Microsoft OneNote Makes Planning a Family Vacation Easier #Spon #OfficeTravels

Planning a trip is always a huge deal especially for a family of six. There are so many details and lists that need to be made. In this sponsored post, I will show you how using Microsoft OneNote to plan my family’s dream vacation to Aruba made my life easier. We love to go to the beach, so someday soon, I plan to take my family to Aruba. It was a lot of fun planning it.

Microsoft OneNote is part of the Microsoft Office 365 suite. I received a one year subscription to Office 365 and Microsoft is providing a one year subscription to one of my readers (giveaway at end of this post).

Travel Planning With Microsoft OneNote

I’m a very visual person so I want to see pictures of hotels and activities before I decide which is best for my family. With Microsoft OneNote, it was so easy to take a screen clip from a web page and send it to OneNote.

OneNote Travel Template

Using the Microsoft OneNote Travel Planner template (download the template), I took clippings of the different hotels that were family friendly so I could compare them side by side. Each clipping included a link directly to the page where the screen clip came from if I needed more information.

OneNote Screen Clips

I found that there were many activities we could do in Aruba, so I took screen clips of the activities. Next, I shared the OneNote travel notebook with everyone in my family. Each person could see the activities and put their name next to the activities they wanted to do. It was easy for me to see who wanted to do what so we could plan our days.

I included a map of where Aruba is and of the island, so that my kids would know exactly where we are going. We can familiarize ourselves with the island before we go.

Access On-The-Go

I discovered there is a lot of important information about travel documents and things we would need to know once we are on the island. Having access to my information on my phone and tablet through the mobile versions of Microsoft OneNote means I will never be without the information. I use SkyDrive to keep all my devices synced with the latest information.

Sharing OneNote Notebooks

I created packing checklists so no one in my family could say they didn’t know what they needed to bring. It was right in the shared OneNote Travel Notebook. I created a tab for each family member with information that was specific to them such as meds they needed to bring, etc. Each person could also add notes to their section that they wanted to remember.

Since this isn’t a trip we will be taking in the next few months, I can continue to add notes, pictures and links when I come across the information and I always have it with me in a very organized way. Much better than my “print and hope I can find it” method I was using before. If I find something offline, I can take a picture of it and add it to the OneNote Travel Notebook.

Password Protected Information

It’s always important to have copies of your important travel documents. I plan to take photos of our passports, tickets and any other important confirmation numbers. If something happens and we lose the documents, I will have easy access to the copies in my OneNote Travel Notebook. I do not want those copies to fall into the wrong hands, so I will password protect that section of the Notebook, so it can only be accessed with the password.

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post from One2One Network and Microsoft Office 365. All opinions stated are my own.

One Year Office 365 Subscription Giveaway    ENDED

Microsoft is providing one(1) reader with a one(1) year subscription to Microsoft Office 365.

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Microsoft Office 365 Features

• The latest and most complete set of Office applications: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Publisher and Access.
• One license for the entire household to use Office on up to five devices, including Windows tablets, PCs or Macs, and get Office on Demand from any Internet-connected PC.
• An additional 20 GB of SkyDrive cloud storage, nearly three times the amount available with a free SkyDrive account.
• 60 free Skype world calling minutes per month to call mobile phones, landlines or PCs around the world.
• Future upgrades, so you always use the latest time-saving technology.
• Automatic save to SkyDrive, so your documents — and even your personal settings — are always available from virtually anywhere and on your favorite devices

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post from One2One Network and Microsoft Office 365. All opinions stated are my own.