Pinterest Hacks for Vacation Planning

It’s the season of vacationing! Summer is almost here and I’m sure you’re getting excited about the upcoming vacation(s) you are thinking about. You may be in the process of planning and thinking about where you want to go for your vacation. Pinterest is a great resource for helping you collect your ideas and then narrow down your plans. Often times, there are many different ideas and even people involved in the planning process. Here is a process that you can use with Pinterest:

Collect Ideas

Before opening Pinterest, spend 5-10 minutes to decide what type of vacation you want to have. Is this going to be a “see as much as possible” vacation? Or do you need a restful vacation where you limit your activities? After making this decision, create a secret board (I’d recommend making it secret, so you + chosen collaborators are the only ones who can see your plans) and name it for your upcoming vacation. Then, take 15-30 minutes to browse Pinterest for destinations, places to see, food, etc. for the destination that you want to go. Your final destination could be local or thousands of miles away from home. Don’t filter your ideas yet, but allow yourself to collect the places/images that stand out. By the time you are finished with this exercise, you should have pretty good size pool of articles, photos, and images.

Narrow down your choices

Now, with the goal of your vacation in mind, start to narrow down your choices. Here are some questions you can ask yourself to help with the process of elimination:

• How far away is this activity from where I’m staying?
• How does the activity impact my vacation budget?
• Am I actually excited to go/see this place/activity, or do I just feel that I have to because it’s what everyone does?
• Does this activity or place reflect my family culture/values?
• What type of physical/mental energy does this activity involve (this may be different if you have kids vs. don’t have kids)?

If you need to dig further into how to narrow down your choices, check out “Questions to Ask When Making a Decision”.

Add your other plans

Did you know that you can add images and even PDF’s of your other trip plans? If you have flight confirmations, hotel confirmations, or other thoughts that you found outside of Pinterest, you can add them to your vacation board by creating a new pin, allowing you to keep all your plans in one spot. You can access these ideas from a computer or phone.

Collaborate with vacation buddies

One of the great features of creating a secret Pinterest board is that you can also add collaborators. You can add family members and/or friends who need to see the plans also. When adding them as a collaborator, you choose for them to only be viewers, or if you want them to participate in adding ideas. It allows you to be on the same page and makes the process a group effort.

For a step by step process and other resources on planning your vacation, also check out “How to Plan a Restful Vacation on a Budget”.

Question: What is one way you can organize your vacation better this summer? Share in the comments below!