麻豆传媒

When I imagined the idea of travelling Europe for six months, I pictured sipping coffees in charming cafes, hiking to the tops of cliffs with inspiring vistas, sitting in pubs and meeting friendly locals. And already, there鈥檚 been plenty of that -- a dream trip I know I鈥檓 lucky to be on.

But there is also a lot of late-night planning and worrying as well, co-ordinating train and bus times, booking rentals, planning itineraries that will be both interest the kids and hopefully exhaust them a little too, making sure we have what we need to get through customs.

That takes a fair bit of organizing, and after two months on the road, I think we鈥檙e finally getting the hang of it (we鈥檙e slow starters). Here鈥檚 how we鈥檙e doing our best to stay organized on the road.

Print off all travel documents: There are lots of great travel planning apps out there, such as and , that can help organize travel itineraries and the sites on your must-see list. I鈥檓 more of a do-it-yourself organizer and keep everything in documents I can access online, such as through Google Docs or Sheets. But no matter how great the app, it鈥檚 still a good idea to double up with paper form.

I鈥檝e sailed through check-ins using e-tickets or boarding passes downloaded to my phone, but I can鈥檛 tell you the number of times I鈥檝e accidentally left an app open only to have my phone battery drain out. When you鈥檙e only metres away from the customs desk and you can鈥檛 pull up your documents to show you have booked a flight back out of the country, you realize why having paper forms of everything is so important.

Paper lists are also key when travelling to countries with a language you don鈥檛 know. If you need to ask for directions or hire a taxi and you can鈥檛 pronounce the address, you鈥檙e going to wish you had it all written down.

Delegate duties: Travelling days are stress days. There鈥檚 the corraling of stuff, the corraling of kids, the worrying about flight and train times, the passports. We鈥檝e found it鈥檚 best to split the duties. I鈥檓 good with maps and with people, so I鈥檓 in charge of liaising with Airbnb hosts and finding directions. My husband鈥檚 good with numbers and schedules, so he鈥檚 in charge of all timing and money affairs.

And the kids are in charge of their own stuff. That means it鈥檚 up to them to pack their backpacks with the pencils, papers, earbuds, and snacks they need for each journey. If they forget something, well, that鈥檚 just a lesson to be more organized the next time.

Pack light: The key rule of keeping four people organized during months of travel is to simply carry around as little stuff as possible. That means a minimum of clothes, no more than two pieces of footwear per person, the bare necessities of toiletries, e-readers instead of books, and for the most part, no picking up souvenirs or gifts for family back home.

This has been a hard lesson for our kids to accept, since they are attracted like magnets to shops with 鈥渃ute鈥� things they absolutely have to have. But the point of this trip is to go out and see things, not acquire more stuff. What鈥檚 more, extra baggage is a drag and expensive on flights, so the less we carry with us the better.

Stick to the rule of two: It isn鈥檛 easy trying to pack for different countries with different climates. We鈥檝e been to beaches, the chic streets of Paris, and the damp forests of Ireland, all with the same wardrobe. We鈥檝e made a rule to keep no more than two of anything -- two pairs of pants, two T-shirts, two sweaters. It means choosing items carefully and picking items that can do double duty.

My black turtleneck works in both nice restaurants and the hiking trails, for example. Same with my husband鈥檚 no-wrinkle pants. We aren鈥檛 turning heads with our fashion choices, but we鈥檙e keeping things light and simple.

Refine your wardrobe as you go: Even with our wardrobe, we鈥檝e still had to make some adjustments. We have already had to send home a padded envelope of things we no longer use, including shorts, flip-flops and a T-shirt or two. (For the kids, we found a donation box in Dublin since the clothes won鈥檛 fit by the time we get back anyway.) But that鈥檚 ok; the cost of shipping wasn鈥檛 much and was still cheaper than buying a third suitcase or paying baggage fees.

At the same time, I鈥檝e also picked up a few things, including a wool coat and a couple of toques at a charity shop for about $20. Before we hit the next warm place, I鈥檒l find another charity box and donate it all back.

Unpack immediately: Living out of a suitcase gets ridiculous pretty quick. We鈥檝e found that packing cubes are really helpful because not only do they keep each person鈥檚 things separate, they compact your clothes down for more space during packing. Then, when we reach our next destination, they making unpacking a breeze; we simply take out our cubes and dump them directly into separate drawers.

Manage photos every day: We鈥檙e taking a crazy number of photos on this trip (more than 1,000 already and it鈥檚 only been two months), so that means daily photo maintenance. The shots I take on my phone go right to the cloud when I鈥檓 on WiFi, but it鈥檚 still important to go through them each night, purge the bad ones, re-name the rest, and file them into folders.

The same goes with my point and shoot camera. I download them onto our laptop each night, purge, edit, and organize them, and then clear out my camera鈥檚 memory card so I鈥檓 ready for the next day. And of course, I also back up my photos every day either to cloud storage or to the USB flash drive we brought along.

Better to get a handle on photos each day than to come home to a mess of unedited shots later.

Check back on CTVNews.ca, where I鈥檒l be sharing my experiences regularly on Dream Big Wednesdays.