Travel Receipt Workflow

Here is a handy workflow to keep track of your reimbursable / billable expenses on the road.Set-up:

I have an Evernote Notebook that is used solely for professional receipts. This notebook is named “Receipts_Work”. I’ve set up an If This Then That (IFTTT) Applet to send an email when the notebook receives a new note.When I receive a receipt on the road, I immediately scan it with Scannable then save it to my Receipts_Work Notebook. IFTTT monitors the Receipts_Work Notebook. When the new note is detected, it automatically sends an email to both my assistant and my Omnifocus Maildrop address (so the item is added to my Omnifocus Inbox).After my trip, I can go back to my Evernote, select all the receipts/notes from my trip and make a “Table of Contents” using a single button push in Evernote.This workflow simplifies management of reimbursement receipts. Hope it works as well for you as it does for me.

TripIt Pro Go Now

I’ve been a long-time subscriber to TripIt Pro. I found the $49 service invaluable when traveling. In 2011 TripIt was acquired by Concur-an integrated expense and travel management service company. Then in 2014, Concur was acquired by SAP. Regardless of who owns TripIt, the application services continue to be improved.

Go Now is a handy feature. Twenty-four hours before any U.S. domestic flight, Go Now becomes available on your flight screen.Go Now suggests a time for you to leave based on on your location, current flight status and local traffic patterns. Two hours before you need to leave, a countdown timer is initiated. Once on your way, Go Now continues to update your arrival time.When you reach your destination airport (and when you’re ready to leave for your trip home), Tripit Navigator makes it easier (and potentially more cost-effective) to find your ground transportation. Navigator shows you the option and cost for your options to get from point A to point B.These two additions are phenomenanal additions to an already powerful travel solution.

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Tripit and Flightview - Automating Itinerary Building and Flight Tracking

I often travel for business. I previously blogged about my love of TripIt-a website with an app that extracts flight and travel information from my email. I merely send my airline, hotel, and car rental confirmations to plans@tripit.com and the site builds a peronalized itinerary. The Pro version has all sorts of other great features, like finding and booking alternative flights.A while ago, I discovered another site called FlightView. Flightview publishes up-to-the minute, detailed information on flights and airport traffic. It works great in tandem with TripIt. And just like TripIT Flightview is able to extract the salient details from an email itinerary, then activate tracking the day you travel.Now whenever I reserve a flight, I kill two birds with one stone by simply forwarding my flight itinerary to both Tripit and Flightview at the same time. I use this simple trick literally every time I reserve a flight.

How to Choose an Air Travel Search Site (New York Times)

Seth Kugel, the self-declared “Frugal Traveler” of the New York Times, wrote a piece comparing old and new travel sites, including my favorite, Hipmunk. I love Hipmunk for its visual interface and it’s ranking of flights based on its “Agony Factor” (a combination of ticket price, flight duration, departure, and arrival). For all you travelers responsible for booking your own trips, this article is worth a look. Once you’ve booked your flight, don’t forget to forward your itinerary to Tripit (as I covered in this entry).

TripIt: Travel Plans Made Easy

Although I don’t consider myself a road warrior, I do a fair amount of travel for my work. For years, my trusted travel partner has been TripIt.

TripIt is a web site (with apps for your iPhone, iPad, or Android) that aggregates all my travel information. Whenever I receive travel related information, I forward the email to the generic address: plans@tripit.com. TripIt processes the information from airlines, hotels, car rentals, etc., and combines them all into a single, easy-to-read itinerary (with confirmation numbers, phone numbers, times, etc.). The base site is free, but the Pro version is well worth the $49 per year. I’ve been a Pro subscriber for years.

Check out this video for more on TripIt.