crunchy parenting

Travel Series: Planning a Trip with Evernote « Evernote Blogcast

We recently took a road trip to Mammoth and having cleaned out my Evernote notebooks, I decided to get digitally organized for this trip. Years ago, I would print out all my airline tickets, rental agreements, airline car seat policies, contact information sheets. To keep it from being a mad bundle or from having to carry a folder around, I would fold each into eighths and write on the outside what each is. Stashed in one pocket, it would be easy to quickly grab the one I wanted and it was easy to keep them with me, no matter the size of my bags.

Of course, this was pre-iPhone days.

I’ve jumped onto the latest travel apps (iOS and web, even Blackberry), but other than using TripIt, I’ve rarely had an organized approach, until the last two road trips. It may not be classically crunchy, but if it helps you print out less paper, and stay relaxed while traveling knowing where everything is, I’m sure that helps in the parenting arena, too!

• Use TripIt. Really, it’s super easy. As you make your plans online, email your reservation details to plans@tripit.com. TripIt pulls all the information together into a cohesive itinerary for all your individual stays, rentals and activities. I’ll be honest that I’d only rate the email feature about 3/5. Even for major chains like Hertz, I often have to forward the email twice to get it to read it correctly. Annoying, but entering the details manually isn’t a dealbreaker for me, given the frequency of our traveling right now. Maybe later it will be.
• Use Evernote. I use Evernote as a general-purpose, but not-supersensitive filing cabinet. So I stash receipts there, but not passwords or account numbers. This trip, it was fantastic to create a travel notebook and use it for receipts and backup of the reservation confirmations. I also took pictures during the walkaround of the rental car and uploaded that, as well as taking a picture of the dashboard for the odometer and gas amount. Five days later, tired and driving home, it was easy to pull up the pic and figure out if we needed to put gas before returning. And it took me a second to do.
• Use FlightTrack. It’s available for iOS, Droid, BB and more. Gate info, delays, cancellations, maps: you name it, this will be your  go-to app for anything flight-related.

http://video.ted.com/assets/player/swf/EmbedPlayer.swf

Julian Treasure talks about how we can improve our listening.

My darling little Ginny is just over a year and walking. Entirely gone are the days of crawling or sitting in one place. Walking is the fun activity du jour and she only asks to be carried in the evenings as she gets tired from the day. One day, that, too, shall pass.

I feel them getting older and more independent every day and I am reminded to let go gracefully. My precious children, that I try to overprotect by carefully controlling every influence and scenario; these are the signs of over-controlling. I really must learn the art of surrender.

So this week, here are some lovely articles and blogs to help you let go with love in your heart.

• Learning to Let Go
• How to Learn the Art of Surrender
• Learning to Let Things Go // … at work.
• Learning to Let Go With Love // … in relationships.
• Learning Not Just How to Let Go, But When // … of a loved one.

Image via Wikipedia

• Don’t pack anything they won’t let you bring on board.
• Don’t carry wrapped presents. They may unwrap them, and even if not, your wrapping will look fresher if you do it when you arrive at your destination. (Or “wrap” them in an eco-friendly, sewn bag!)
• Carry TSA-friendly kid snacks. One staffer actually had me open every SEALED squeeze pouch of applesauce and eat a little. You never know what they’re going ask you.
• Pack an empty water bottle to fill up from the water fountains on the other side.
• Empty your pockets. Take off your shoes. Take off your belt and sunglasses. Hold your ID/passport and ticket in your hand. Get these things ready before you get to the conveyor.
• If there’s a family line and you have kids, pick that lane. Both TSA and other passengers will be thanking you under their breath.
• Carry your child through the metal detector and opt out of the AIT scanners. Know your rights about pat-downs.
• Load your items on the conveyor in this order: shoes in bin, belts/sweaters/extra items in next bin, laptop in next bin, carry-on bag. If they want to rescan your bag, this won’t hold you up on getting dressed on the other side.
• Double, triple, quadruple -check you have everything with you before you leave the checkpoint. On the plane is too late to realized you’ve left behind a loved toy or your cellphone.