What's in a trip plan?
A checklist! A trip plan is best structured as a list of places you need to visit with, preferably, an accompanying map. Today, we launch a new checklist tempalte format: Trip Plan. It allows simple users and publishers to easily create and share their trip plans as well as embed them on their own site.I am an expat living in The Netherlands and one of the triggers for coming up with the concept for checklist.com was a moving checklist I needed to use repeatedly as I relocated around the globe. My second trigger was friends and family visiting regularly and having the same question: "what should we see or do in the Amsterdam"? And it always came down to me having to re-think the answer I gave previously, jot it down on paper or by email and then walk them through it on a paper map (or Google Maps if they were more tech-advanced). Couldn't there be a better way of doing it? Enter the "Trip Plan" format for checklist templates. At the end of the day, a trip plan is simply a list of to dos for your trip. Top it with an interactive map, a clean layout and you have a Checklist. Today we are launching this new format for our Checklist Templates so that our users can easily create and share their trip plan ideas with other users and embed them on their own sites. All trip plan templates can be saved to a user's checklist.com account and sync automatically across their devices. So when they do go on that trip, all info is available for them on the go and without any need for expensive roaming charges.
How to Create a Trip Plan?
Select the Trip Plan format from the Publish menu found at the top bar of our site and:
- Easily create a list of places to visit
- Enter your comments per place
- Add some trip tips (what to bring, highlights etc.)
- Publish
- Share via social media or Embed on your site
So what's in a plan?
Once you have created your plan, each Point Of Interest (POI) you have specified will be shown in an interactive card as follows:
Beyond enjoying your pictures and notes, users can click on the title to visit the POI's website and click on the Map location icon to view it on the interactive map. Users can also book accommodation or transportation nearby.Users can decide the save the whole plan or select individual POIs to add to their plan by checking the checkboxes on the cards. Save and/ or download to their smartphone or desktop:
Who should publish a Trip Plan?
Naturally, anyone can use this format. But it is best suited for:
- Travellers. Planning an upcoming trip for yourself which you want to share with family and friends? Or maybe friends asked you about a previous trip you took.
- Travel blogs. Most travel bloggers document their trip in blog format (i.e pictures and text). But they are missing structure and a Call-To-Action for readers at the end. Wouldn't it be great if you could embed the trip plan at the bottom of the trip and provide it as a starting point for readers to plan THEIR adventure?
- Destination marketeers. We live in the mobile age. Stop sharing your destination itineraries in PDF format or static pages. Bring them to life with an interactive trip plan.
Beyond a Trip Plan Itinerary, you can also use this format to create listings for Top Restaurants, Places to visit or Things To Do. The sky is the limit.Don't forget that by sharing your trip plan on Checklist.com, you are exposing your expertise to our site visitors. When embedding a trip plan, any user that saves a checklist via the embed gets a link back to your site building for you a "sticky relationship" with your users. And, as always, it is 100% free!
Embed your Trip Plan on your site
Once you have created a Trip Plan, easily embed it on your website. Here is an example of a trip plan to the Catalan Pyrenees:
Catalonia Pyrenees Trip PlanWe are working on an improved Embed that will include the interactive map as well. Let us know if you want to trial it. Share your feedback on this new format in the comments below. We are listening. Contact us if you need help publishing your trip plan.