Think about the last time you were traveling, how many pieces of paper you had to keep up with: ticket, boarding pass, hotel confirmation, rental car confirmation, upgrade confirmation. Wouldn’t it be great to have all those things on one sheet of paper? That’s where making a great travel itinerary comes in!
I got this idea because my boss at the time traveled extensively. I wanted to simplify finding the various information for his travel, as well as make it easy for his wife to find him while he was traveling. Once I had all the travel arrangements made for his trip, I would type everything up in an easy to read format. I have uploaded a sample Travel Itinerary for your perusal/use. Note that this one is made up. None of the flight numbers, times, hotel information is real.
Some tips for the itinerary:
- Notice that each date heading is bolded to make the current day’s itinerary easy to find. This is especially important for multi-leg trips. I’ve created intineraries that hit 6 countries in less than two weeks. Unfortunately, that one was lost to a harddrive crash so I can’t share it with you here.
- Be sure to include the name of the airport since many larger cities have more than one. You don’t want your boss showing up at the wrong airport because you forgot to tell her that this one time she’s flying out of the other one.
- Make sure to include driving directions. I personally prefer Yahoo Maps for driving directions, but many swear by MapQuest as well. I type out the driving directions on the itinerary itself and print just the driving map from Yahoo Maps as a backup. Less paper to shuffle that way.
- Be sure to include hotel contact numbers and print out a copy of the itinerary for the boss’s spouse/partner. If you have the spouse’s e-mail, send it directly to him/her in case the boss forgets to take it home (which you know is going to happen).
- As an added service, call the hotel to check on good restaurants close by that your boss may enjoy. Include that information on the itinerary. If she’s flying in late, check specifically on restaurants that are open when she arrives in case she wants a meal before going to the hotel.
- Don’t forget, if your boss is arriving late, be sure and let the hotel know it will be a late arrival or he may arrive to find his hotel room has been given away!
- Include information about any special items the boss wants in a hotel: broadband connection, gym hours, that sort of thing. Never assume something will be available. Always ask when you make the travel arrangements.
I never thought much about the itineraries I produced for my much traveling boss (he was VP of Worldwide Support for a big, multinational software company), until other assistants in the company started calling me asking for the template. Their bosses had seen the itineraries I’d put together for my boss and were asking their assistants why they didn’t do the same thing!
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As someone who traveled frequently (and for long durations) the travel tips here are great.
But one of my pet peeves about traveling was that I often had weeks (sometimes months) on the road, and laundry was a big issue. Hotels that offer the service sometimes only contract it out or have a relationship with the dry cleaners nearby. My problem was I needed fairly fast turnaround since I only spent one or two nights in each area.
That’s a good point, MarkH. Thanks for posting it.
If your boss is going to be on the road for a while, then try to find a hotel that has a laundry service with a turnaround of 1 day or less.
Hi Jodith,
I’m an Executive Assistant in Turkey for almost 10 years.
I just would like to say thank you for sharing your experiences. They are really helpful!
Hi, Cigdem. I’m glad you’ve found them helpful! Thank you for taking time to stop and comment.
I always ask the hotel about a good restaurant.
That’s a nice tip.
i prefer to use google map rather than Yahoo or MapQuest before traveling to any place that i have never been there before.
Kirstin´s last blog ..Villa Senang / 3 Bedroom Deluxe
I’ve used Google Maps, but I’ve just always preferred the formatting of Yahoo maps and how their driving directions are set up. You get more leeway in formatting the printed copies.
I think these tips are great for anyone in the business world. It is hard to get very good, sound advice, but this really is. I think many people could learn a lot from this blog/site.
I always ask the hotel about a good restaurant.
The hotel is always a good source for local information. Other things to ask the hotel about are gym locations, 24 hour shopping, pharmacies, and local entertainment.
Great tips! I am interviewing for an Admin Asst job tomorrow and knew I needed to find out more about travel planning for executives. I was a travel agent back in the ’80′s and did a good job with it. I appreciate your hint about maps/driving directions since the internet wasn’t a tool back then. Thanks.
I can never keep track of all my papers, especially from Departing to Arriving. It’s such a hassle. Is it possible though to put them ALL in one? Between the car service, hotel, dining, meetings and flight info, it doesn’t seem like it could fit on one paper without using entirely too small of font!
Thanks
Gia