Trip Boss™ is based on an actual paper log that was used by a family. The log was a way to not only track costs and document where the family went and what the family saw, but a way to engage the whole family into the trip. Mostly the logbook was used for road trips, but Trip Boss™ has been adapted for all types of travel. The log book also included some non-essential items, such as recording crossings into new states and time zones, which enabled the parents to start a dialog with the children about these items. The kids learned much through this logbook, plus it was fun, so it stayed with them. The family reused these books over and over, whether it was to help identify pictures long forgotten, or to revisit campsites and hotels, in which were clean and full of the required amenities. The log helped the family understand travel time and helped plot and plan out future vacations. Of course, the journal entries were priceless, and brought back countless memories and trip quotes.
Use the distance calculator to estimate the time to travel each day and the destination, when mapping out a road trip. Use past trips to help estimate realistic progression.
Use the budgeting feature to budget your expenses. Individual items can be reallocated during the trip to still achieve overall budget. Use past trip expenses to estimate required trip funds.
Store your itinerary in one convenient and compact place--your PDA!
Use past trips to plan where to stay, where to eat, what to see (again) and when.
Allow the whole family to enter data into the journal. Note the weather conditions for future trips (i.e. April is not a good time for mountain travel).
Track expenses according to budget, reallocating areas as needed to meet overall budget.
Track daily distance and time to check progress and to use for future trip planning.
Use the tracking of distances, times, expenses, location ratings, crossing into new time zones, countries, and states as an educational experience to engage the whole family.
If you are a hiker, you can use the pastimes section to record the distance and times of your hikes.
Rate all lodging, restaurants, and places for future reference and future trip planning.
Keep track of fuel economy.
Use the currency calculator for entering multiple currencies into expense tracking log.
Use summaries and graphs for a quick look at trip progression and to evaluate trips.
Evaluate trip: time, distance, budget.
Review the journals for memories.
Review the journals for picture captioning.
Save for future reference and trip planning.