When going on vacation, it is important to have a plan. You need to know where you plan to go, what sites you want to visit, what restaurants you want to be sure to visit at least one time, and what attractions you would be sorely disappointed if you miss. You must also be sure to schedule in time to rest and rejuvenate. If you compare the vacations of people who go with an itinerary with those who just ‘wing it’, you will find that those who make an itinerary visited more places and made more lasting memories. Additionally, planning will help keep you within the budget that you have set for your vacation. It will also help keep you organized to ensure that your transportation is already set up and you do not forget to pack anything.
Microsoft has created the vacation itinerary planner. It is free, simple to download, and easy to customize to your vacation. It will also make your vacation run smoother. It has places for Destinations, Transportation
How to Download the Vacation Itinerary Planner
- Simply click on the Download button
- Choose the option to save the template to your computer.
- Your computer may have saved the template as a number and not named it for you. If that is the case, simply rename the template.
- Open up Excel, choose new.
- Choose new template, then newly downloaded templates.
- Depending on your system, if you saved the template to documents, you may be able to merely go to your documents and click on the template. It will then bring up Excel and generate the template itself.
The Vacation Itinerary Planner is Easy to Customize to Your Vacation
The Vacation Itinerary Planner comes with six areas. These areas include Destinations, Transportation, Lodging, Finances, Packing, and Contacts. Each is needed to keep your vacation running smoothly. They each have subcategories to keep you organized. However, you can change the number of boxes that are needed, either adding or subtracting.
- Each field can be changed for your needs.
- Destination Includes the date, country, city, language, whether you need a passport, and a place for notes. However, these fields can be changed or removed. If you are staying in only one city, you can remove that option. If you are staying within your home country then you can remove concerns about a passport and language.
- Transportation includes dates, where you are traveling between, the type, cost, and whether you need reservations. Most of these are key in any vacation. Each field can be adjusted or columns removed in case you are taking your own vehicle or only need to be concerned about one or two.
- Lodging includes dates, locations, name, phone number, cost, and whether you need reservations. Most of these are essential in almost any travel. Even if you are staying in a well known brand of hotel, it is possible to get lost or end up at their wrong location. However, you can remove extra columns if you do not plan to use more than one or two locations.
- Finances are a very important part of the Vacation Itinerary Planner. It includes country, currency, exchange rate, American Express Location, and notes. However, these can be changed. If you are staying within your own country the exchange rate and American Express Locations are not a concern, instead those columns can be changed to include planned expenses for travel, lodging, meals, etc.
- Packing is another key part of the planner. The fields include clothes, shoes, maps, entertainment, and miscellaneous. Once again fields can be added for things such as toiletries or changed if you plan to use a navigator rather than a map.
- The last section is Contacts. It includes people, contacts, and phone. All three are vital in case you lose the information of your emergency contacts or the person picking you up from the airport. More fields can be added if that person responds better to e-mails, etc.
The Vacation Itinerary Planner is not just a free template. It is something that can become invaluable when planning your next vacation. It will reduce the number of lists needed and the reduce the likely hood of the forgetting something vital. Your likely hood of having a disaster vacation will be greatly reduced.
Download: Vacation Itinerary Planner
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