Thursday + {Your Itinerary: Part One}

This is going to be a multi-part blog entry, simply because if I created my entire itinerary for a 39-day trip in one sitting, I might explode. I've broken it down into a couple steps, mostly for my sanity, but also to make the process easier if anyone else is in a similar predicament.

STEP #1 ORGANIZE ALL YOUR INFORMATION

As I mentioned before, I approached the financial side of organizing our trip in a pretty roundabout manner. Whenever I bought anything, I took a screencap of the confirmation page, though. I remember thinking to myself, "a-ha! this will make it so easy when I organize this information later." Unfortunately, I failed to name the files with descriptions that might actually help someone locate them later, so they were just called "Screenshot 1" through "Screenshot 1000." The other night, however, I went through my entire folder of screenshots and wrote what the relevant leg of the trip on them. Now my folder looks something like this:

A peek at my amazingly organized folder of confirmation #s.

I repeated this step for all relevant information: for us, that included collecting all of our Airbnb reservations into one spot. Luckily, if you use the same website to make all your reservations (whether it's Airbnb or Couchsurfing or something else), most of your information is collected into one spot for you.

STEP #2 MAKE A NEW WORD DOCUMENT

Once your information is collected into one easy-to-access pile (whether it's still on the computer or printed out in hard copies), it's time to start making your itinerary. 

Earlier in our trip, we simply took a calendar and filled it out with the cities we wanted to go to, our host's names once we confirmed them, and how we were going to get between cities. That system worked really well for that stage of our planning, but when it comes to an itinerary, I personally need a lot more detail.

I ditched the calendar idea and simply wrote the date and then all the relevant information for that date under it. Each day is organized by time--what time we need to catch the bus to get to the airport to be early enough to check-in, etc.--but I included a lot more information under each day, too, such as our host's direction of how to get to the place we're staying, their contact information, confirmation or reference numbers, bus routes, fares for buses, etc.

STEP #3 BREAK IT INTO SMALL STEPS

Since Gooligan's sister and her sister's best friend are meeting us in the middle of our trip for a couple weeks, we're lucky enough to not have to do all the work ourselves. They've agreed to take on a lot of our mutual trip places, which means that Gooligan and I are mostly responsible for the beginning and end of our trip. I would suggest just taking it a few days at a time. Spend no more than an hour or two on the project of building your itinerary, since staring at all the information can get overwhelming.

STEP #4, which I'll blog about next time I talk about next Tuesday, is about the fun stuff: figuring out what you want to do in Europe once you're actually there!

Tuesday + {Organizing Your Finances For Your Trip}

Do not do what I did. The moment you buy anything for your trip, write it down. And write it down in the same location. Make a giant chart on the way if it's more convenient. Use an app on your phone. Write it in a word document or an email to yourself. Whatever it takes so it's all in the same spot.

Trust me: you'll thank yourself later when you don't have to dig through hundreds of emails trying to find your one Ryanair itinerary.

Granted, with so many things online these days, a copy of practically everything is sent to your inbox. And you can keep track of your card transactions online, if you sign up for online banking.

But still, it's a pain. Especially when you are buying a lot of things and some of the transactions have nondescript names that do not give you a single clue about what it is for.

Which leads to the inevitable go-fish game through your inbox, facebook messages, text messages, and recall of verbal face-to-face or phone conversations to figure out what exactly that $233.13 purchase bought and who paid for it. Not to mention the pain that comes with trying to figure out currency exchanges on top of tracking down receipts.

Speaking of paying for things: among decisions that you could (and probably should) file under "not the smartest move this bear has ever made," Gooligan and I started to buy things for our trip without taking a look at our bank account to figure out how, exactly, it would make the most sense to organize our accounts.

Currently, Gooligan and I are sharing my bank account. And one debit card.  (That was exciting, let me tell you, when I had to travel to my last residency with a cash-only budget because Gooligan needed to deposit her paycheck into my account while I was away in order to feed herself, pay rent, etc.)

It started with the intention of being a temporary arrangement, but visiting the bank and setting up a new account has been a pain, considering our bank's closest branch is in a town thirty miles away and one or both of us works typical bank hours.

Anyway, it has actually been a really great experience sharing finances with Gooligan. I think it has deepened the trust in our relationship, for starters, not to mention make things easier when it comes time to pay bills.

There has only been one drawback: our credit union caps the number of times you can make withdrawals from your savings account without getting dinged. Gooligan and I each have a savings account. If we had split each bill evenly and paid each other back immediately, we'd drown in $20 fees. Instead, we have taken turns paying for things in chunks, then periodically sorting out who owes who what and squaring our accounts.

Our approach has been a little haphazard, and I definitely do not recommend it for everyone. With another person, there would have been some feathers ruffled undoubtedly, but Gooligan and I have done a great job communicating and checking in and it's worked for us.

Just remember to print those receipts and collect them in a safe spot!