Another spreadsheet post

Well, Google Docs is not a spreadsheet; it's a word processing app. For spreadsheets, go to Google Sheets.

Regardless, have you trying using those? They are great apps and great for organizing!

It sounds like a calendar.

I’m a huge fan of lists, spreadsheets, etc. Anything I can use to help keep track of things.

I use Notes in my phone. I have a master packing list that I modify for each trip. I use the checkbox function, then check the box when that item is done/packed. I group my packing list by function:

Liquids
Dry toiletries
First aid/medications
Airplane kit
Documents
Tops
Bottoms
Shoes
Accessories
To do

Whoops! I meant Sheets. I will fix the error.

I should say, I have been using a Word document for a few years now. It is a master packing list based on the packing lists in "The Packing Book: Secrets of the Carryon Traveler" by Judith Gilford. I also have a list of things I must do, things I want to do, and things to do if possible. That's where I brainstorm activities and write little notes to myself such as which Tube stop somewhere is, etc.

I think I can improve on both of these. I have a tendency to underestimate how much time it's going to take to do things (like pack) so when I saw the lady with the party spreadsheet, I thought something similar might work for me.

I set up a packing list in Excel. I also have use Excel to plan trips-- setting up a grid with days/ates across the top and hours oen the side, then blocked out activities using "Merge and Center."

But then I also use Excel to compare features of different models of some things I'm planning to buy; columns for features and rows for different manufacturers/models.

Retirement Travelers have a YouTube of the one they use. Sounds like what you are wanting. For some reason I can't link YouTube right now but you can find it there or on their website. Scroll down to their travel school videos for the title 'organize travel details'
https://retirementtravelers.com/

@Kelly, thank you--I'm off to check it out!

I have an Excel spreadsheet for travel planning that gets better every trip I take. It has several worksheets in the workbook. One for clothes, one a timeline for planning & reservations, one for possible things to see/do in each city/village in the trip and another for all the things besides clothes that I need to remember to pack. In my former work life I was a project manager and Excel has long been my favorite planning device.

I use Google sheets for packing lists and itineraries. For packing, I make my list - usually based on a previous trip and adjusted for season/location. I split it into "Kit", "Backpack" (my personal item), "On The Plane" (what I am wearing), and "Suitcase" (carry-on). I print it out and check things off as I pack, writing down any changes I make, and then edit the sheet. Sometimes I will pack a hard copy of it, thinking it might come in handy if my bags don't make it, or something else happens that I might have to file a claim for the contents (this has never happened, btw). But since it's Google, I also have the list on Drive.

I also use Sheets for the trip itinerary, which would have at a minimum the trip dates, flight schedule, locations, and hotel contact info. I can then send this to the kids and other friends/family as needed. If it's a trip we planned ourselves (as opposed to a tour), I will also include any transportation bookings with departure locations, times, etc. And I include any activities we have booked, or might want to do, for specific dates. Again, might print out a hard copy, but it's also in Drive, so I can access it anytime via wifi or cell.

Like Laurie Beth I use Excel for my travel planning. I don't view my travel time as "relaxing mode" as I can relax all I want in retirement at home. The more I accomplish my delineated trip goals the more satisfied I will feel later that I invested my time and resources wisely. I've honed my travel spreadsheet to perfection with prompts and macros. Of course Excel spreadsheets document every aspect of my life including the circuits in the house - you have no idea how useful that has been the past 30 years. I use it in every hobby as well. My record collection is documented with one especially used for the insurance rider on the valuable portion - my Motown collection is extensive. You might guess that I spent my professional life in IT at Ford.

Silas Marner, Laurie Beth and I are still using our normal tools apparently that we’re comfortable with from our former worklife. : ).

Another one of us who uses Excel with several tabs:

• an overall itinerary summary. I print this as my 1-page that is my main reference each morning when traveling even though I also put most of it in the TripIt app. I also leave a copy of it with a relative.
• The “To Do” countdown list you’re asking. For specific dates when a ticket for an activity will first become available, I also add it to my on-line calendar, i.e. “April 7: buy the Borghese Gallery ticket”
• a detailed list of trains I am planning to take, plus the best alternative if a connection comes in late
• a packing detailed list, including the weight of each item, so I know the total before I do a packing final test (very helpful since I want a maximum of 13.5 pounds on my back)
• a detailed list of all expenses by category with an accompanying piechart. This is more for my own enjoyment afterwards than a driver for cutting costs. But, I do look to see if I am planning too small of a percentage in the activities category or if I want to choose a less expensive hotel. That was spurred on purchasing some nice, memorable activities!

For each new trip, I use the former trip as my template. The packing list usually only has some items of clothing that change, so it’s easy to edit & add the weights. The “To Do” list has items that are the same regardless of destination. The formulas for the cost analysis & piechart stay the same.

I like Packtor for packing lists - I have one each for driving trips, US flying trips, and overseas. That is a dandy app that pre-populates different categories of items, which you can delete or add to. You can get the free version but the ads are a little much so the ad-free version is worth it to me.

And then I use a color coded Excel spreadsheet for an overview of each day, and a Word Document to give all the travel details from leaving our door to returning. This is the right amount of written prep for us, but each person is different.

TheOrdinaryRebecca, that sounds very much like what I have in mind.

I'm not going until next spring so I have a lot of time to play around with these programs etc.!

Google sheets are really user friendly. You will need a gmail account. Once you open google go to the waffle in the right hand corner (looks like 9 dots). Open this and you will see your drive, calendar, chat meet, select Drive. Then click + new. this will open some options. you can use a google doc (for letters etc) or choose sheets. This is where you find the user friendly spreadsheets you are talking about. You can also add folders on your sheets on the bottom for say Itinerary, expenses, hotels, etc. You can also share your sheets with others. (View only or editors). I travel often with friends and we all use the google sheets to see our expenses and who has paid who. Go to the right hand corner, share, and put in their email address. (I think they also have to have a gmail). Play around with it. It is so easy to use. Also everything is saved automatically, so you don't need to pause and save your stuff.

Hope this helps

Go to the right hand corner, share, and put in their email address. (I think they also have to have a gmail).

You do not need a Google account to access a shared doc, but I would suggest giving anyone you share a document with access as a Viewer only, rather than an Editor. Otherwise you run the risk of them changing something (accidentally or on purpose) that you do not want changed. Instead of sharing it (unless you want them to edit it), it's easier to just send it via email, and you can choose the format (PDF, Word, text, etc.).

I do the same as mpaulynsettle. I have several master spreadsheets for my use, depending on who I am traveling with. Each trip is a separate tab in the master, which is not as neat as having a tab for different functions with a sheet for each trip - but I want to keep my past trips together, my future trips together, and then shorter trips that I take with friends together. I keep a separate packing tab that I re-use, as well as a tab listing trips by year, where and when I have been along with length of trip and total cost of the trip (and a list of possible future trips).

So the sheet will have my itinerary with columns for flights, activities, lodging, where my prepurchased tickets are saved, etc. I keep research links at the bottom of the itinerary and financials below that. Not quite as neat, but it’s a trade off for me. I keep current trips and future potential trips in one spreadsheet, past trips in another (trips get copied over after I come home). My kids have Viewer access to these so they can see where I am (and sometimes use my plans/research - ha!). Then I have a couple of others for the friends I travel with sometimes. I share Viewer access with them.

I have no knowledge or desire for a spreadsheet. Others are dominated by it. My spreadsheet for travel is a list of what to pack, and since it is so repetitive, I am always taking the same things, it is really in my head. A written spreadsheet is perhaps three items that intend to do THAT DAY. Three is sufficient. I need to accomplish them, not be ruled by them.
Whilst traveling I am in relax mode. No FOMO because I realize it is impossible to go and do everything, or even everything I might want to do. I do not need frantic. My only frantic might be that I do everything early in order to miss the throngs. Site entrances, dinners, breakfast buffets at the hotel. Being on the Charles Bridge at dawn. Walking a beach at sunrise. My spreadsheet is the time of day and the availability of the next thing, not the must do because it is there, on my spreadsheet.
So I can be the victim of the this casual approach and miss something, or compelled to a written life plan. I have rolled the dice.

I use Google Sheets. Two years ago I was planning the trip of a lifetime. I was going solo and was very nervous about things going wrong, so I researched and planned. I am so glad that I did, everything went smoothly and I had a greater understanding of the things that I saw. Although I will admit that I didn't see or do everything that I had planned. If you are curious what my sort of obsessive planning looks like, here are my spreadsheets: London, Paris and packing list

Cerastez, that is a very thorough packing list! Thank you for sharing it with me.

I am grinning at the posts that mildly put down others’ ways of detailed planning, especially since it’s a post with the word “spreadsheet” in the title! I almost forgot to pack my deodorant last Friday for a quick weekend trip with my son’s family; glad it wasn’t for a long European trip because so many scents give me headaches.

Anyway, Cerastez, I love that you’ve added tabs in your packing list for the different seasons!