On the Road Organization
~~~reposting to this group~~~
I have been on the road the past seven weeks for work, and have stayed super organized to keep things moving forward and to deliver on all my objectives. Of course, Trello saved the day (as usual).
I created a card for each week I was travelling and each card contained key dates, flight itineraries, hotel confirmations and addresses, points of contact and addresses of the venues of our sessions. As well as any information I would need to have at my fingertips each week (participant lists, presentations, agendas, master packing checklists etc) - all organized in one weekly card.
After that week passed, I converted each weekly card to a Travel claim and added all my receipts, which made it easier for keeping track of my expenses and scanned items I need to claim. After I submitted the travel claim for reimbursement, I moved the weekly travel card to my "Waiting on" list and was able to track when my direct deposit was received and I could cross-reference the amounts to ensure they were correct. My department requires us to keep our receipts for a year, so the cards will be archived for easy reference if my finance team needs to verify any documentation in the future.
My colleagues that were travelling with me were impressed that anything they needed to know about our week or if they couldn't remember the address of venue, I was able to look up all of their queries in a matter of seconds. This gave me peace of mind as I like to be organized, efficient, effective, and prepared - and not have to depend on my internal mind to remember random information that is different each week while on the road. Trello is my external memory, keeping my mind sharp to remember the important things in life: experiences and memories.
I am nearing the end of my travels, with one week to go, and looking back I am so grateful I did the work up front to prepare everything for the seven weeks, avoiding undue chaos and stress. I highly recommend this method if you or someone you know will either be travelling for work (or for pleasure).