Trip Planner Help

Yahoo! Travel

Trip Planner Help

What is Yahoo! Travel Trip Planner?
Frequently Asked Questions
Troubleshooting
- I can't find my trip!

What is Yahoo! Travel Trip Planner?

Trip Planner is a tool on Yahoo! Travel that lets you save hotels, attractions, restaurants, maps and more to a customized travel guide. You can add travel dates, your own comments, even bookmarks to other sites relating to your trip. Once you've created your trip, you can print a copy to take with you, or access it from any computer with Internet access. See a sample trip.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I create a trip?

First, make sure you are logged in with your Yahoo! ID. If you do not have a Yahoo! ID, please visit the sign-up page.

Once you are registered and signed in to Yahoo!, go to the Trip Planner home page and click on "Start a New Trip." Choose a name for your trip and fill in a description and dates. Now you are ready to start make additions and filling up your trip!

Is there a maximum number of trips I can create?

Currently, each user can create up to 100 trips in Trip Planner. If you reach your maximum, consider deleting some of your older trips to make room for your new ones. To delete a trip, simply click the delete link next to that trip from your Trip Planner home page.

How do I add items to my trip?

There are three ways to add items to your trip:

Within the Yahoo! Travel Guides, each hotel, restaurant, or thing to do has a Save to Trip link.
1. Click this link, and a drop-down box will appear.
2. Select the trip you'd like to add to, or choose "Create new trip" to add that item to a brand new trip.
3. Once you've made your selection, click the "Add" button. If you are creating a new trip, you will then be asked to name your trip.
You can add pages from other web sites. For more info, read about bookmarklets.
You can create your own items. For more info read about creating new items.

How do I create a new custom item?

First, you need to create a trip. Once you have created a trip, click its name from the Trip Planner home page. From this page, you can edit your trip.

To create a new item:

Choose a category from the "Create New Item" section in the top right-hand corner of the page.
Fill in the name, description, web site URLs, phone and address. It is a good idea to include an address, so you can see a map of your item (where available). If you do not have the full address, including the city name allows you to sort your items by location.
When you are done, click the "Add Item" button. Your new item will now appear in your trip.

You can edit this item at any time by clicking the "Edit" link. To delete the item, click the "Delete" link.

Can I save information from other web sites?

You can save information from other web sites by:

Creating a new item and using the web site URL and/or description fields.
Using the bookmarklet feature.

What is the 'Y! Trip Planner' bookmarklet?

The 'Y! Trip Planner' bookmarklet lets you quickly save URLs from anywhere on the Internet to your trip. To use the bookmarklet function, you need to add it to your browser's links toolbar, so you can access it easily, even when you're surfing on other sites.

To install the bookmarklet:

If you are using Microsoft Internet Explorer:
1. From any trip page, right-click on the link "Y! Trip Planner" and select "Add to Favourites".
2. Depending on your security settings, you may receive an alert that the link that you're adding may not be safe. Please click "Yes" to continue.
3. Select the "Links" folder and click "OK".
4. The bookmarklet tool should now appear in your browser's links toolbar. It will be titled "Y! Trip Planner" (unless you renamed it).
If you are using Firefox or Safari: you can simply drag the link and drop it on your browser's links toolbar.

Can I see my trip on a map?

Yes you can view them on a map. See a sample map.

How do I use the map?

There are two main ways to customise your trip map.

You can change the area displayed:

Click anywhere on the map image to re-centre the map to that point.
Use the zoom controls displayed above the map to zoom in and out.
Create your own zoom, by dragging your mouse over the map. A red border will appear, and the map will zoom in to display the selected area.
Click the links displayed under the 'More destinations' section. These links will take you to maps of the other destinations in your trip.

You can add nearby attractions, etc.:

Select one or more of the checkboxes on the left to see nearby hotels, attractions, and more.
Click any icon on the map for more info about that location.
Click the "Save to Trip" link from here to add this item to the trip you're viewing.

This is a great way to find restaurants near your hotel or hotels near the attractions you'd like to visit. See a sample map

Once you have customised your map, you can save that view by clicking the "Save this map" link in the left-hand column. Your saved map will now appear as a link in the "Saved Maps" section. Your map will also appear in the printable version of your trip.

How do I add driving directions to my trip?

Click the "to here" or "from here" link for that item. From the pop-up form, you can select an existing trip item as the origin/destination, or input an address manually. Please use caution when inputting potentially sensitive information like your home address.

Driving directions are automatically saved to your trip plan and will appear:

List View: displayed under the item(s) in question.
Map View: in the left-hand column under "Saved Driving Directions."
Print View: driving directions will be included in the printable version of your trip.

If you wish to delete driving directions, go to the map view. Click the "remove" link next to the directions you wish to delete.

Please note that driving directions are currently only available for addresses in North America.

Can I get a printable version of my trip?

To print a copy of your trip for the road, click the orange Printable Version button in the right-hand column of your trip plan. This view includes all the items in your trip, and your notes about those items. The printable view will include a map for each item wherever possible. If you have saved any customized maps for your trip, these will also appear in the printable view. See a sample

Click the print button on your browser, or select "Print" from your File menu to print this page.

What are notes?

The notes field is where you can make notes to yourself about the items in your trip. For example, you can include information like:

Best time to go
The average price or any discounts available
Where you heard about an attraction (from a friend, from a guidebook, news article).
Dishes you're planning to order in a restaurant.

What are tags?

Tags are keywords that can help you organize and quickly find the items in your trip. For example:

Keep track of who is participating in each activity (e.g., 'John', 'Paul', etc.)
Your personal ratings (e.g., 'don't miss', 'maybe', OR 4-star, 1-star, etc.)
Tag items based on any category you want (cost, distance, work vs. play, etc.)

You can tag each item in multiple ways (eg: 'Paul', 'maybe', 'cheap'). You can also narrow your items based on the tags that you have assigned to them (for example, only show items that have been tagged as 'don't miss').

Once you have created a tag, it will automatically appear as an option whenever you add tags to other items in that trip.

Can I assign dates and times to the items in my plan?

Adding dates to your trip items lets you see your trip in a schedule.

To get started:

Select start and end dates for your entire trip. You can choose these when you are creating a new trip, or you can click "Enter dates for this trip" from an existing trip page.
Now select dates and times for each item in your trip by clicking the "Add" link from that item's "Date" field.
If you decide to enter new start and end dates for your trip, all the items within your trip will update accordingly.

How do I choose an image for my trip?

Use the 'Pick Image' link next to each trip in the trip listing page. You will see a selection of generic travel images, as well as some related to locations on your trip (where available). We are working on expanding this selection and also allowing you to upload your own images.

Can I add my own images to an item that I create?

Yahoo! Travel does not support that feature at this time. Check back later!

Can other people see my trips?

When you create a trip with Trip Planner, you decide exactly who can and can't see it. From the trip details page, choose whether you want to publish your trip or not:

Selecting "yes" means that anyone can view that trip. It may also be crawled by search engines.
- If you continue without sharing, your trip is viewable by everyone, but only you can edit it.
- If you decide to share you trip with your friends (and allow them to edit it), enter their Yahoo! IDs in the box provided; only those IDs will have permission to edit the trip (learn more).
Selecting "no" means that you control who views the trip.
- If you continue without sharing, your trip remains private and is viewable only by you.
- If you decide to share your trip with your friends, enter their Yahoo! IDs in the box provided; only those IDs will have permission to view the trip (learn more).

You can change your privacy settings at any time.

If you allow others to view your trip, they may make a copy of that trip. When someone makes a copy of your trip, all of the items in your trip, as well as your notes, tags, etc. are copied to their Trip Planner. They can then make it their own by adding, editing, or deleting tags, notes and other information in their Trip Planner. Changes they make to their copy won't alter your trip.

Making a trip public allows you to share your stories with other Yahoo! travellers. Your trip might even be found in search engines or featured on Yahoo! Travel, so people can read all about your amazing adventures.

How can I plan a trip with my friends?

1. First, build a trip using Trip Planner (learn more).

2. When you are creating your trip, you will see a section called "Share with Friends". You may also access this page at any time by clicking the "Sharing settings" link from the Toolbox in the upper right-hand corner of that trip's main page.

Enter the Yahoo! IDs of the friends you would like to share your trip with. Only friends who are signed in with those Yahoo! IDs will be able to view and edit your trip.
If your friends do not have Yahoo! IDs, you will need to publish your trip (learn more) in order for them to view your trip; they will not be able to edit your trip.

3. Once you have finished creating your trip, it's time to tell your friends about it! Each trip has a unique URL associated with it. Cut that URL from your browser and paste it into an email to your friends.

How do I add a photo to my trip plan?

It's easy to add your favourite photos in your trip plan. Please note: you must have a Flickr account to add photos to your trip plan. What is Flickr?

To add your existing Flickr photos to your trip:

1. Start on the trip page where you would like to add your photo. Make sure you are in "Schedule View"

2. Click on the link: "Add/Edit Photos"

3. Log into Yahoo! from the Flickr sign-in page

If you do not have a Flickr account, activate your new Flickr account and select a Flickr screen name
If you do have an existing Flickr account, please take a moment to merge your Flickr account with your Yahoo! account

4. Drag and drop up to 6 photos into the right-hand column to create your trip album.

To upload new trip photos to Flickr and Trip Planner:

1. Start on the trip page where you would like to add your photo. Make sure you are in "Schedule View"

2. Click on the link: "Add/Edit Photos"

3. Click on the "Upload New Photos" link in the top right-hand corner of the module that appears.

4. Log into Yahoo! from the Flickr sign-in page

If you do not have a Flickr account, activate your new Flickr account and select a Flickr screen name
If you do have an existing Flickr account, please take a moment to merge your Flickr account with your Yahoo! account

5. Upload your trip photos into your Flickr account.

6. Your new photo(s) will automatically appear in your trip album.

How do I create a journal of my trip?

Create a journal to share your experiences with friends, family, and other travellers. You can wait until you return, or even post your thoughts from the road.

1. Click on the Trip Journal tab to get started.

2. Click on the orange Compose a New Entry button in the right-hand column.

Enter a title for your entry, select a day/date (optional), and start writing. You might talk about some of the places you saw, people you met, or travel tips that you learned along the way.

Tip: You can format your text using the buttons. Example: for bold, for italics, and to include an HTML link, etc.

When you are satisfied with your journal entry, click the blue Save button at the bottom of the text box. You can always edit your entries later.

To create multiple entries, just click Compose a New Entry and repeat steps 3 and 4.

You can also include the photos from your trip album in your journal. When editing your journal entry, click the camera icon . Choose any photo from your album and click "align left" or "align right" at the bottom of your photo to position it. Learn more about adding photos to your trip album.

Troubleshooting

I can't find my trip!

Make sure that you are signed-in to the Yahoo! network. Then visit: Yahoo! Travel Trip Planner Home Page. All of your trips should appear on this page.

If you still do not see your trip, make sure you are logged in under the correct Yahoo! ID. If you were logged in with another Yahoo! ID when building your trip, it will only appear when you are logged in with that ID.