The Book of Joy

I wish I could take the credit for this one, but it goes to my husband Joe. When he and I first started traveling together, he showed me a great way to make traveling a lot less stressful. He dubbed it “The Book of Joy.”

The Book of Joy is a pretty simple idea really, but has become a regular part of any trip we take. We start preparing it long before the trip begins and gets its final organization a night or two before departing. It’s a thin, plastic covered 3 ring binder that we’ve filled with clear plastic protector pages. Each one contains the documentation for a particular part of our journey, and they’re in chronological order, or order of use.

For example, on our last trip to Mexico, we drove to Portsmouth NH and took a bus service to Logan Airport. The first page of the Book of Joy was the printout of the bus tickets we purchased online, as well as the bus schedule and directions to the parking lot. Next is our flight information. The clear pages allowed us to scan right through when we were at the airport check in. All of our flight information was right there, flight numbers, times, any layovers and seat assignments. Joe even printed out the airport information so we knew whether there was a place to get breakfast once we crossed through security.

He usually includes some updated TSA guidelines, too, so we’re aware of any changes in carry on limits or allowable items. Print if off for all airlines and border crossings you’ll encounter, not just the initial departure. Airlines and countries vary in their allowances. Pay attention to this stuff. It changes often and can cause you unnecessary delays and stress. A good example of this is my sister in laws recent unplanned two hour stop in Philadelphia on their way home from Mexico. She had packed a couple of apples and had made a few sandwiches at the buffet that morning. While that was fine with the resort and with the folks at the airport in Cancun, the US considered it meat and produce and is not allowed to be brought in to the country from Mexico. She was caught finishing her apple before boarding their connection back to Maine. She said the customs guards held the apple core with latex gloved fingers like it was covered in Athrax. Though they did make their connection home, it certainly cast a shadow over their trip. At least they got a good story out of it.

Once we got to Cancun, we needed to know about the airport transfer information, so that was the next page in the Book of Joy. This would also be the place to include the rental car information and rewards club numbers if that applies. The resort reservations are after that, grouped with any documentation sent by the travel agency. It can easily be pulled out of it’s sleeve when you’ve reached the hotel check in desk. The package of information that the resort gives you at check in can be added to that section.

In the middle of the Book of Joy is some of the fun stuff. This is where Joe puts the maps of the area, the printouts of the tickets or admissions we’re purchased for various attractions. Note here: on a trip to Tampa, where we purchased the week long pass to Busch Gardens and Adventure Island, we used the plastic protector sleeve to keep the tickets dry and in good enough condition to scan each day we entered the parks. If you’ve ever printed tickets from your online purchase, which you have to do, you know how easily they can become wet and stained when in your pocket at a theme park, and the operators expect that you’ll use them all week. The print runs. The paper crumples. It’s impossible to scan at the gate.

On our trip to Mexico, this is also where we kept the information we found about identifying certain tropical fish that we’d see snorkeling. I had been on online forums searching for a restaurant to go to on Cozumel, and in Playa Del Carmen and printed out some of the reviews and directions. Menus for some restaurants that sounded interesting went into that part of the book, too.



The end of the Book of Joy is in reverse order. After you check out of the resort or hotel, you will need the information about the airport transfer, then the flight home, then any transfer or transportation from the airport to your car or home.

I’ve found this system to be incredibly helpful when traveling. There’s enough to think about when you’re headed on vacation somewhere, and having the information from each leg of the journey at your fingertips makes it so easy to move from one thing to the next. Joe usually carries this in a deep outside pocket of his carry on bag. It’s easy to access but unlikely to get lost.



Note a couple of things. We each keep our passports and driver’s licenses on our respective persons. I carry my daughter’s with me, so there’s no fumbling for any of it when checking in at the airline. We use our passports as ID even when traveling within the country. Airline personnel are more familiar with the format of a passport, with its universal standard and don’t need to try to recognize each states driver’s license.

My apologies for today's photography.  I was shooting the book on the kitchen table with an unforgiving flash.  I wanted to make sure you could read it, but the glare was hard to avoid.  Hopefully I make up for it with tomorrow's photography themed entry. 
Next week, I’ll write about the “travel wallet.” It’s a streamlined version of your wallet which includes the items you’ll need most and leaves the rest safely at home.

Hey readers!  Any one out there have a similar system for keeping track of all of your travel documentation?  How about a not so similar way that works for you?  I'd love to hear your ideas!