How to stay organized?

[IndyDenise]

In addition, I print different types of documents on different coloured paper (emails on yellow, information on pink, tickets on white etc) so that they stand out easily in a hurry.

 

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This is smart! Wish I had thought of this...it's too late for me now..but next time I am stealing this idea!!

Denise

[English_in_Spain]

In addition, I print different types of documents on different coloured paper (emails on yellow, information on pink, tickets on white etc) so that they stand out easily in a hurry.

 

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This is smart! Wish I had thought of this...it's too late for me now..but next time I am stealing this idea!!

Denise

 

If you do this, it is best to print things like airline boarding passes and cruise documents, that are likely to need scanning, on white paper. Sometimes they have difficulty with certain coloured papers.

[Midwest Sunseeker]

I have a system that has worked very well over many years of trips and cruises. I use a plastic accordion 10.5" x5.5"x1" with 12 partitions from an office supply store. I lable the catigories with removable post-it index tabs so I can change and custom the catigories from trip to trip. If I am not using it for the current trip I stick the unused index tabs in the front for latter trips. I also put a small pen (with some tape wrapped around it) , pencil, extra small highlighter (for when you read the daily cruise news), few rubber bands, and a small tiny baby stapler (for putting luggage tags on). For example for my upcomming HAL Baltic cruise I have the following catigories:Travel Agent Emails & letters; Air Flight; Rental Cars & Hotels Info; Shore Info; Booked Shore EX; On Board Info; Maps, Path, & Itinerary; Stock Credit; Boarding Pass & Luggage Tages; Contact information. I throw as I travel so it gets lighter and lighter. This little folder goes with me in my main carry on backpack when traveling until I get to my state room.

[brazilgirl]

I have some special challenged for organization. We have a family of 5... My kids are all dual citizens , therefore they travel with 2 passports apiece.

 

Our trips are almost always abroad , with multiple hotel and car ressies . We also frequently have different airline reservations , due to using FF miles.

 

I have started using a wonderful travel app called TripIt Pro. It allows you to centralize all travel info : itineraries , flight numbers , confirmation numbers , addresses. Plus , you can forward copies to relatives or those traveling with you. It is really great , allowing you to access your info from any computer , smartphone , tablet etc , thus eliminating a lot of paperwork .

 

I carry separate folders with passports etc , love to buy pretty ones from Target. I always have a moleskine style notebook or journal too.

 

Lots of neat ideas here.

[3rdGenCunarder]

I keep all our papers in a manilla file folder that I can carry in my briefcase. Even before I traveled with a laptop, I carried some kind of small briefcase for travel docs. Our passports are in an oversized orange wallet-style passport holder that I found at Michael's craft shop. It's kind of ugly, but I love it because I can find it easily inside my briefcase or purse.

 

As soon as we make the first booking for a trip, I set up a day by day itinerary on my computer. EVERYTHING goes into that document--confirmation numbers, hotel/cruise line contact numbers, etc. OK, I'm obsessive, I go to the weather channel online and look at climate data to see likely temperature ranges for each day. I also check out sunrise/sunset, and add that data to each day. the file grows as we add to our plans.

 

Before we leave, I print out that file, plus any other docs I think I'll need, and they all go in date order into the manilla file folder. I make sure copies of everything are on the laptop, too.

 

I also take the itinerary file, copy it, and remove confirmation numbers and similar stuff so that I have a simplified copy I can give to my contact info family members.

[azrose]

I do a lot of what is mentioned too---especially the emailing all the info to relatives "just in case".....

 

One important thing to remember too: Keep it in your carry on!! Do not put this in your checked luggage...:eek:

[readytogo2]

Years ago we got leather folders when we sailed on the Concord years ago. I have all our paper work in one of the folders -- using paper clips to separate hotel reservations, reservations for shore excursions, etc. That goes into my carry-on.

In my purse I have a clear folder that we got from Princess years ago where I keep our flight tickets.

 

I used to use those'leatherette' folders we got from HAL years ago but they are a bit bulky, I like you, use those clear folders from Princess...it's a shame all the cruise lines stopped giving out folders.

[goodroe]

I use the plastic accordian folder to separate all the information for each port. It worked great last year for our TA/Baltic cruise as I had printed out a lot of port information before we left (thanks to CC) and used the pockets for receipts/paper souvenirs from the ports. Have a separate soft-sided leatherette folder for travel information/tickets(easy to use in airports). For the next cruise will purchase another folder for all the cruise documents so I can keep it packed away in my carryon. Am a little OCD about losing things in airports.

 

Lots of helpful information on this thread - thanks.

[cruzn single]

I use the clear dividers in a paper "three ring pocket folder" and it served me so well last year in Vancouver.

 

Got to airline (Alaska) and we were booked from Seattle to Phoenix, but not from Vancouver to Seattle. Turns out it was Alaska Airlines' fault. Since the flight had been booked from HAL, airport rep got Air/Sea involved. Finally got it all sorted out, but Alaska hadn't sold a ticket for short hop, but had charged HAL for it! Our reservation and seat assignments were in the system!!!!!!

 

When I pulled out the folder with ALL the info in it, everyone standing around was amazed at how organized it was--ship info, flight info, shore excursion info, and port info!!! Would never leave home on another cruise without it.

 

Such a lifesaver.

[ariawoman]

Three cruises ago I bought a very inexpensive plastic spiral binder with about 6 plastic sheet protectors. These also have a front pocket on each side of each sheet. Depending on the itinerary, the first sheet has hotel reservations, then cruise docs, then shore X info, etc. I keep a copy of my passport and my traveling companion's (either Mom or DH). He or she also has a copy of mine. There are nice closable pockets on the inside of the front and back covers where I keep my foreign cash and a few $$$ for immediate need tips.

 

Also, I scan all vital documents, and put them on a thumb drive. That goes into the crossbody bag I take on the plane and every time I go off the ship. That way I have all critical phone number, copies of passports, etc. in case there is an emergency.

 

You might want to consider encrypting your thumb drive if you don't already do so. While having all that info with you on your person is great, if you lose that drive and it's not encrypted you'll be nervous....

[3rdGenCunarder]

You might want to consider encrypting your thumb drive if you don't already do so. While having all that info with you on your person is great, if you lose that drive and it's not encrypted you'll be nervous....

 

That's a good point. I travel with a thumb drive, mostly for backing up downloaded photos. But I wouldn't walk around with one, encrypted or not.

[the2ofus]

I have tried to become more organized each time I cruise so have used accordion folders for quite a while. Will also make sure everything we'd need if stranded somewhere is in an e-mail file that can be accessed in emergency as suggested here.

 

One other thing I have started doing is to place my immediate destination and next destination info and my cellphone number in the outer pocket of my luggage. In case it gets sidetracked somewhere there's a better chance it will catch up with me. (For some folks this might cause concern but I live in a safe community with very observant neighbors. Besides, my address is already on the luggage tag so I figure if someone plans to check out my house while I'm away they already have that info.)

[Boytjie]

And I am known to create a fancy front page with pictures of the ship and where we are going to slip into the font cover. ;)

 

I found one of them:

 

 

Key West was not on the itinerary but we spent a few days there pre-cruise. :)

[3rdGenCunarder]

I have tried to become more organized each time I cruise so have used accordion folders for quite a while. Will also make sure everything we'd need if stranded somewhere is in an e-mail file that can be accessed in emergency as suggested here.

 

One other thing I have started doing is to place my immediate destination and next destination info and my cellphone number in the outer pocket of my luggage. In case it gets sidetracked somewhere there's a better chance it will catch up with me. (For some folks this might cause concern but I live in a safe community with very observant neighbors. Besides, my address is already on the luggage tag so I figure if someone plans to check out my house while I'm away they already have that info.)

 

When we checked in for our flights in Feb, United suggested printing out extra boarding passes to put inside our luggage. So we did that, and added our phone numbers to that piece of paper.

[Typhoon1]

I found one of them.

 

Key West was not on the itinerary but we spent a few days there pre-cruise. :)

 

Peter, I never knew you were so creative. Very well done.

[innlady1]

I do what many of you do: I have a plastic folder with pockets and put travel info, from beginning to end of the trip, in there.

[magandab]

You might want to consider encrypting your thumb drive if you don't already do so. While having all that info with you on your person is great, if you lose that drive and it's not encrypted you'll be nervous....

 

Encrypted and password protected!

[magandab]

That's a good point. I travel with a thumb drive, mostly for backing up downloaded photos. But I wouldn't walk around with one, encrypted or not.

 

My "fear" is that something will happen off the ship and we'll be without our passports and ship contact information.

[ariawoman]

Encrypted and password protected!

 

Awesome! You're all set then :-) Most people wouldn't think of doing this.

[kazu]

My "fear" is that something will happen off the ship and we'll be without our passports and ship contact information.

 

I always bring a couple of colour copies of our passports - they go anywhere we do - and of course the port info is there and just taken whenever we go ashore:) computers are great but there is a time and a place for paper;)

[sansterre]

Files of various colors work best for me. On a recent Scandinavian trip, Sweden was yellow, Denmark was red, Norway was blue. Other pre and post cruise paperwork went into a green folder. That way the folders are fairly slim and easily fit into the slot on the desk (where there is a Holland America book, etc.).

[nothriver]

First of all, I use a spreadsheet where I summarize all pertinent travel information and I make a dozen copies of the master, one for each person in the group, and one for every bag, pocket and wallet. If all else fails, as long as we have that one piece of paper with all addresses, confirmation numbers, phone numbers, etc, I think we'll be ok without all the individual confirmaton documents.

 

Secondly, I use what I think they call a presentation folder to store all my docs; you can get them at all the office supply places. There is sort of a clip that holds the pile of papers together inside a vinal cover. It is much less bulky that a 3-ring binder, plus you don't actually need to 3-hole punch the docs. I carry a small sling style backpack and sort of have to curve the top of this folder at the top to get it in my backpack, but otherwise it isn't too bad to lug around. I usually just keep these for future trip planning reference for example it is handy to see what trip insurance we've used in the past. And when my nephew lost his passport recently, I was able to pull out my binder from our 2009 Alaska trip and give him a copy of his passport.

 

Finally, my past two trips I've been using an app on my iPad called TripIt, and there are similar apps. You forward all the confirmation emails to the app, and it slickly organizes them into the app. I LOVE this app! I wasn't impressed with the paid portion of the app, but use and love the free side of it. The information is stored on the device and can be accessed when there is no connectivity, such as when you are on airplane mode, or in Europe when you don't want to pay for roaming.

[nothriver]

Re: document storage - what I've been using, Staples calls "swing arm report cover" and Office Max calls "swing clip report covers".

 

Hope that helps. I used to use 3 ring binders and I've been so much happier using these. I don't print nearly as much as I used to, now that we all have smart phones!

[3rdGenCunarder]

I always bring a couple of colour copies of our passports - they go anywhere we do - and of course the port info is there and just taken whenever we go ashore:) computers are great but there is a time and a place for paper;)

 

We carry copies of our passports, too. And the port contact info is in each day's Explorer or the port info sheet.

[Olive1950]

I have an expandable accordion folder with 26 slots. I label each slot with things like "Hotel Reservations" and Travelers Checks; etc.

 

I keep all of my lists, correspondence, etc, in this folder, chunking and replacing as necessary. All of my packing lists are housed there (if I take something with me and don't use it,it is OUT and OFF the next cruise's list.)

 

I usually email to myself my spreadsheet of passwords and login info, along with credit card account and customer service contact information. I file a paper copy in the folder as well.

 

Overkill? Of course... but it works for me....