Hi Reader,

Planning an international trip with several flights, hotels, and countries can feel overwhelming. I’ve found that it’s much easier when I book everything in a specific order and keep the details organized from the beginning.

How I Plan a Complicated International Trip

I usually start planning an international trip with the flights.

If we’re traveling for a cruise, conference, or another event with fixed dates, I first search for one-way flights toward our destination. I don’t always look for a flight directly to the final city.

For a European trip, I’ll search for the best points redemption or airfare to several cities. Once we’re in Europe, it’s often fairly easy and inexpensive to take a short flight or train to our final destination.

This approach can also turn a connection into another experience.

On our current trip, we’re stopping in Frankfurt before continuing through Istanbul to Almaty, Kazakhstan. Later, we’ll fly to Doha before returning home. Frankfurt wasn’t the main reason for the trip, but the stopover gives us another place to explore.

After finding the outbound flights, I search for flights home. Booking one-way flights gives me more flexibility to use different airlines, points programs, and arrival or departure cities.

Once the main flights are booked, this is my usual order.

1. Hotels
2. Tours and attractions
3. Restaurants
4. Airport transfers and other local transportation

There are always exceptions. If hotel availability is more challenging than flight availability, I may reserve a refundable hotel first. Hawaii is a good example.

Another exception is Mama’s Fish House on Maui. Once I know our flight dates, I check Mama’s Fish House because its reservations can disappear months in advance.

For our February Hawaii cruise, we also coordinated flights, a Honolulu hotel, rental cars on several islands, and activities during each port visit.

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Keep Every Reservation in One Place

I use both Wanderlog and TripIt to organize our trips.

Most travelers probably only need one, but each serves a different purpose for me.

TripIt automatically creates an itinerary from my reservation confirmations. I have TripIt Pro through my job, so it tracks both my business and personal travel.

I use Wanderlog to plan what we’ll do at each destination. I can add attractions, restaurants and other places to a map, then arrange the route to avoid unnecessary backtracking.

These apps are especially helpful when a trip includes several countries, airlines, hotels and tours.

Before leaving home, I check that every reservation includes the correct date, local time and location. This matters when crossing time zones or arriving shortly after midnight.

I also download digital copies of important confirmations, but I don’t rely entirely on my phone.

Some countries may ask for proof of onward travel or hotel reservations. Internet access can also be unreliable when you need it most. I print copies of our flight, hotel, and tour confirmations so I can reach them without Wi-Fi, cellular service, or a charged phone.

It may feel old-fashioned, but paper still works.

My Reusable Trip Planning Folder

I organize the printed copies in one of these plastic two-pocket folders.

I’ve used the same folders for years. I start a folder as soon as I begin planning and add confirmations as I book each part of the trip.

Shortly before we leave, I review everything and remove outdated or duplicate pages. It’s easy to print the same hotel confirmation twice after changing a reservation.

The plastic folder protects the paperwork and slides easily into my backpack pocket. I can pull it out quickly at an airport, hotel, or immigration checkpoint without searching through my entire bag.

How do you organize a trip with several destinations? Do you keep everything on your phone, print paper copies, or use both?

Until next time,

Melodie
​Travel Must Do's​

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