eTripCafe - The Art of Travel / Trip Builder: Overview   No Trip Selected
 
The step-by-step Trip Builder Overview will guide you and help you get started planning and creating your next travel adventure.
Home/Login    New Account
 
eTripCafe - The Art of Travel
 Trip Builder Overview: Planning, research and building your trip Trip Builder Example   Planning & Research Example
Building a trip requires time, organization, research and planning.  Don't be overwhelmed, that's actually the fun part, finding interesting and fun places to visit and things to do.  For now, and to get started, let's forget about that and dive right in to building a trip so you can see how easy it actually is.  Simply follow the Basic Steps below: Add a new trip, add some locations, add activities to the locations then adjust your start date and the number of nights at each location.  That's it!  Of course, there are many other functions available such as the setting Booking Priorities, creating Activity Groups and using the Travel Planner.  You can always adjust your trip information at any time, although once you begin booking your activities, changes will naturally become more restrictive.
 Trip Builder Overview
Trip Master When a trip is selected, the Trip Master links become active, allowing you to build and view your trip.
Trip Builder An overview of all the Trip Master functions.  This is where you actually 'Build' your trip.  Simply follow the steps below to easily build your entire trip.  Keep in mind that all trip details can be changed or adjusted at anytime.
     
 Trip Builder Main
Trip Builder Overview
My Trips Step 1: Create new trips or select an existing trip to edit and view.
Locations Step 2: Manage all your trip locations.
Activities Step 3: Manage trip activities such as accommodations, transportation, attractions and other activities.
Nights/Dates Step 4: Set the trip departure date and the number of nights you plan to stay at each location.
Control Step 5: Enter trip-level details including notes, checklists and control the private, public and mobile viewing options.
     
 Trip Builder +
Travel Planner The Travel Planner is a valuable part of your trip planning, allowing you to track estimated arrival and departure times, the amount of time you plan to spend at each location and the travel time and mode between locations. Icons provide quick links to maps as you travel between locations.
Booking Priorities Manage the Booking Priority for all your trip activities. Set text/color-coded indicators to remind you of the activities that should be booked first, helping to ensure availability before booking other less import activities.
Day Trips A Day Trip is when you travel to one or more locations that are close enough to make a round-trip within a day, but does not require an overnight stay. Here, you can define your Day Trips by giving them a Title and selecting a Highlight Color. Once created, they can be assigned to the locations where they apply.
Activity Groups Creating Activity Groups for each location allows you to group related activities together. Color coding provides an easy way to recognize related activities. Using the Mobile Trip Profile, you will be able to set to display or hide specific activity groups for each location.
Sharing Share public and mobile trip profiles with friends and family by adding your trip to their Trip Tracker.
     
 Summaries
Trip Summary Several different display options are available to customize the information you want to view on your Trip Summary page which is private to you as the trip owner when logged into your account.
Cost Summary Displays the total cost of your trip broken down by location and activity.
Public View The Public View allows others to view your trip if you decide to share it with them.  You can activate/deactivate the public viewing option at any time on the Trip Control page.
Print Preview Prior to your departure, Print Your Trip and bring it with you as a back-up copy of all your trip information.
     
 Mobile Trip Profile - Taking your trip with you
Mobile View The Mobile Trip View allows you to access all your trip details as you travel.  Use the Trip Builder to build your entire trip, then access it on your mobile device.
     
 Photos & Videos
All Activity Photos View all your trip photos and display settings in one location.
Photo Timeline View the Activity Photo Timeline of photos you have uploaded to your activities during your trip, using the mobile photo upload page.
Slideshow Watch a slideshow presentation of all your trip photos.
All Activity Videos View all your trip videos and display settings in one location.
     
 Premium Services
Mobile Photo Upload Using the Mobile Trip Profile, upload Photos to your trip activities.
Mobile Blogging Using the Mobile Trip Profile, enter Blog comments at the Trip, Location and Activity levels.