The Travel Planning Trick I Use That Pays Off WAY More Than I Expected

I have a confession to make... 

I save WAY too many travel reels. 😂

Instagram reels? Saved.

Facebook reels? Saved.

Cute restaurant I might want to try someday? Saved.

Random roadside attraction that looks like it could take 15 minutes? Saved.

Cute little town I've never heard of? Definitely saved.

At one point, I had so many saved reels that finding the thing I actually wanted when we were traveling was almost impossible.

So I started doing something different.

And honestly?

It has completely changed how I plan our trips.

📍 I Started Pinning Everything on Google Maps

Whenever I see a location that makes me think:

"Oh! I want to go there someday!"

I add it to Google Maps.

Restaurants.

Attractions.

Coffee shops.

Roadside attractions.

Hikes.

Cute downtowns.

Photo spots.

Hotels.

Basically anything that catches my attention.

Instead of just saving the Reel and hoping I'll remember it later, I put the actual location on my map.

And I organize them by trip, area, or whatever makes sense for what I'm planning.

This has been especially helpful because I don't always know exactly when I'm going to be somewhere.

And that's where the magic happens.

London Was One of the First Times I Really Used It

  

When we were in London, we didn't always have our days planned down to the minute.

And honestly, I didn't want them to be.

So when we got hungry, we'd pull up Google Maps and look at the area we were already in.

I'd check my saved locations and see:

"Did I save anything around here?"

And sometimes I had!

Instead of searching:

"Best restaurants near me"

and scrolling through hundreds of options, I already had a list of places that I had personally seen and thought looked interesting.

It made deciding where to eat SO much easier.

🏜️ And It Was HUGE for Our Southwest Road Trip

Our 14-day cross-country road trip was probably when I appreciated this system the most.

We had a LOT planned.

But our exact timing wasn't always predictable.

We might leave somewhere earlier than expected.

We might decide to spend another hour exploring.

We might skip a stop.

We might find a random roadside attraction.

And because I had already saved so many locations, I could pull up Google Maps and see what was around us.

It gave us flexibility without completely throwing my planning out the window.

Which, for someone who likes to plan every possible stop...

is a big deal. 😂

🗺️ The Best Part? It's Not Just for Big Trips

Here's where I realized this system was even better than I thought.

Just this weekend, we were in Greenville for a soccer match.

On the way home, we decided we wanted to stop and eat.

Nothing was really planned.

We could have just found a restaurant along the interstate and called it a day.

Instead, I opened Google Maps.

And there it was.

A place I had pinned months ago.

I looked at Byron and said:

"Oh look! I pinned something!" 😂

It was BridgeWay Station, right outside of Greenville.

And it was SO cute!

It wasn't just a restaurant. It was an entire open-air area with restaurants, shopping, entertainment, and places to walk around.

We would have completely missed it if I hadn't already saved it.

And THAT is when I realized...

All those ridiculous saved locations are actually paying off.

  

📱 My New Travel Planning System

So now when I'm scrolling and see something I want to remember, I try not to just save the Reel.

I actually find the location and pin it.

My process looks something like this:

1. See something interesting.

Save the Reel if I want to remember the video.

2. Find the actual location.

I want the address or location—not just the Instagram post.

3. Pin it on Google Maps.

Now I know exactly where it is.

4. Categorize it.

Depending on the trip, I'll organize locations into categories like restaurants, attractions, hikes, roadside stops, or specific destinations.

5. Use the map while I'm actually traveling.

This is the part that makes all the planning worth it.

Instead of trying to remember every Reel I've ever saved, I can simply open my map and see what's nearby.

❤️ Planning Doesn't Mean You Have to Follow the Plan

I think that's what I love most about this system.

I'm still a planner.

I will probably always be a planner.

I'm still going to have a ridiculously long itinerary.

I'm still going to try to squeeze a thousand attractions into one day. 😂

But having everything pinned means I don't have to follow that itinerary perfectly.

I can be spontaneous while still using all the research I've already done.

Maybe we have extra time.

Look at the map.

Maybe we're hungry.

Look at the map.

Maybe we decide to skip our next planned stop.

Look at the map.

Maybe we're driving through a town we've never explored before.

Look at the map!

It's like having a personal database of all the places I've ever thought:

"That looks cool. I want to go there."

✨ The Lesson I've Learned

I used to think all those saved travel reels were just another form of procrastination.

Now?

I'm calling it research. 😂

Because when you actually turn those saved ideas into locations on a map, they become useful.

You don't have to remember where you saw something.

You don't have to scroll through hundreds of saved posts.

You don't have to Google everything from scratch.

You just open your map and see what you've already found.

And sometimes...

the best stops are the ones you didn't even know you were going to make.

Just like our unexpected stop at BridgeWay Station.

So yes, I will continue saving an absolutely ridiculous number of travel reels.

But now I'm turning those reels into pins, possibilities, and future memories. ❤️

And if you're a fellow travel planner, I highly recommend giving this a try.

Your future traveling self will thank you!

Safe travels & happy memory making! ❤️

Kayla