Paper Doll on the Smead Podcast: Essential Lists For Organized Travel
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”
~ Mark Twain
Whether you’re going over the river and through the woods for a holiday with Grandma or jet-setting off to some foreign rendezvous, travel can be both exciting and nervewracking. There are so many issues, from worrying that you’ll forget your medication to figuring out how to pack properly for the weather, that it’s easy to become anxious or overwhelmed.
Taking Twain’s message to heart, I would rather spend my twilight years remembering the joys of my madcap adventures (even if they involved some momentary anxiety) than basking in the coziness of never making a misstep due to never having taken a step at all.
Readers, you’ve heard me say this before: organizing cannot prevent all catastrophes, but it can prevent them from being so catastrophic.
Organizing cannot prevent all catastrophes, but it can prevent them from being so catastrophic. Share on XI’m a big believer that lists help keep our space and time organized, and work particularly well for banishing – or at least keeping at bay – some of that pre-travel anxiety.
You may recall my post from last fall, Paper Doll’s 5 Essential Lists For Planning an International Vacation, which I wrote after returning from my grand tour of Italy. Recently, that post prompted a great two-part conversation with John Hunt on the excellent Smead video podcast, Keeping You Organized.
We discussed exactly how you can use lists to conquer your trip-preparation fears and travel more confidently. For convenience, both parts of our conversation appear below.
Essential List for Organized Travel – Part 1 (Keeping You Organized, episode #263)
Essential List for Organized Travel – Part 2 (Keeping You Organized, episode #264)
If you’d rather listen to the podcasts (perhaps while packing or roaming through romantic, far-flung airports than be distracted by my hair (which I swear always looks better ten minutes before the podcast starts), you can visit the podcast pages directly at Smead and download the mp3s:
Essential List for Organized Travel – Part 1 (Keeping You Organized, episode #263) Audio Only
Essential List for Organized Travel – Part 2 (Keeping You Organized, episode #264) Audio Only
On the podcasts, I talked about the kinds of lists I use, as well as the apps, products, and services that I think help create a more organized travel experience. One of those items wasn’t widely available yet when I went to Italy, nor when I wrote my recap.
Last February, I was watching Smead’s myOrganized.life daily Facebook show. When I tuned in, I learned that friend-of-the-blog and Smead personality Leiann Thompson (John Hunt’s partner in crime) was stuck in a snowstorm and John was on his own, touting a new product: the Smead Poly Three-Divider Travel Organizer File.
Once John showed off the Travel Organizer File, I knew I had to get a closer look at this hybrid tool for organizing travel documents and necessities. It’s made of durable poly material, so it’s tear- and water-resistant. The back portion of the letter-sized organizer has three 1/3-cut tabbed divider sections, each of which has a 25-sheet storage capacity. The sections are useful for sorting documents by:
- different days of your itinerary
- different aspects of your trip (family reunion notes, conference documents, sightseeing itineraries), or
- different travel elements (airline reservations, hotel bookings, ground transportation info, etc.)
The Smead Poly Three-Divider Travel Organizer File also has a snap-closure pocket (also made of poly material) for collating travel expense receipts, baggage claim or valet tickets, restaurant/business cards, walking tour maps, and anything you collect along the way.
Smead has three colorful, fun designs, all of which give your enclosed documents some privacy from prying eyes. (You know, there’s always that one seatmate looking over your shoulder!) The teal-white flowered is shown above; Smead also makes purple and teal versions with a charcoal privacy design (below):
You can find a two-pack of the Smead Poly Three-Divider Travel Organizers at Amazon for around $9, as well as at Smead, and most office supply stores and stationers.
Happy (organized) traveling!
Paper Doll Post:
What a wonderful list of travel tips, Julie! I’m a huge fan of lists and have a series of digital lists in Word that I adapt each time I travel. Some are specific for personal vacations like beach trips or international travel. Others are specific for business conferences. It makes packing and remembering what I need to bring and do to prepare for the trips and takes away a lot of stress.
Thank you for the reminder about Google translate. I haven’t had the opportunity to use it, but now I’m psyched to try.
Happy travels!
I use the (comparatively anemic) web version all the time when studying Italian, but the app is amazing. I used it at a Mexican restaurant where none of the menu was in English, and it helped my vegetarian self end up with a mysterious-sounding but very meat-oriented meal!
I love lists in general and have created some great ones which I refer to often. I have a fabulous check list for dance competitions which I modify depending on how many (and the type) dances we are doing. It’s come in very handy!
Oh, Diane, that dance competition checklist sounds fascinating. I bet you could modify it and market it to other dancers!
Great lists, Julie! I did not know that you can use the Google Translate app on your phone to translate signs and menus through your camera. I just tried it with a Spanish newspaper online. It’s like magic! I’m so happy to know about that now.
You might have these ideas mentioned elsewhere on your blog, but somewhere I saw a great idea about taking pictures of things you might worry about, after you leave your house. Such as, your stove burners turned off, your toaster oven unplugged, your pet door opened or closed as needed, and your overhead garage door closed. Just to quiet those nagging fears about leaving things in a precarious state while you’re traveling. I also take a picture of the parking lot number at the airport where I left my car, so I can easily find it later.
Carol, I think that app is magical, too! And it’s so funny you said that about taking photos, as I’ve had a draft of a post, with frequent additions through the years, about all the ways to organize with a camera. You’ve reminded me I should really set that information free! 😉
I start those travel lists weeks in advance, because that is when I start thinking of all those little tasks. That is such a great trip! The medications is something that is so easy to forget. I also think that Smead travel organizer is so great. I think it would be good for business people collecting receipts for expense accounts.
Seana, it was an amazing trip, and one that really got me thinking about different people’s packing/trip organizing styles. You’re totally right about the Smead Travel Organizer — it’s ideal for professionals who travel, or just those who want to keep track of expenses!
My husband and I have a cottage list that we print out every year; as we pack something, it gets crossed off. This year we made the mistake of crossing off food items that we bought, so when it came to actually packing food from the fridge, some key things got left behind. We should have clued in when we didn’t need to use all our coolers!
Sometimes, we need lists with multiple columns. For example, my packing list for electronics includes both charging and packing, so it sounds like you need a checkbox for buying and another for packing. (Or a separate shopping list?) And having a cottage sounds lovely!
+1 for digital lists! ? I use Any.do for all kinds of lists. I love having a travel list that I look back on and not have to recreate from scratch. And, I can easily share the list with and assign a task to someone else. Win! ?