Travel Planning- The Beginning,

Location: The Bunker SLO

Beverage: latte

Beans: ??? Who, in this day and age, doesn't post the beans that they're using?

I had a later start this Sunday, partially because I've been super tired lately and partly because I was struggling with making a decision as to which coffee shop to head over to. It's rare that I don't start a weekend morning (or most mornings) with a fresh espresso drink from one of the many coffee shops in town, but they each have their own vibe and satisfy a different requirement. After far too many Facebook and IG reels, I headed across town to The Bunker SLO, a place who's furniture is very IKEA, but features nice tall ceilings, plenty of natural light, and ever-changing local art on the walls.

After knocking out some work for the classes I teach, I put in a little time planning my next big travel adventure, and looking at some possible mini adventures to pepper in. 

The Serious Part

I LOVE traveling, but I hate feeling rushed on my trip; organizing in the moment can eat into the fun. A few years ago I got into the habit of extensively planning trips, to the point that I often only bring spending money with me as I've got all other aspects of my trips (accommodations, entry ticket, transportations, etc.) on lock down before I ever leave the house. In the past I relied on web browser bookmarks, Google Docs, and emails to myself, but on this next big trip I've finally graduated up to the spreadsheet. 

I went with Google Sheets for two reasons-

1. It's easier for me to share with my sister, who'll be my travel buddy this time around.

2. After almost a decade in K-12 education, I'm more familiar with the Google Suite than I am with Office. I can operate in Excel with necessary, but Google has become comfortable for me, so for better or worse it's become my go-to.

I'd be playing with a spreadsheet this time around regardless, but in terms of planning I'm sticking to it more religiously for this trip as I'm going with another human, so I have to get all these ideas out of my head and onto something I can share. If you know me, you know how rare it is that I'm not traveling alone, haha. 

I built this sheet our with five pages: 

• Travel & Finances: This page acts as an overview of the entire trip and totals our definite activities from other pages. I color-coded cells to light up green when items have been checked off as "paid," I know that my travel buddy can stress and the checked off items help reduce that stress.
• Cruise: We're starting our adventure off with a Transatlantic Cruise (Brooklyn > Southhampton), so this includes cruise costs, deadlines, and optional add-ons
• London/Paris/Amsterdam: our three stops once we make it "across the pond"; each page includes definite expenses such as accommodations and agreed upon activities, as well as a planning section for us to both list our desired activities and alternates. This helps us both have an active role in planning without being overwhelmed, and allows me as the organizer to play around with scheduling said activities without having to send countless texts or emails.

There's a good chance that we'll be able to squeeze in 6 total activities in the days that we're in London, but I figured that each of us having a "Top 3" will ensure that our big wishlist items aren't skipped due to miscommunication. 

I've also included a section for notes. The cool thing about using a cloud-based spreadsheet is that you can now "@" contributors and assign them activities, so if I need my sister to make a decision, give me follow-up info or answer a question, I can put a little note here and she'll receive an email notification letting her know that she has a task to complete. I also built out the formula so she'll see the total for each activity and each city, and see her overall portion of the trip totaled on the first page. Total transparency means no surprise costs as we go.

The Fun Part

Every time I hop on my planning spreadsheet to get some of the trip planning leg work done, I end my planning session by doing a little fun wishful thinking internet browsing. The last time I hopped on I checked out the Versailles website as I was beginning to work on our Paris leg of the trip (I've been before but my sister hasn't), and realized that we can rent bicycles for an hour or two and go explore the back gardens,  something I think we'll enjoy, while also possibly making fools of ourselves in the process (photos will be shared).

This time around, I'm hunting for some more info on a possible London activity. I adore the Graham Norton Show. No, seriously, as in, I've looked at the cost of BBC streaming specifically so I can watch all of the episodes. *For the record, you can watch quite a few of the recent episodes for free here. 

SO, let's see if they'll be filming when we're in town and if I can get us tickets to a taping!

After a quick internet search, it looks like you head to SRO Audiences and fill out a form for the show that you'd like to attend, and hope for the best! They choose individuals at random to receives tickets, so you have to get on their mailing list. Ugh! I hate when things are up in the air.

More to come on this, let's see if I can find a connection at the BBC who may be able to get me more info.

Versailles bicycles: I mentioned the Versailles bicycles earlier, and wanted to give more info. They charge by the half hour, hour, half day, and full day, with rentals starting at 10am. 

You pick up your bicycles at the La Petite Venise restaurant, or at Saint Anthony or Queen's Gates on the weekend and holidays.

The 3 times I've been to Versailles, I've noticed that it can be really warm, or overcast, so I would suggest dressing in layers. The line to get in can be crazy long and there isn't any shade, so plan accordingly. If you want to pretty much skip the line, pay extra for one of the guided tours, you'll also get into the main part of the Palace and the back gardens, but enter off to the side as you start your guided tour.