Organizing Trip Documentation & Travel Log

[CabinCruiser]

I noticed that many of you track how many nights you have stayed in your AS like a badge of honor. Totally cool. It appeals to my nature.

We are planning our first trip in our AS and I already see that I need a system to organize my reservation confirmations as well as nights on the road and the like.

Do you print confirmations out and put in some kind of document organizer? Do you do everything online by organizing confirmation emails by trip date? Do you have a summary journal/log for your nights on the road by trip, or do you use spreadsheets?

What are the pros and cons of how you track everything!

[mpsgolf]

I'm trying to find a better way like you. But for now I keep mine in my Outlook calendar on my laptop. I downloaded iCloud for Windows from the www, and now my laptop and iPhone email, contacts, calendar and browser bookmarks are all sync'd! Cool. For several years I fought with two calendars - then I upgraded my laptop and stumbled on iCloud for Windows while converting.

When I make a reservation I add an event to my calendar and post the confirmation number and any other details I need (address, phone, etc) in the event.

[AWCHIEF]

I toss all reservation and receipts in a folder. One of thes days I might get around to doing something with them. Pretty low priority.

[Thalweg]

I've got one of these hard bound field books that I keep in the camper. Every day we use the camper, I note how many miles we traveled, general route, where we camped, and any significant notes. At the end of the trip, I write a summary, and at the end of the camping season, I write a summary for the year. It's very useful because I have a terrible memory and this allows me to refer back to previous travels.

[Piggy Bank]

I use the Evernote app to keep a record of info on each trip.
Evernote lets you drag in photos pdfs, and web content into notes and organize by notebook.

I like others above also put the confirmation number and dates into my outlook calendar also.

In evernote, I try to note which site we had, and other sites we would want for a return visit, time to travel from storage site to campground. what exact hookups were at the sites, and info about the area.
You can drag in the google map directions and the campground map too

Notes will sync across devices.

[cwf]

Hard copy..

[Len n Jeanne]

We put paper copies of our reservations, addresses, phone numbers, &c in a manila folder, ideally butterfly-clipped in order of our itinerary. This might include important dates to remember, like bills if you're on the road when they're due. If something's important, we might stash a second copy somewhere else just in case the main copy crawls off. The folder rides in the console between our seats for handy reference.

We typically like to travel to places where there might not be any Internet or even cell phone service, so we don't want to rely on a system that would require them. We could store the stuff on an electronic device as a document, but then we're old fashioned, I suppose. Sometimes it's easiest just to hand the park ranger a piece of paper with the confirmation number on it.

If you haven't done this already, it's a good idea to copy important numbers like your credit card/s, health insurance, little-used passwords, and the like, and then stash that info somewhere other than where you normally keep your cards and e-devices.

I don't think any system is failsafe. We are going to Zion NP this spring, and I had the reservation info saved on my email inbox-- which unhappily wiped out the whole month in which I made it for no apparent reason. Phhhht--gone! Thankfully we previously printed a paper copy-- and having the revs service phone # on the road, as well, would enable us to track or cancel it if need be.

Redundancy isn't a bad idea for when Murphy's Law strikes again.

[paiceman]

I print out all reservations, put them in a binder which my wife has total control over and responsibility for. I also have all reservations on a google calendar. Which is on my phone, my Tablet, my computer and my wife shares it on her phone. My seem like overkill, but I enjoy it and enjoy being organized.

Many people I have camped with don't even bother with reservations, tried, just can't do it, YET.

Bud

[ROBERT CROSS]

Welcome Aboard!!

A Trip Diary with basic info works for us, ( when I remember).

All our 'reservations' made here

Bob

[Lily&Me]

When we first began traveling, I had a padfolio ring binder from work that zipped around the outside.....into which I put all printed out reservations and anything else trip related.

I slipped paper into plastic sleeves, kept reservations in chronilogical order, used the card holder section for business cards from campgrounds, kept a pen in there and notepad, etc.

We stopped making very many reservations, so eventually dropped this, but having everything in one place was great. Organization is good.

If you go into an Office Max, Staples, etc., you will see lots of great ideas.


Maggie

[urnmor]

I do not track as I do not see the point and also it sounds like work to me, As a retiree I do my best to avoid any work.

[SeaLevel]

We keep travel/reservation information in OneNote and email, and we keep a journal of our nightly stays with notes on things like the area and our site, and other sites if we see a better one that we might want to try for if we come back. A lot of our reservations have been through ReserveAmerica.com, so I can always log in there to see past and future reservation information.

[moosetags]

We have been keeping a detailed log of our Airstream travel from the first day ten years ago.

At first, we logged our travel mainly to keep track of the mileage on the Airstream for maintenance and the nights spent in the Airstream. Over the years, we expanded the log to include the campground stayed at.

Below are pictures of our log book entries. This system has worked well for us. As for campground reservation, we rarely make any.

Brian

[Wingeezer]

For our longer trips, I start casually planning things way in advance - sometimes several months!

I start a three ring binder and in it I keep all the related info we will need for the trip such as:

- a spreadsheet with our planned day to day itinerary - where we expect to be each day, mileages between stops, likely stops en route (i.e specific Flying J's etc)

- a tick-off packing list for the specific trip that has grown over the years to many pages long! Includes everything from soup to nuts!

By the time we leave for the trip, each item needs to have either a tick or a X - no empty tick off boxes! A tick means we have it, and X means we have considered and are not taking it on this trip.

- For each area where we plan a stop for more than just overnight, I add a divider to the binder and capture whatever is relevant to that place:

Reservation info if we have made one.

Possible campgrounds I have selected by researching internet if we don't have a reservation.

All info on things we might want to do at that stop - again mostly from the internet, it might include special events / museums / brew pubs / flea markets / antique malls /
restaurants that look unique / almost anything interesting to us! We never do everything on these lists but always find them handy. advance research on tourist websites and such helps to ensure we don't miss anything at that stop that we might find out about later and regret not visiting!

I've been planning for our longer trips this way for years. I enjoy doing it, and the binder becomes very handy en route.

I have to point out I've been retired many years, and so have the time for this
foolishness! I suppose my career as an engineer encourages this amount of organization!

We don't always follow the plan unless we have reservations, but generally do stick pretty close to it unless there is good reason not to.

When actually on the trip, I keep brief daily notes on iCal in the laptop and usually in a paper daytimer as well.


Brian.

[VT Wanderer]

We started making journals of our trips in 1981, when we were in a backpacking tent - pre laptop computers. We still use spiral notebooks - one per year - now 8 years into Airstreaming. We enjoy going back and reliving what we did way back when. Items in the journal - Daily notes include; wake-up time; where we stopped for lunch, fuel, etc.; roads taken and comments; miles driven; highlights (favorites for each person); "low lights"; interesting items; etc. In the back pages of the journal we keep costs divided into categories - fuel, campground costs, food, tolls, entertainment, misc. expenses. In future years you can go back and have a reference about things you want to repeat and those that were not so good. As for reservations and calendars, etc. we make hard copies and put them into a trip folder for that year. We have a file at home where all the yearly items are placed in order of year. We also file guide books, maps etc. arranged alpha. We do LOTS of hiking in the national parks, and their maps and guide books are indispensable. We are headed west yet again this summer (from VT) and I am studying the materials to find new trails to hike. I don't know if I would have put the journals on a computer if I were to start again. Just think about how computers have changed since our first 1981 trip that we took. What would have been lost as computer systems changed? Here we just go back and open a tangible journal. Just this past week we were laughing about the changes in our physical abilities. The past few times we were in the Grand Tetons we did our favorite day hike - a 13 miler with 3100 foot elevation gain. Yes we are still doing it, but with just our day packs on, and quite exhausted at the end of the day. We read the journal this week for 1986 and I was carrying our 35 pound kid in the kid pack. At the end of the day we were still all pumped to do evening events. Those memories are tough to beat. Best wishes for safe journeys and happiness as you start your new lifestyle.

[graysailor]

I use"Right It Down" by Journals Unlimited Inc. I think I got it on Amazon. It is the official camper journal. There are categories for about all entries you might need to enter. Helps me keep track of where I have been and what the park has to offer. Also a blank page in case you might want to keep a diary of your travels.

[SeeMore]

Our process is similar to piggybank & a few others. I couple electronic with a three ring binder (with plastic sleeves) which hold the key paperwork like reservations, major route trip-tik, key sights/entertainment for a destination, vet/vaccine paperwork, etc., to cover computer retrieval outages when in route.

Once a trip is done I'm way too focused on the next adventure to re-live/review the past ones. So, horrors, I only try to keep those photos that are either memorable or 'best of the lot' and then delete almost all the remaining electronic stuff after the trip and ditch the binder contents. As a retiree, my brain only has room left for a few more memories and if I can't remember it... it was most likely not worth the space to begin with. I doubt anyone else has any detail interest of our sojourns.

[Lily&Me]

I always carry a 6"x8"" or so sized zippered planner...with the calendar part removed...for hard copies of Lily's shot records, emergency contact info, names/addresses/phone numbers, stamps, a few blank envelopes and notecards, etc., as well as printouts of any reservations I may have.

I also have a few of those colored, hole-punched, plastic sleeve things in there, that you can buy in office supply stores, for folded paper items like the shot records, my standing lab order, etc. Keeps things in place and easily accessible.

Kind of a small, portable, personal desk. Wouldn't be without it, nor rely solely on the electronics.


Maggie

[greghoro]

Still use MS Outlook on my computer and have written a macro which creates a consistently formatted calendar entry from the reservation confirmation email. This is synced with my iPhone

We always walk the campground and classify each campsite on a simple pre-printed numbered (campsite numbers) form along with general information about the park itself for future visits. The form is digitized with a scanner at a local library along with a picture of the campground map, resulting in a separate pdf file for each campground.

Use Garmin Basecamp on my computer in conjunction with Garmin GPS so I can keep track of important locations (waypoints). This includes every campground as well as points of interest visited or suggested. Basecamp has a facility to add notes to a waypoint as well as link to the campground file noted in prior paragraph and link to key URLs associated to the waypoint. Also keep trip tracks (breadcrumbs) of the route whenever we move the trailer, so I can track mileage and make notes about the route taken for future planning.

Greg

[Pat.Mann]

I keep an Excel spread sheet formatted landscape with column width set so a week just fits on a page with the header column repeated each week. Each column has rows for (1) Day of trip, (2) Date, (3) Day of week - how soon we forget! (4) Location at start of day, (5) Towing miles for day, (6) Total miles for day (7) Classification of drive - short, long, scenic, etc., (8) Tides - for birding, (9) AM Activity, (10) lunch, (11) PM Activity (12) Camp location for night. Lots of these are formulas from the previous column. Lots are left blank, we certainly don't fill all our time with pre-planned activities or know about lunches, but filling in these afterwards gives a record of the trip. I shade towing days one color since that's pretty much a full day's activity each time, campgrounds that I have reserved another color, dates with no camp location yet established another to remind me to finish the travel plan.
Some have said that they don't reserve - I can just say that there are plenty of public campgrounds at certain times of year that are full the day after reservations open for that period, which can be 6 months in advance. Also, if you have a trailer longer than 25 feet, there are many state and federal campgrounds that have a very limited number of spaces for longer vehicles, and you need to reserve a space long enough for your vehicle farther in advance.
I can print out the travel plan as a PDF to send to others electronically - very handy.