Backpack for Travel Plans
I’ve now been a happy paying customer for 37signals’ Backpack for well over 2 years. Over that time the app has become far more convenient and polished to use and I’ve personally found better and better ways to get value out of it.
Case in point, planning a trip. Now I’m certainly not the only one to use Backpack for this purpose but I’d like to share the ways I find it most valuable.
Glimpse of What’s Coming
The first thing you’ll find is that when travel is in the works, I create a page with a consistent naming convention and add it to my sidebar such that the upcoming trips sort chronologically. This isn’t a direct replacement for my calendar, just a quick look at where we’re pretty busy and when we have some down time. Plus it’s a great unobtrusive reminder that something is getting closer and needs to be looked at more closely.
Capture the Basics Early On
With Backpack, I can create a page far in advance to capture the basics of the trip. I was recently at a conference in Copenhagen for example where I had registered about 6 months in advance. I created the page, forwarded my registration confirmation to it, and the info was there waiting for me to polish off the details later on when the event was closer.
Flush Out the Details with Rich Content
With the ability to forward emails directly to Backpack, create links, add images, and more, Backpack is incredibly robust in capturing a range of information. You can even embed live Google Maps which is absolutely brilliant for travel. For my parents’ trip coming up we started with some basic ideas and gradually filled in the blanks.
Sharing
Speaking of my parents’ trip, thanks to the newish sharing features (also brilliant), I can securely share the page with my folks so they can access and contribute to all the information without even having to sign up for an account.
All in One Place Ready to Go
Finally, and one of my favorite parts. When it’s time to head out, I open the page, embedded email attachments, and maps, and print them out to take with me. They’re all in one place so it only takes a few minutes and it saves having to hunt through old emails for reservations and flight confirmations. Easy peasy!
Even better still, as with all 37signals apps, you can sign up for a limited account for free for as long as you like and then upgrade later if you need the extra space or features.
Full disclosure: 37signals does have an affiliate program so if you click some of the links and end up signing up, I will receive a small credit. Not to worry however, I’ve been singing the praises of Backpack long before this more recent development! 
6 comments
I have to agree ~ backpack is awesome!!
=)
Backpack is awesome for travel planning, it’s really suited for it. Especially when traveling in groups that need to collaborate before/while/after the trip.
One glitch I noticed what that in calendar I can’t mark a flight that lasts several hours. It does not accept “4pm-8pm KL2232 flight from X to Y” does not work, time ranges not supported.
Re: Evgeny
You’re right that the Backpack calendar doesn’t support time ranges but I don’t believe it’s designed to. For travel planning I don’t need a detailed step by step itinerary in my calendar. If I do want a bit more detail I can just list it out in a note on the Backpack page.
If you’re looking for a more complete day to day hourly schedule I’d go with Calendar.app, Google Calendar, or something similar.
@-DjD - actually I stumbled on it when trying to gather flight information from all the people in our traveling group. We solved it by adding both “depart” and “arrive” for each flight.
Another thing that had me puzzled was pages, it seems that even when I share a page for everyone to see - they don’t see it unless they do several actions:
1. follow the “All pages” link.
2. click on “Keep in my sidebar” at the bottom.
Even though I am the administrator, there is no way to just made a page that everyone will see automatically, without manipulations to backpack too much.
I guess it’s a minor annoyance, but when there is a group of more than 1 person it’s hard to communicate it to everyone. Especially if all the people in the group are first-time backpack users.
Re: Evgeny
I know what you mean with new content. I can’t presume to know the thinking from the 37signals gang but from my point of view the sidebar is each person’s preference for which pages are important to them. When a new page is added by someone in the group a ‘New’ icon will appear next to the ‘All Pages’ link as a subtle indicator that something is hiding only a click away.
Re: -DjD-
I guess some of my team mates are not as computer savvy as me, and they dont have the urge to click every yellow “new” link they see
But alas, even after you click that link — the “<– keep in the sidebar” is really easy to miss. And after the initial “new” page, it can become a bit frustrating for a user to find the important information. Maybe it’s just not enough communication from my part, I should have explained them how to use backpack when we just me. Show around and stuff.
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