things to do on each day, maybe with a short comment for each or other info like the cost. And for each hotel or B&B reservation, I have the address, phone number, info on what was booked (breakfast included?) and the price, etc. And the details of our flights, car rental, etc. are all on the spreadsheet. Another thing to do in advance is take a look at the 'street view' on Google maps for the hotels/B&Bs to get an idea of the area and in some cases how to find your hotel/B&B. The 'street view' is also very useful to figure out in advance what the entrance to a particular parking garage looks like, so you can actually find it when you get there. Likewise, you might want to select some ideas for restaurants, e.g., from RS or other travel book, and take a look online at the menu if it's available, or look at the Google street view to see the place. Finally, I always write an email to each hotel/B&B a couple of weeks before heading off on the trip, just to confirm the reservation -- it would be an annoying shock if they have lost the reservation, but at least you would have some advance warning to resolve the issue. And I take printed copies of those confirmation letters from the hotels/B&Bs with me on the trip, just in case there is any problem when I get there.

Roger had some good points we forgot to mention, ie. google maps. My husband always looks at areas around the hotels so we'll recognize the streets and also to look for places to eat. We usually travel for a few weeks at a time. One thing we also do is to bring a spiral notebook where for each day we write down the sights we saw. This is helpful when downloading pictures. After a few weeks have passed it's hard to remember where we took some of those pictures. Our notes help. We also like to make notes by date of what we spent. Many times we've returned and are curious about how much a meal cost in a particular town and we refer to our notes. Making notes each evening helps. When we return, looking at our notes and our pictures helps up relive our trip.

A tool that I love using is Tripit.com and you might find it helpful for organizing all of your pertinent itinerary details. You can store all your reservation info for flights, hotels, tours, etc. It allows you to organize all sorts of information and you can get as detailed as you'd like and then you can print out or e-mail your itinerary and leave it with relatives at home. I always print a copy & put it in each of our suitcases so that if my husband & I get separated or in case of emergency, we each have a copy. Since I do all the planning, my husband has no idea what our day-to-day itinerary entails, or the hotel names/addresses, flight numbers, etc. so in case of an emergency, he can access whatever information he needs at his fingertips. I also access our itinerary via the tripit app on my phone which is handy. I make a list in Tripit of all the must-see sights for each place we visit and then another list of the sights that we'd like to see if time permits. I use Tripit to create a rough outline of what we'll see/do each day but then I can add or subtract things on the fly. I try to group attractions/sights geographically so that we're not hopping back and forth across town. I also do some advance research on restaurants/gelaterias & store a list of interesting restaurants (and their addresses) in Tripit for each place so that I can easily access them. I don't always go by the list once we're in Italy but it helped especially in places like Venice where there aren't a lot of great restaurants; it prevented us from wandering around aimlessly looking for a restaurant & then having a crummy dinner! I plot them on a map & print it as well for easy reference.

I also research tours/guides ahead of time and decide which places a tour would be advantageous and then I pre-schedule them. For instance, I knew we wanted to visit Herculaneum & Pompeii on our last trip and researched tour guides and reserved one in advance. It worked out well. Have a great trip.

The fun part starts now. Do research on each of your destinations, use the internet and the library. I've found the Fodor's and Frommer's/Destination websites to be very helpful. For sightseeing, old guide books at the library are just as useful, just check the official websites for current visitors' information and current exhibits/tours/happenings. I usually make a list of the sights that interest me with opening days and times, and especially evening hours. I also look for self-guided walking tours and suggested itineraries. I'm planning a trip in April and I've started scanning the Trip Advisor travel forums for ideas. I keep all my notes on Word docs and all my lists on Excel.

Transportation - if you're driving, learn the maps and traffic signs (in Italian). If you're training, copy the train schedules.

Practical stuff - I make a packing list early on. Choose your shoes carefully, in Italy your feet will need pampering. I always take moleskin and blister packs. Take sun hats, sun screen, and a folding fan. Actually I now just update the last one; I have one for winter climes and one for warm destinations. I pack at least one day early, so if anything happens, I am prepared. I also have a checklist of things to do before I leave. Check all your electric/electronic gear for compatability to European current and sockets.

There was a good idea to take notes of where you took photos. I try to take a few minutes at the end of each day for a travel diary. But I've also learned to take photos of the signs - you will recognize the Colosseum in your photos, but maybe not which church you were in.

Here's something else we forgot to mention. We try to learn a little of the language of the country. We have bought Living Language books/cds and these have been helpful. For free on-line learning check out youtube Travel Linguist Italian 101. There are several topics and each has 3 levels of learning. We found those to be very helpful. It is only polite to be able to say a few phrases in the language of the country. Hello, goodbye, good morning/afternoon/evening, please, thank you, your welcome, etc. It makes a much better experience and we're able to connect with others, even when they speak better English than we speak their language, when we at least try to say a few words in their language.

Here's another pre-planning suggestion that I forgot to mention. If you will be using a rental car, purchase the Italy map memory card for your GPS (e.g., about $100 for Garmin). Then, when you get it, you can put it in your GPS and pre-program the various destination addresses as Favorites. You can also enter the addresses for specific parking garages, or else use the map-view on the GPS to manually move the map and find the location and select it as a destination Favorite. Likewise for other key attractions or 'via' points that you want. I did this for our last trip to Italy (yes, I'm anal) and it was great. I forgot to take a roadmap with me (!) on the trip, but I never missed it. Btw, when you enter addresses using the Italy map memory card, you need to enter them using the Italian language/format. E.g., Firenze, not Florence!

Better yet for a Garmin GPS, get their FREE program Base Camp and plot out all your trips sitting at home on your computer. Then transfer the trips to your Garmin GPS unit. Much better than trying to do it on the device itself.

Thanks, Bob. I wasn't aware of that Garmin program. I'll have to try it.

WOW...we are not going to Italy till October and just reading these suggestions has already given me a head start on our plans!!! Thanks guys...you were alot of help!!!

Don't forget a little fun reading or movie watching, depending on your preference. I love to read fiction and non-fiction about an area before we go. Under the Tuscan Sun, Michaelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling, etc. I also usually try and browse a cookbook or two for the area and look for some things that I like the feel of. It makes those menus without English translations a little less intimidating. I live in a city with a large library collection so I can get a decent amount of coffee table books to look into architecture, art, etc.

You could also go to the Watch, Read, Listen section - top left here - and watch some of Rick's programs about places you will be.