A modern approach to planning vacations

A great tool for planning is an electronic spreadsheet. You can use any products as they are similar, like the Microsoft Excel, Libre Office, or Google Docs. The last one also has the benefit of sharing your spreadsheets online (which is great if travel in a group). Let’s see how the spreadsheet solution may help you when planning a vacation.

1. Columns and rows

Create columns which should correspond to the date, the number of the day, destination, cost, etc. Consider only the necessary points. Don’t create excessive columns. You can make columns on separate pages for different countries or different cities, as an example. Imagine you want to visit both New York and Boston, which will be two separate pages. As an example, you are going to visit a Barber Shop Midtown West on the second day, which will be one of the three activities throughout the day, with a certain price and timing. Fill out the last two activities, and the day two is done.

2. Some maths

Using the formulas in the spreadsheet is easy even for a beginner. You will also have the benefit of calculating the costs of alternative activities using the if statements. It is okay to create more than one total price columns in the case of alternatives. Don’t forget to create a cell for the total price of the whole trip. A great choice is to leave a cell for unforeseen expenses. This one, of course, demands budget planning.

3. Additional benefits

You can add descriptions links right to your spreadsheet. The possibility of sharing lets people you go with add their links and remarks. It is also easy to format the numbers into currency. The formulas may help you calculate your currency into foreign one right away. Sharing will also help you define the specific dates. By the way, put the specific dates in the end, even if you go alone.

Don’t limit yourself. Plan whatever you want using a spreadsheet. Traveling is just a single case among the myriads of possible ones.