FAQs

Q: Why don't you automatically show the destination between the travel I've already added? Can't you tell what my destination is?

A: In many cases, we could take a guess, but in analyzing all the trips users have built, we would be wrong far more often than we'd be right. There are the obvious problem cases such as a user adding a flight to and from the Dallas/Ft Worth airport (which destination should we use?). But the more common challenge is knowing whether the user has shown all the travel to their final destination. Maybe the destination, in the case above, was actually Waco, but the user hasn't yet added the drive from the airport to Waco.

Q: When adding a destination, how specific should I make the destination (country, city, address)?

A: You probably will find using a city as your destination to be the most common choice. No hard rules here, though.

Q: Why do I need to add a destination before I can add lodging or events?

A: There are a few reasons we've built Trip30 with this restriction. First; we want to help you make sure you have sufficient time in a destination to do all the things you've added. In addition, structuring the timeline in this fashion gives us the ability to create a more meaningful itinerary for you (here are all the things I'll do in Tokyo; here's how long I'll be traveling between destinations). And finally, by associating lodging and events (and local travel) with a specific destination you are able to rearrange the order of destinations without having to individually move each of the associated items - those move with the destination.

Q: Do I need to add travel between destinations?

A: When you add a series of destinations, we show a dotted "temporary" line between them so you can see the sequence reflected on the map. But if you want to include the specifics of how you'll get between destinations (mode of travel, routes, times, etc.) you can add those to better define your trip.

Q: What is the difference between Travel and Local Travel? When should I use one versus the other?

A: Generally, you should use Travel for getting from one destination to another (flights, train rides, drives) and Local Travel for travel between locations while in a destination (cab rides, walks, subways).
There is a gray area where you could choose either, depending on how you want it to show up in your itinerary and whether you want the travel directly associated with a destination. An example of that would be a cab ride between your arrival airport and the hotel where you’ll be staying. You could add this as your last leg of travel between destinations or as the first local travel within a destination. If you add it as Travel, it will be included in the calculation of total travel time between destinations on the itinerary, but if you reorder or otherwise move the destination, that cab ride from the airport would not move with it.

Q: How do I edit details about something I’ve added?

A: If you click on any item on the timeline, you’ll open its edit panel where you can make any changes. Make sure you click to save those changes.

Q: What’s the difference between making changes by dragging or resizing an item on the timeline versus making the change in its edit panel?

A: On the timeline, you can click to drag and move any item, or click on an item’s drag handles to change its start or end times. You could accomplish the same thing by clicking on the item to open its edit panel, then entering the change there. Which process you use is a matter of personal preference and you’re likely to find one or the other being the better choice depending on what you are trying to do.
For edits to anything other than when something starts or stops (names, locations, notes, etc.), you’ll make those changes via the edit panel.

Q: Why can't I drag or re-size a flight that I've added?

A: If you've added a flight by providing the actual airline, flight number and departure date, we lock that flight on the timeline so you don't accidentally make changes to that fixed schedule. If you really do need to modify any of the details about that flight, you can do so via the edit panel. This can come in handy for cases in which you've received a notice from the airline that the arrival or departure time of a flight you've booked has changed slightly.

Q: Why can't I drag or re-size items on the timeline from my phone or tablet?

A: Direct timeline interaction on a touchscreen is limited to scrolling the timeline for now. You still can change the start or end time for any item by tapping on it to open its edit panel.

Q: I added a drive, but the route you show is not the route I want to take. Can I change that?

A: Yes, there are two ways you can deal with that. If you hover over any part of the route line on the map, you'll see a small circle appear. If you grab that circle, you can drag it to re-direct the route. You also can break your drive up into separate legs to force the route you want.
This option is also available for walks and bike rides.

Q: Why does the spacing between day or date labels sometimes change on the timeline?

A: The timeline always represents actual elapsed time during your trip. So, at any given timeline zoom level, one hour of elapsed time will be the same distance on the timeline, even as you are moving between timezones.
If your trip all takes place in the same timezone (or never crosses a change to or from Daylight Savings Time), then the spacing between labels will never change unless you zoom in or out. If you move from one timezone to another (or cross a DST boundary), the effect is that any given day will be longer or shorter, depending on your direction of travel and the rules of the local time zones. We keep all this straight for you so the distance on the timeline will always show you how long you spend on any item and show you what the local time is while in a given location.
When you travel between timezones, you’ll see the switch take effect upon arrival.

Q: Can I change the date format?

A: On the My Account page, you can select from three common date formats (MM/DD/YYYY, YYYY/MM/DD or DD/MM/YYYY).

Q: Why can’t I enter a specific arrival and departure time on a trip without specific dates? For example, if I know I want to be in City X starting at noon on Day 3, then leaving at noon on Day 5, how do I add that?

A: If all trips stayed within a single timezone for their entire duration, then this would be pretty easy to do. When you move between timezones, however, your perception of how long any given day is (and, therefore, potentially even what “Day” you are on) can get interesting, especially if you are crossing many time zones.
Fortunately, we’ve figured out how to let you achieve the result you want. First, add your destinations to the timeline so it can sort out the labeling of day numbers and times in each day based on the timezones for those destinations. Then, you can click on the timeline at the time you want to add any particular item in a destination.
Another option is to build the trip with specific dates, then use the “Clear Dates” feature to convert your trip to one without specific dates. With this option you have the added ability to set specific times using an item’s edit panel.

Q: When should I add something as a custom location?

A: We use Google to search for locations based on names or addresses, so if what you have entered does not show up in the results, you should first try entering slight variations (Marriott Denver versus Denver Marriott) or try a specific address instead of a place’s name to see if you get the result you want. If that doesn’t work, then the location probably isn’t in Google's system. So, if you’re looking to add a favorite camping site or a scuba dive location for which you have gps coordinates or can “drop a pin” on the map at that location, then you should enter that as a custom location.

Q: I added a hotel [or any other item] by selecting it from the drop-down options, but the map pin is in the wrong place. How do I fix that?

A: If this happens, you’ll need to add the item as a custom location. Please click on the feedback link to let us know what happened so we can let Google know.

Q: Can I change the location of a custom location I created by dropping a pin on the map?

A: Yes. Open the edit panel for the item with the custom location and click on the link to drop a pin on the map. The cursor will change to a pin, the original custom location pin will be dimmed and you will be able to click wherever you want on the map to indicate the new location. Until you save, you can drag the pin around. All map zoom and pan controls still operate, so you can position the pin as accurately as you want. When you click “Accept” in the edit panel, the original pin will disappear and the new pin will represent the new custom location.

Q: I entered my actual flight information, but you show “flight not found.” What’s up with that?

A: The flight data service we use may not find a flight if it is more than about a month old or 11 months in the future. In that case, you’ll need to add the information manually. If you know you have accurate flight information and have entered it accurately for a future flight and still are getting a “flight not found” response, please enter the flight manually, then click on the feedback link to let us know what happened so we can try to figure out why.

Q: I entered my actual flight information, but the results you show aren’t accurate. What now?

A: You have a couple choices. Either go ahead and save the inaccurate information, then re-open the edit panel to manually fix the information. Or, cancel that edit panel and add the entire flight manually. In either case, please click on the feedback link to let us know what happened so we can let our flight data service know.

Q: I want to shift my entire trip forward (or back) by one week (or any amount of time). Is there an easy way to do that?

A: Just click on the “Clear Dates” button in the upper-lefthand corner of the timeline, then give your starting location a starting date later (or earlier) than the original date. All the other dates will adjust accordingly. You can shift your trip to start on any date you want using this process.

Q: What happens when I share a trip with someone?

A: When you click to share a trip, we generate a special link for you that is directed to a version of your trip that can be viewed, but not edited. Anyone with the link can view the trip, so make sure you don't include any information in the trip that you don't want shared. Any edits you make to the trip will appear when users open the link or refresh the page, if it's already open. When you send a shared link to someone, we suggest you let them know how to view the itinerary for your trip from the menu.

Q: Is there a limit to the length of trip I can build?

A: Yes, for now, we limit the overall length of a trip to 12 weeks (84 days). If you will be traveling longer than 12 weeks (lucky you!), we suggest breaking up your plan into 12-week segments.

Q: Is there a limit to the number of trips I can store?

A: No, we encourage you to create as many trips - and variations of those trips - as you want.

Q: How can I let you know about something I’ve found that doesn’t work quite right?

A: Just click on the feedback link and enter a bug report.

Q: How can I let you know about a feature I’d like to see you add/change?

A: The feedback link contains a section for feature requests. When you enter a request, we’ll take a look and let you know if or when we might make the addition/change.

Q: Why are some of my map pins and lines dimmed?

A: We dim map pins and lines if the corresponding item is not visible on the timeline. If you scroll the timeline to see different sections of your trip, you'll see the corresponding pins and lines "un-dim" on the map. This is particularly useful when you zoom to a specific day or date of your trip. Map items that fall on other days are dimmed, so you can tell the difference between those and the items falling on the day you are viewing.

Q: Why does some travel between destinations show up as lines on the map, but not others?

A: We use third-party services to provide travel routes on the map. Those services do not have every route for every type of travel, so we show the routes if we have them. Otherwise, we only show the departure and arrival locations.

Tips and Tricks

Looking at different sequences of cities to visit

So you’ve decided to spend a couple weeks seeing the sights in Europe, or maybe your plans are for a tour of Southeast Asia. You have in mind the places you’d like to visit, but aren’t sure about the order. A fun way to play around with this is to add each of the cities to your timeline, but give each city an 8-hour duration. Of course, you’ll be spending more time than that, but you’re just looking at destination sequence at this point, so keeping the durations short makes it easy to drag and reorder destinations on the timeline.
As you re-order the destinations, you’ll be able to see the different resulting travel sequences. This can help you visualize the most efficient way to order the destinations. Once you have that order set, you can drag destinations into the days or dates that work, taking into consideration how long you’d like to spend in each destination. Remember to leave a bit of time between destinations for adding travel from one to the next.

Setting precise times

The drag and resize features of the timeline are great for quickly arranging items and playing around with relative durations. But if you want to give something a precise start and end time, the best way to do this is by clicking on the item to open its edit panel. There, you can enter those times to the minute. You also can do this by zooming in on the timeline and dragging one of the handles to the precise time.

If you think you’ll be making a lot of changes to a trip you’ve been working on

It’s always a good idea to work on a copy of a trip you’ve already started building. That way, if you decide you don’t want to keep those changes, you can open the original version. We always use the “Duplicate Trip” feature in the menu or in My Trips when updating an existing trip. The system will append the old version name with “(Copy)”, but we suggest you modify that to a variation of the old name that makes sense to you (maybe a version number or some description of the change you plan to make).

Dealing with items that overlap on the timeline

As you’re moving things around on the timeline, you may find you’ve covered something completely, so you can’t click on it to edit it. Just grab one of the handles of whatever is on top of it and drag it until the item underneath is uncovered.

Moving destinations with contents

If a destination you’ve added has any contents (lodging, local travel or events), those contents will maintain their relative position within the destination as you move the destination. Keep in mind that if you move the destination such that it starts at a different time of day, its contents will also start at different times of day. Of course, after moving a destination, you always can shift its contents to whatever times you want.

Keeping track of any pre- or post-trip activities

Maybe you’d like to add a note to turn down your thermostat or take the dog to the kennel before you leave. Or when you get back, a reminder to send some photos to friends you’ve met on your trip. Just add your starting or ending location as a destination and give it enough duration to cover what you need.
Note that if you show more than 24 hours in either your starting or ending locations, we’ll treat that as part of your overall trip duration in the heading of your itinerary.

Zooming

You may have noticed the magnifying glass icon at the top of the edit panel for a given item. Clicking on that will zoom the timeline and map to the item. You can also zoom to an item by either double-clicking on it on the timeline or on its pin on the map.