Everywhere I go, I pick up the local tourist flyers and magazines. I also request info from the areas I plan to visit. I keep all my AAA maps. The file folder is overflowing, the box is full, and I can't remember where I put stuff. So, how do you keep track of the stuff you want to see? I have a PDA, but I like reading the info in hard copy form. Do you file or stack by state, or area, or time of year?
I used to keep it all, kind of, sort of organized. But we moved a year and a half ago and I tossed it. I now rely on our journal that we record all of our camping and trips in to have the pertinent info that I need. I write down info that is interesting to me every day that we travel in the journal. I still get the hard copies of stuff but it is not kept long term.
Lew
Don't lose your head...to save a minute...you need your head...your brains are in it...Burma Shave
I use expandable file folders, the kind meant to handle a year's worth of household records, pocket for each month. Organize by state or province, pockets for regions within the state, a pocket or two for special statewide stuff like event calendars, campground directories. Some states (like Texas or Florida) may fill more than one folder, but in other areas a couple or three adjacent states will fit together in just one.
The file folders get stacked up by area of the country, making a sort of a topologic map of North America. OK, maybe the problem is a little bigger, because we travel globally too.
Every so often, particularly coming back with a new collection of information, I weed out what is outdated, or turned out to be uninteresting, and add the new stuff.
The current collection, what is in the file folders, is about eight feet of file shelf space, i.e. about 4 to 6 drawers worth. We do drag it out for trip planning.
We have a secondary file system, for the stuff DW says is souvenirs of the trip, not information for planning. She takes care of that stuff, organizes by trip, an "event" focus rather than a geographic organization.
Complications? The stacks of folders end up in different places, some folders get duplicated. Try to organize it in a filing cabinet, stuff gets lost in the cabinet.
Had the idea once, I would scan the brochures, organize the images on the computer, toss the paper. That doesn't go very fast. A project for the next life?
OP, sounds like you are mixing the "remember this trip?" stuff with "plan the next trip" stuff. To DW, that is a no no.
Once upon a time I used to do that too. I had a milk crate, file folders just fit into that with tabs up. Tabs were labeled by state. When we were planning trips I would just pull the state(s) file we needed.
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I have one drawer of a four drawer file cabinet dedicated to travel brochures, etc., organized by state. I also clip newspaper and magazine articles and file them. I only keep information on things I want to see in the future, not souvenirs. Souvenirs go in a different location.
Tim
"Okay, I admit it, the only thing I'm really good at is being me."
tatest wrote: OP, sounds like you are mixing the "remember this trip?" stuff with "plan the next trip" stuff. To DW, that is a no no.
I actually will grab duplicate stuff, if I plan on using it for the scrapbook, ya know, cutting out better pictures than I take, or interesting descriptions of the history of an area. I like your idea of organization, and I do have the room at home.
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