SF East Bay Presents: Tech for Travel - Mar 9, 2024 (online, everyone welcome)

TECH FOR TRAVEL: Topics for March 9, 2024

Topic 1: Wanderlog (click on the name for the website)
Special forum Guest Presenter Mardee will share her use of Wanderlog for her travels.

Topic 2: TripIt (click on the name for the website)
Special forum Guest Presenter Jean will share her use of TripIt for her travels, and how she uses that in combination with her calendar and Excel as she progresses through stages of her trip planning.

Topic 3: a general Q&A about the use of various tools for trip planning.

Disclaimer: I have no association with Wanderlog or TripIt, other than an interest in how these tools can be used for travel.

TECH FOR TRAVEL PREVIEWS
If there is a travel technology that you would like to hear more about, please comment in the notes and I will schedule it for a future session.

TripIt: is there someone who would like to share their use of TripIt at a future session?

OneNote: I would be happy to share this in a Tech for Travel sesion, if there is interest. I use OneNote to manage my trip notes and activities, packing lists, etc, on my laptop/phone/tablet, with everything synched.

I'll jump the gun

I will have to miss this one. I’ll be flying home that day from two weeks in Mexico.

We (at least me) are planning on being there. Returning March 4.

I am a maybe. It looks like this will hit during an evening excursion (Hurtigruten cruise). Wouldn’t you know it’s the only evening excursion we are doing that week?

Please add me to the list.

Thank you.

Please include me!

I should be able to make this and can share how to make a photobook if you need a topic.

Please add me to your list...March 9th at 2PM ET for me.

I'd love to attend. Please add me to your list for the March 9th meeting. Thanks!

Welcome to everyone who will join us on March 9th! For those, above, who haven't attended one of our meetings before, I have sent special setup instructions in a private message.

Please read and follow those instructions prior to the meeting so that you'll be ready to log in on March 9th.

I will send the meeting link as the meeting date approaches.

Thanks and welcome!

I'll join in, Catherine. Thanks for organizing!

Hello,
I am very interested in this tech topic. I look forward to receiving the meeting link.
Jeff Larsen

I plan to attend. I’ve been following Mardee’s thread and I’d also love to hear about One Note from you and about scrapbooks from Tammy.

Please add me to the list!

I'd like to join in the March fun, please and thank you. Hopefully with 100% more video and audio!

Please add me! Thanks CWsocial and Mardee!

melT, glad you can join us on March 9th!

I've sent a private forum message with advanced setup instructions to follow before the meeting. This is an extra step required by our meeting security. Please let me know when you've completed that step.

I'll send the meeting link to everyone who has confirmed a few days prior to the meeting.

For those who have attended our online meetings before, you have already completed the setup and don't need to do it again or confirm with me. I'll just send you the link :-)

Hi, responding to your private message, I will show how I use TripIt.

Thank you so much, Jean!

I've added Jean as a forum guest presenter for this meeting, sharing how she uses TripIt as part of her trip planning proccess.

Hi, could I be tentative & confirm that week? Thank you!

Deborah, you sure can! I'll send you a message with some preliminary setup instructions. And closer to the date, I will send the meeting link, in case you're able to make it.

In particular, for this meeting, space will not be an issue as we can have multiple screens of people listening to the presenters.

Please add my name to the meeting. Thank you!

Please remind me early and often to set up the zoom room.

I would like to hear from anyone who has enjoyed using the google map's invade-your-privacy and record your every movement features to keep track of your days' activities,
and also if anyone has used the app LiveTrekker or similar.

Avi, it is always so generous that you provide the infrastructure.

Don't forget to set up the Zoom Room!!! ;-)

I would like to join the meeting. Thank you!

Thanks to everyone expressing interest in attending the meeting. We are still on track for March 9th! I'll send the link nearer the meeting date.

samatudd, I have just sent you a private message on this forum with some preliminary setup instructions for the meeting. Please check that out to make sure you're set for the meeting.

Thanks, avi, we are so appreciative of you hosting our travel meetings! And setting up the link each month ;-)

Please add me, as despite missing the last two meetings I am anxious to continue my association with this esteemed group of intrepid travelers. And I need all the tech help I can get!
Cynthia

ponygirl813, you are always welcome!

This is a reminder of our "Tech for Travels" meeting this coming Saturday. Come see how Mardee and Jean use Wanderlog and TripIt to plan their travels.

I'll be sending out the link, shortly, to everyone who has expressed interest, above. There is plenty of time and room if anyone else would like to attend.

I have sent the meeting link to nearly everyone, above.

For a couple of the new people, I sent you a message back around Feb 1st with preliminary setup instructions for the meeting. If I haven't heard back from you, I sent another message just now. Please reply to that message to let me know if you're still interested in joining us online this coming Saturday.

If you haven't received a message or the meeting link, please let me know! My little process with a gazillion message tabs is far from perfect!

There is plenty of time and room for anyone else to join. Even if you've never attended our meetings, please join us!

Hi from your Bulgaria travel buddy, Barbara. I’d like to join in on the fun. Thanks!

I'd love to attend to learn about Wanderlog and Triplt. I need a better way to organize our travel and it would be great to see how others manage all the details.

Pam

I'd love to attend! Just getting started with Tripit and some advice would be very welcome. Thanks!

I'd appreciate being added. Thx.

Barbara, how are you my Bulgaria tour friend!!!

I've sent private messages to Barbara, Luv2travel2, Katherine and markcw.

Please, follow the preliminary setup instructions in that message so that you'll be ready on Saturday. I don't want anyone left standing outside wondering why our meeting "bouncer" won't let you in!

There is still plenty of room for anyone who would like to join us!

We’re back and plan to attend.

Hi CW, yes please add me to list. Thanks!

Hi CW, I would like to attend. Please send me pre meeting set up details.
Thanks.

Hi CWsocial,
Count me in, please. Thanks for hosting and thanks to Mardee and Jean for generously sharing travel knowledge/tech help. Just started setting up Wanderlog (free version).

I'm looking forward to it! Thanks, CW!!!

Thanks for the link. It looks like I will be able to attend. 👍

Sandancisco - glad you can make it! I've sent you the meeting link.
Andrea - I am so pleased to hear that you can make it.

Pastelholic and MariaF - I have sent you each a forum message with the preliminary setup instructions and the meeting link.

Everyone - this will be a fun meeting!

We have a lot of people attending, so, a few Community Guidelines:

Meeting available: I will open the meeting room at least 15 minutes prior to meeting time, giving everyone time to test your audio, video and chat with old forum friends and new.

Bouncer at the door: Our bouncer is very strict :-) If you haven't followed the preliminary setup instructions (for those of you who regularly attend, you already know what to do) she will not let you in to the meeting and I won't even know you are trying.

Having trouble? If you cannot get in to the meeting on meeting day, please post on this meeting thread. I will ask someone to help me monitor. I may not be able to check my private messages.

Please be on time: I will start the meeting promptly at 11am Pacific Time.

Introductions: these would take far too much of our time (30-ish people x 1 minute!) which I would prefer to give to our presenters. Feel free to join early and mingle.

Screen name: so that everyone can make the connection between the "real you" and your RS forum screen name, I would ask that you change your "meeting display name" to the name you'd like to be referred to plus your RS forum screen name, if different.

Instructions for this step (for a PC, other screens may be different): after logging in to the meeting, find your name in your "square" and right click on it, then select "Rename" to change your display name.

Mute: please mute yourself when you're not speaking to avoid background distractions.

Questions: we'll have plenty of time for questions, which you can ask during the presentations (if the presenter wishes) and after each presentation.

Raise Hand: we'll have more than one screenful of participants, and I won't be able to see everyone at the same time. So, we'll use the "raise hand" protocol for questions, typically found under the "Reactions" icon.

Finally, I want to say Thank You to Mardee and Jean for all the time that they have already put into preparing for this meeting so that they can share with us their use of Wanderlog and TripIt. This has been no small amount of work and I am so grateful to both of them for their time and expertise.

Welcome everyone and I'm excited that you'll all be joining us on Saturday!

Looks like a great meeting and I hate to miss! Looking forward to seeing everyone in April!

Christine, I would love to receive the link to join your discussion on these two apps. I use TripIt but am curious about the Wanderlog app

TexasTravelmom, we will miss you. Travel is the best reason that we won't see you!

Linda, I just sent you a forum message, happy you can join!

ooohhh!! we get to have Rules!!

how absolutely nifty!!

Reminds me of the nun at the top of the stairs in the Blues Brothers

😁🤣

Hah, look out or I'll find a ruler and rap some knuckles!! 🤣🤣

Hi Catherine,

I would love to attend this meeting if there is still room. Thanks!

Looks like two great topics.

MC

ReedManTx. I've just sent you a forum message with the link.

Plenty of room, plenty of room!

I'm interested.

I know I’m a little late, but i would love to join. I have used TripIt and just upgraded to TripIt pro.

PS, another app for a future meeting is Trail Wallet. It tracks your spending. You can Set up your own categories, such as accomdations, flights, other transportation, museums, etc.

Barbara, thanks for that idea to cover Trail Wallet. I'm interested in learning more about it.

Barbara and met2031, I have sent each of you messages on this forum regarding the meeting this Saturday.

Looking forward to seeing everyone online this Saturday!

Barbara, I just searched for Trail wallet and found this website:
https://voyagetravelapps.com/trail-wallet/

Is that the app you were thinking of? The web page has a note that says:
NOTE: Trail Wallet is no longer available and this page is for archival purposes only.

It seems that developer Simon may have moved on to other things.

I would love to attend if it's not too late to get on your list.

Pls add me to the list. Sounds great!

I would like to join if it is not too late...

pj, carol and Anne Symanovich, I have sent each of you a private message on this forum with instructions for setup (if needed) and details to join the meeting tomorrow.

If you are new to our meetings, please make sure you follow the preliminary setup instructions well before tomorrow's meeting start.

Thanks for joining us!

If not too late, please add me!

Joseph, I've just sent you a message on this forum with the preliminary setup (before tomorrow's meeting) and the instructions to join.

Everyone - you can see that we have a big group tomorrow. I will open the meeting room at least 15 minutes early. Please join early to make sure everything is working and to test your audio and video.

I will start the meeting promptly TOMORROW (Saturday) at 11am Pacific time
Really, I will!

Hi, I would like to participate, thank you.

2travelis2liv, you're all set, see you online!

I would love to attend this meeting.

cstrena, I've just sent you a message on this forum with the preliminary setup step. Please reply that you've done that and I will send the meeting link.

We still have room for people to join.

Because of the preliminary setup required, I'm going to close off the meeting for any new participants at 930am Pacific, 1.5 hours before meeting time.

If you've attended our meetings previously, you've already done that setup step. I'll send meeting links until 1 hour before meeting time.

Meeting Room Opens: at least by 1045am Pacific today so you can join early and test audio and video.

Wish I had found this earlier.

Fitz there is still time! The meeting is in 3 hours. I just sent you a forum message with the preliminary setup instructions.

This is the plan for the meeting today (all times in Pacific Time):

1040am (or earlier) I will start the meeting room
- test your audio, video, find the "Raise Hand" feature to ask questions
- mingle with forum friends
- please set your "screen name" to the name you want to be called by and your RS forum screen name (so that we can make the connection between the real you and the forum you)

11am meeting start time

Forum member presenter Jean will share her use of TripIt
Quick 5 minute break
Forum member presenter Mardee will share her use of Wanderlog

1pm scheduled meeting end

Reminder to anyone new: please follow the instructions in your preliminary meeting setup prior to clicking on the meeting link.

Mardee and Jean will each take some questions during their presentations and immediately following. If we end early, there will be time for continued questions until 1pm, perhaps until 1:10pm.

Because there will be multiple screens of participants, we will use the "raise hand" protocol to ask questions during and after each presentation.

Everyone, please join early to test audio, video and the "Raise hand" feature for questions.

Come early and say hello to forum friends! With such a large group, I won't take the time for introductions ... we wouldn't have any time left for the presentations!

There is still time and room for anyone who would like to join!

Note: I also still have time to send preliminary setup instructions to anyone new who would like to join. I can do that for another 30 minutes, until about 10:15am Pacific Time.

We will not be recording the meeting, so please join us live at 11am Pacific Time today.

A reminder for our larger than usual meeting today:

Screen name: so that everyone can make the connection between the "real you" and your RS forum screen name, I would ask that you change your "meeting display name" to the name you'd like to be referred to plus your RS forum screen name, if different.

Instructions for this step (for a PC, other screens may be different): after logging in to the meeting, find your name in your "square" and right click on it, then select "Rename" to change your display name.

Mute: please mute yourself when you're not speaking to avoid background distractions.

Questions: we'll have plenty of time for questions, which you can ask during the presentations (if the presenter wishes) and after each presentation.

Raise Hand: we'll have more than one screenful of participants, and I won't be able to see everyone at the same time. So, we'll use the "raise hand" protocol for questions, typically found under the "Reactions" icon.

Please join early to change your screen name and test out the "Mute" and "Raise Hand" features, if they are new to you.

We will not be recording the meeting.

Thanks CW, Avi, Jean, and Mardee for a great meeting.

Thanks very much for the great meeting today. Very informative, Jean and Mardee. Well presented.
And thanks CW for stickhandling the questions and comments.

We keep coming up with new variations to make these get-togethers interesting!
Thanks all!

This was so helpful! Nice to connect faces with names.

Many, many thanks to Mardee and Jean for their presentations. So great to learn about new tools to make travel easier.
Pam

Great meeting, special thanks to our presenters, Mardee and Jean and hosts Avi and CW!

really excellent presentations, both. good learning

Jean, you have inspired me to dust off my TripIt app and try it again for my upcoming trip. My account is still there, with some of my previous trips. While I love OneNote as an electronic notebook to organize my trip research, TripIt does a great job of managing my flight, hotel and activity reservations. I've also been worried that I might forget to cancel a reservation, maybe an early hotel that I decided not to use. With everything going into TripIt, I would see that easily.

It took me about 15 minutes to set up my new trip and forward everything to TripIt. Voila, it's organized!

Mardee, I am envious of the Wanderlog features. In the same way that you commented that it's nice to be able to see all your past trips in one place, I love seeing all my trips in OneNote. But I am quite sure that it would have been easier to distribute my activities in London into geographically sensible day by day plans if I had been using Wanderlog's visual grouping feature. I may still play around with it.

Thanks to both of you for all you did to share your tools and techniques with us. I learned a lot and my travel planning will benefit.

Thank you both!!

I loved Jean's spread sheet and plan to emulate it for my next trip. I think I'll try Tripit as well. I only travel with a cell phone and don't pull it out very much when out and about so simplicity works for me.

Wanderlog looked great, but I think it is more than I need. Lots of bells and whistles that I, personally, wouldn't use, but it looked like fun for my organized trip planning side. Maybe if I had an iPad again.

I'm one of those people who looks at the map before I leave my room and that's it. LOL.

I've only been trying for about 3 years to make one of these meetings! So glad I finally made it.

Excellent presentations. I learned a lot from Jean and Mardee’s presentations and from the questions asked by the other participants. Thank you all!

Hey everyone, just a heads up that you can do a fair test drive of Wanderlog without even creating an account. Just start a trip, enter the place and dates, and when it asks for your login, just Continue as Guest.

This could be a tempting test drive, as I'm sure they intend!

Thank you for the kind words!

Preparing the content to share with you motivated me to look at all of the features of TripIt -some that I don’t normally use, and see ways I may want to incorporate them, also. And, this assignment gave me a chance to dust off Powerpoint. ; )

Happy Travel Planning, everyone!

@Wray, I agree! I’ve had some very special encounters with locals because of it!

”I'm one of those people who looks at the map before I leave my room and that's it. LOL.”

Thanks to everyone for their contributions. Unfortunately I missed the first 15 minutes of Jean’s TripIt presentation. Jean, I’m impressed and a bit intimidated by your level of planning. The same with Mardee. It’s time for me to dust off my TripIt app and use it properly.

CW, did you say you were going to have Spain as a topic for your next meeting? If so I’ll be sure to pick another country for mine.

Thanks, everyone for your kind words, and special thanks to CWSocial, who put this all together, and to Avi for hosting! Jean, I loved your presentation and wish I had your project managing skills! It was a really fun session and I appreciate you asking me to participate!

I will definitely let you know how Wanderlog works out on my upcoming trip (one week from tomorrow—yikes!). 😊

ETA: I forgot to add that if anyone tries Wanderlog and has questions, you are more than welcome to PM me.

Thanks so much for all the great instruction and info Jean and Mardee! Appreciate your hard work. And good questions from the attendees too. I’m going to try Trip It first. Had to leave for work so missed parts of Wanderlog. Thanks Catherine for bringing it all together!

Why oh why did I ever stop using TripIt? For goodness sakes! I had forgotten all about the automated feed to my Google Calendar (and options for other calendars) that automatically updates as you build your Trip.

And bonus, my Dad, who needs to know when to pick me up and take me to airports, and Mom who wants to know where the heck I am, can subscribe to the same calendar, integrated with their own. Or I can send them a read-only link to view it separately.

Previously, Dad was manually entering all of the info into his Google calendar. Ugh.

Jean, you have saved my Dad hours of work! And he'll know when to pick me up!!

Thanks for another great meeting!
Jean and Mardee, you did a wonderful job on the presentations. I was unfamiliar with either program, but I am inspired to check them out now.
MC

and I think that this meeting takes the record for attendance - and we all benefitted

So sorry that I was unable to attend this meeting. I actually just belatedly discovered it, but I was on a trip to Canada on the weekend, so wouldn't have been able to make it. Wish this was recorded!

Hi CanAmCherie, so sorry we missed you. I'm considering topics for future tech sessions so it's good to know there is continued interest.

I hope you had a great trip!

Everyone: is there a Tech for Travel topic you would like to cover? Please let me know on this thread or feel free to send a forum message.

One thought I've had is a working session for TripIt or Wanderlog to ask more detailed how-to questions. But I suppose that can reasonably be done in a forum post.

Let me know your ideas!

there seems to be quite a lot about 21st century phone calls and how to call different places with different phone plans. I personally don't worry about it but a lot of folks do seem to.

Using AI for travel planning and while on the road. Someone on a different travel group said they were using Pi (a free AI app). I will say, I kind of like it.

CWsocial, I’m glad using TripIt helped save your dad a lot of hours of manual entry AND improved the chance he will be there at the airport to pick you up! ; )

Tripit.

So I downloaded the App. I attempted to open it and I get a message that it quit unexpectedly and the problem has been reported. WTH? I was going to test it on a small trip to Atlanta. I might be jinxed because I tried this App a few years ago, and my tickets, etc. just disappeared into the ethers.

Is it just my electromagnetic field or is this a typical problem? LOL

Wray, I just downloaded it after a couple of years of having forgotten about it. I see a few sad little 2020 trips that I had already populated with flights, hotels, activities :-(

I had no problem loading (and using) the latest version on an Android phone. Are you using an iPhone or Android?

CW, Thanks. I was working on my laptop so I think that was the mistake. I downloaded it onto my iPhone and that works fine. So far, it's pretty neat. I just played with the sharing feature, which worked well. My tickets went right in. So I guess it was because I was on my MacBook that caused the problem. All good. Thanks.

Oh good, Wray, glad it's working!

I've been getting good results with flights and most hotels. If a hotel name is embedded in an image, it can't parse out the data. But it's easy to go to the item and make small edits.

For my newest trip in November, it's nice to see the chronological hotels and know that I've got place in each city.

Loved our tech zoom meeting and have purchased the pro version of Wanderlog. I loved the embedded map and the visualness of it all. Just started, but making progress on a few itineraries.

That's so cool, Tammy! Keep us posted on how it goes! I love its visual capabilities as well. I may try it for my November trip, which is early stages.

Just another example for TripIt monitoring flights with TripIt Pro.

A family member has a delayed flight today where the first flight is landing after the connecting flight will take off. I received the notification through TripIt and texted them this afternoon to know not to drive out to the airport (they’re in another state visiting a friend). The airline didn’t notify them until an hour later.

Cool feature, Jean!

Here is the side by side of TripIt (free) and TripIt Pro ($49 per year):
https://www.tripit.com/web/pro/pricing

Everything in TripIt (free), plus
Sends real-time flight alerts
Monitors for fare refunds (CW: I could have used this one this week!)
Helps you find a better seat
Finds alternate flights
Reminds you when to check in
Tells you to "Go Now” to the airport
Sends terminal and gate reminders
Navigates you through the airport
Guides you to your connecting gate
Displays baggage claim info
Provides country-specific travel info
Updates people on your travel plans
Speeds you through security
Tracks your reward programs
Upload 25 documents per trip (TripIt free version gives you 3 per trip)

I don't understand how it can speed you through security. Do you get a special label "I am Using TripIt Pro" to stick to your forehead?

I think it's a Cloak of Invisibility.

I love it. Maybe they also provide a copy of The Marauders' Map???

”I don't understand how it can speed you through security. Do you get a special label "I am Using TripIt Pro" to stick to your forehead?”

LOL! That’s the one I had the question mark beside that one and mentioned it during the presentation, too! Am I missing a list on TripIt that tells me which TSA agent cares about my iPad and which one doesn’t?

Here’s how they’re defining it:
TripIt Pro now monitors security checkpoint lines and lets you know how long the wait is for the checkpoints near your gate. To help you plan ahead, TripIt Pro will also send you an alert three hours before your flight showing you the current wait times, so you know what to expect when you arrive. You can then check the TripIt app for real-time updates. If you need to find the nearest checkpoint, or how to get to the shortest security line, you can use the feature’s in-app airport map. That map will also show you which amenities are located near each checkpoint, like restrooms, restaurants and shops. Security wait times are available in select airports, starting with Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (AUS), Denver International Airport (DEN), Orlando International Airport (MCO) and Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX) and Indianapolis International Airport (IND).

aha - so it will tell you where the shortest lines are if you are one of the >5< magic airports. That's almost what we used to call "vapour-ware".

I don't have a dog in this one but an interested observer. Might have been nice if they had an asterisk in the advertising comparison?

And fortunately I fly out of Denver, one of the magic 5!

It probably relies on the airport having a tracking feed for security wait times, which Denver has.