In the text that follows, I’ll comment on the above example of a spreadsheet I use as I plan my itinerary.
Since by now you might have figured out I’m quite the budget traveler, you won’t be too surprised to learn that the Excel or equivalent spreadsheet I use for planning has columns where estimated costs can be recorded.
At first I started with the simple notion that I would simply record the city name where I was going to sleep and the number of nights I would be there. The city name was, and still is, in bold face and a slightly larger font than the rest of the sheet. Then below that I filled in the day of the week and date in the left column, added another column to number the nights at a specific destination, then showed a wide column where I filled in my morning destination goal in one row and my afternoon destination in a second row. To the right of each of activity, I place the actual or estimated cost of that sightseeing. A far right column uses the spreadsheet capabilities of adding up all of the costs for that city.
This is still a good basic practice, but I have added a number of information bits. These include the following.
If the destination city means a change of currency from the previous city, I put the name of the currency in the left column just to remind myself of that. Although it is not shown on this example, nowadays I usually put the address and phone number of the American embassy in the left hand column just below the currency.
I place the name of the lodging just below the city name, together with its cost to the right. If I haven’t made reservations yet, I pick out an accommodation and its cost and put that in the spreadsheet. As I actually make the reservations, this may change if I find something better.
In the next row down, typically I show the means of transportation to be used to arrive in that city. This would include transportation mode, “lv” followed by the time I leave the previous city and “arr” for the scheduled arrival time. If the mode is anything other than train, I state the mode, such as Ryanair or Flixbus. For cities that have more than one train or bus station, be sure to note the station right in this listing. Then of course the cost goes in one of the final columns.
Now I add a next row to show the average high temperature for the month in which I will be spending time in that destination, as well as the average low. For me, if the high is 78 or above, I put that number in red to remind me I need air conditioning. If the average low is below 50, I also make that number red to remind me that I’ll need to bundle up. After my first trip, I saw that I needed to add the sunrise and sunset times. This helps me plan the day better and in particular, it shows when I may want a taxi to feel comfortable moving around early or late in the day.
The origin story of this particular detail is that in Madrid, my first European destination on the initial trip, I needed to depart for the airport about 6 am. However, sunrise there was considerably later. Although I did not feel unsafe due to bad people on the street, I did fear stumbling on unfamiliar pavement or missing an obstacle if a specific sidewalk section was dimly lit. I also could not figure out precisely where the airport bus was going to stop in the dark in the quite large Plaza de Cibeles. So now, I budget for a taxi when it will be dark. Sometimes in the course of staying in a city, I find that isn’t necessary because the path to my next transportation mode is well lit, but it is comforting to know I can catch a ride if I am unsure.
I choose the red font for any sunrises after 6 am and sunsets before 7 pm.
For both the temperature and sunlight data, I use timeanddate.com. I type this information into a single row like this: (average high, average low, sunrise, sunset).
I now have added a column that becomes second from the left in the entire sheet. There I place a number one in the column if the destination is part of the Schengen zone. If your trips are shorter than mine, of course you don’t need to worry about the limit of staying a maximum of 90 days out of a running 180 day total. I haven’t actually pushed up against the Schengen rule yet, but I’ve planned several itineraries where I contemplated 88 or 89 days in Schengen. If you don’t know what this is yet, just wait, a page of this website will be forthcoming soon.
To the right of the Schengen column, I add another column where I simply record the days at a particular destination, such as day “1,” “2”, etc. This helps me flag activities that I might find inappropriate for the first and last days in a place.
Before I drill down into the activities per day, I record wherever there is room my estimated cost for transit tickets or passes. To help me identify those quickly, I italicize that number. Usually I will include a notation about how I arrived at that number, such as 3 day passes and 1 separate ticket, or whatever the case may be.
In terms of the rows below this information, if I see that I will be taking all or most of the morning in transit, I simply put traveling in that first row for the date and then move on.
These days I also am much less rigid about choosing only one activity in the morning and one in the afternoon. Sometimes an “activity” is simply looking at the exterior or an architecturally interesting building, noting a small monument, reminding myself to make a reservation that was not yet available when the trip started, or combining two minor sites that are close together in a single half-day. In that case, two or even three things in a single half-day might not be too much.
Some of you are saying about now, what about evening? Well, I have hardly been able to break myself of the U.S. business travel attitude of not scheduling anything for the evening. But when I have interrupted my pattern, such as enjoying thoroughly a classical concert in Vienna, of course those details need a separate row too.
Despite my growing flexibility in the “only two sites per day” rule, I am just telling you that if you are listing seven or eight activities per day, each on its separate line or lines, you are probably planning way too much.
Typically I do not record meal plans in separate rows, with the only exception being a restaurant where I have a reservation or need one, or something that is extremely popular that I would hate to miss.
After I list and describe each day I will be in a certain city, I then start the next row with the word Options. There I list things I would like to do if I had time, just separating the items by commas and not making a separate row for each item. When I finish Options, I then make a row that starts with “Food.” I then type in restaurants or markets I’ve heard about for that particular location. If you have a huge number of these, such as you might accumulate for Paris or Rome, you could bold restaurants that you want to be sure to try, even while you don’t want to guess which day you might select for that place.
When a city is complete, I use the next to the last column to put in a number for food costs and unanticipated intra-city transportation costs. I use the same per diem cost number for the entire trip, even though yes, it will be more expensive to eat in Copenhagen than in Sarajevo. I started with $75 per day in 2016 but found that over the entire trip, I didn’t use nearly that much. Now I have gone down to $60, but after a while you will know your own tendencies.
After these rows, I move on to the next city and repeat.
At the top of the spreadsheet, I will include a row or more detailing the plane or oceanliner trip across the pond. Then I make a row for travel insurance. This allows me to factor in the estimated cost of each as I am planning the entire trip. Cost numbers need to be placed in the last column.
As you can guess, in the last column where I have totaled the amount for each city, plus the overall transportation cost to and from Europe and the trip insurance, I then have the ability to add those numbers in the final row.
If you are not curious about your estimated cost for the trip, you don’t have to put any cost information on the spreadsheet. However, I think for most of us, we would like to face the total amount beforehand while we can still do something about it if that sum gives us sticker shock. If you are filthy rich, you still need to know how much to take out of your investments!