Planning
Researching Locations
When researching where to go, most of our ideas come from newsletters such as Sunset magazine, Outside magazine Outside Magazine, Travel & Leisure magazine, The New York Times, Mr & Mrs Smith , Afar magazine and National Geographic Travel. Also, most major cities will have their own magazines with websites.
Dining
We Start with Eater, a website that covers much of the world, curating the best restaurants at all price points, from food trucks to Michelin three star restaurants . We have never been disappointed with any of their recommendations and have been able to find reviews from Barcelona Spain to Ashland Oregon. They are spot on, without a doubt the best guide for food recommendations. link to Eater’s website For Dining Reservations we prefer to use on-line booking sites when available . That way we know when and where we’ve made reservations, and they can be modified very simply on their APPs. (link to: OpenTable, Resy, Tock)
Hotels
You can usually get the best deals at major hotel chains booking directly through their Apps. Avoid second party booking sites as they do not provide any better pricing, the rooms are usually not as good and the cancellation policies aren’t always straight forward. You get better treatment by the hotels if you use their APPs and are members of the chain (which is always free to join). We start by looking at the major Hotel brands on their individual APP’s. Hotels we use: (website links - BonVoy (Marriott), Hilton Honors, Hyatt, IHG, VRBO, Airbnb, Accor ALL, Four Seasons, MGM resorts, Wynn, TripAdvisor, Virgin Hotels). They’ll have all available brands, pricing including taxes and fees, rankings and cancellation policies). It’s the easiest way to book and to make changes if needed.
Airports
We typically begin with Foreflight, which is by far the best planning and navigation tool available. We start with finding the nearest airport to our chosen destination. Information including; Class of airport, FBOs, runways, fuel prices and availability (self-serve and/or full service), parking, NOTAMs, and noise abatement procedures cam all be found on Foreflight.
Airport Diagrams and procedure plates are readily available on Foreflight under the Airports heading
FBO's are also found under the airport section, which give fuel prices and list other services
Current Weather including METARs, TAF, MOS, Winds aloft, and extended forecast can all be found under the weather airport/weather heading
3D pictures of the airport give a bird's eye view of what the surrounding landscape looks like.
The maps pige gives a graphical of weather, TFRs, and airspace along the route.
Graphical Icing diagrams can be make a go/no-go decision much easier.
The Route advisor lists the most recent flight plans flown along your route. A simple click and it will place it in your flight plan for filing
The Route advisor lists the most recent flight plans flown along your route. A simple click and it will place it in your flight plan for filing
Flight plans can be directly filed with Flight service and be modified in the APP.
A 3D view of your flight plan can be reviewed under FPL and can eve show altitudes at which icing could be encountered.
Winds aloft under FPL will help determine the best altitude to fly for time and fuel savings
Weather
Our favorite and most reliable weather resources are Foreflight, AeroWeather (link), AccuWeather and Wunderground.
We typically begin checking the extended forecast on AccuWeather and Wunderground about two weeks prior to departure. Then use AeroWeather to check METARs and TAFs the day prior to departure.
AeroWeather allows you to check the current weather at every airport along the route at a glance.
AeroWeather allows you to check the current weather at every airport along the route at a glance. AccuWeather and Wunderground give extended forecasts along with average cloud coverage.
The APPs are free and very user friendly.
Checklists
A pilots best friend are his checklists. The same principles I’ve learned from flying, checklists and CRM, can directly be applied to the practice of medicine. Here are a couple of the checklists I use for weekend travel in the Bonanza. I love the free Notes App that comes with the iPhone. It allows for actively checking items off the list and then preserving them for the next trip.
The free “Notes” App on the iPhone keeps your checked off items stored for later use.