Thaitinerary

It's perfect and delicious and covers all the important bases:

• Culture
• Nature
• Adventure
• Food
• Food
• Food
• Food
• Food

 

America > Ho Chi Minh City (22h)

HCMC > Mekong Delta (3d)

HCMC > Dalat (2d)

Dalat  > HCMC (1d)

HCMC > Phu Quoc (3d)

Phu Quoc > Siem Reap (4d)

Siem Reap > Chiang Mai (4d)

Chiang Mai > Bangkok (1d)

Bangkok > Krabi/Railay (4d)

Krabi/Railay > Bangkok (2d)

Bangkok > America (eternal heartbreak)

Pro tip: When organizing a dream vacation with your very favorite people, you want to make sure everyone gets what they want. I'd recommend making everyone pick their top 2-3 must-dos and use them as your vacation anchors. Everything on top of that is bonus. If you don't have that to start, you'll swirl for six weeks and get no actual planning done.

Buckle in, y'all.

Falling in Love with a Spreadsheet

My brain is much more inclined toward a good-looking slide deck than it is to a succinct and well-organized spreadsheet. But everything changed when this little lady walked into my life.

Planning for a month-long trip is more work than I expected. I imagine its a lot like planning a wedding except it ends in a month-long trip and you can wear whatever you want.

This spreadsheet, stolen from my girl Anna's template, is a labor of love. If you're planning your own trip, here are the tabs that I've found to be useful:

• Calendar (high-level overview of your itinerary)
• Hotels (names, addresses, phones, confirmation numbers)
• Flights (airlines, flight numbers, confirmation numbers, layover times)
• Stuff to do (a place to collect all your cool ideas while researching)
• Traveler info (useful info for your companions - passport numbers, emergency contacts, medical info, etc)
• Insurance information (travelers insurance information and how to use it if you need to)
• Expenses (no one likes clicking on this tab, but I'm sure I'll eventually be glad I did)
• Costs and calcs (reimbursement info, exchange rates, etc)
• To do (running list of all the prep necessary to get ready to be gone for a month)

Give me a shout if you want a link to make a copy for yourself.