Introduction

I travel constantly—averaging around 60 flights per year—and know firsthand the complexity of juggling travel across multiple continents, modes of transportation, and back to back meetings. When you're city hopping this frequently, it helps to have a system to collect it all that avoids wasting precious time and energy. From sketching out early travel plans to tracking each component of a trip, organizing travel requires serious thought. I've organically spent years refining my own method for planning and organizing complex travel. I bring you Standard Travel Notation: a streamlined, human- and machine-readable schedule format that lets you (and anyone helping you) see exactly where you're headed, how you'll get there, and what you'll do when you arrive.

This notation was born out of necessity, and has worked brilliantly for organizing years of travel. I needed a system that helped me sketch out upcoming itineraries and then maintain the details as plans firmed up. By keeping the format minimal and consistent, anyone—whether it's a colleague, assistant, or AI—can understand the details of my travel at a glance. The collaborative aspect is essential when you have others helping coordinate high-volume travel bookings and inevitable last-minute changes.

I have iterated on this approach specifically to compress dense travel schedules into something legible that's quick to draft, easy to share, and flexible enough to rearrange as events and demands on my time inevitably shift. If I need to push a meeting by a day or squeeze in a new destination, I can do so without rewriting my entire itinerary. Each entry clearly shows location, lodging, and transport details, with additional room for events and people I need to see nested underneath. The key is making each component simple to spot—using standard IATA airport codes for flights, consistent 24-hour time formats, and short, consistent lines for each transport mode.

One word of caution though—with such an easy tool to lay out months of travel, it can be easy overbook and forget that your body still needs downtime to acclimate. This system won't solve jet lag or magically shorten flights, but for trips beyond a week (or truly epic half-year itineraries), adopting this notation can provide real clarity and reduces stress.

Why You Need a Travel Notation System

Have you ever found yourself digging through emails, text messages, and calendar invites just to piece together your travel schedule? I certainly have, and it's incredibly frustrating, especially when you're already jet-lagged in a foreign country.

Think about it—if you're taking just four trips a year, each with multiple destinations, you're already juggling dozens of details. Now multiply that for frequent travelers who might be on the road weekly. Without a system, you're bound to miss something important.

What I love most about using a standardized notation is how it grows with you. Starting with a simple outline like "FLIGHT June 10 SFO → LAX" gives you enough structure to plan around, even before you've booked anything. Then as details firm up, you add the specific flight times, reservation numbers, and any other relevant information.

And let's be honest—nothing makes you feel more in control than having your entire travel year laid out in a format you can skim in seconds. It's been a game-changer for me, and I bet it will be for you too.

Syntax Reference

For ease, the Standard Travel Notation syntax is written in Markdown (https://www.markdownguide.org/basic-syntax/), producing a clear list format that works across many kinds of notating applications. I recommend Reflect (https://reflect.app/), as it makes lists collapsible and easy to view.

3.1 Entry

Let's start with the basics. An Entry line shows where you'll be and for how long:

- June 7–10: San Francisco, CA

It's simple but powerful. Entries start with bullets (- in markdown) and use nested bullets to record information nested within like where you'll stay or how you'll get round. Exact times go in transport lines to keep complexity at the top level to a minimum.

Here's what it looks like in practice:

- June 1–4: Los Angeles, CA
- June 4–7: New York, NY
- June 7–10: San Francisco, CA
- June 10–26: Los Angeles, CA

3.2 Accommodation & Activities

Where are you staying and what are you doing while at that place? Within each Entry block, add these details underneath:

- March 1–4: Los Angeles, CA
  - Stay: One Hotel West Hollywood (123456)
  - Meeting with local partners

I recommend using the Stay: keyword to highlight your accommodations and include booking reference numbers or other access details as needed, but otherwise, keep it free-form. You can add as much or as little detail as you need.

3.3 Transport Lines

Now for the fun part—how are you getting from place to place? Each Transport Line describes one travel segment:

FLIGHT June 10 11:15 SFO → 12:45 LAX (UA1234 - 5HBG89)

Breaking that down:

• First, name your mode of transport: FLIGHT, TRAIN, CAR, HELICOPTER, etc.
• Then add the date and departure time
• Follow with origin → destination (with that helpful arrow)
• Add arrival time if you know it
• Finish with the flight number and the booking reference in parentheses

The beauty of this format is its flexibility. You don't need every detail right away. While sketching out a travel itinerary, you can start with:

FLIGHT June 10 SFO → LAX

And fill in the rest later once the booking is made:

FLIGHT June 10 11:15 SFO → 12:45 LAX (UA1234 - 5HBG89)

Let's look at a few more examples:

TRAIN November 11 13:11 BBY → 16:50 NYP (Acela 2167 - B26712)

CAR October 14 14:15 Ōsaka Station → 14:50 KIX (BMW - 大阪 500 さ 34-56)

HELICOPTER April 3 10:45 Yellowstone → 11:15 BZN (HeliAir - HL556)

Now you can instantly see what's happening, when, and where. No more scrolling through endless confirmation emails!

These Transport Lines will be appended in order to your Entries. So a flight leaving one city would be placed at the end of the Entry like so:

- June 7–10: San Francisco, CA
  - Stay: The Battery San Francisco (439)
  - FLIGHT June 10 11:15 SFO → 12:45 LAX (UA1234 - 5HBG89)

3.4 Detail Lines

Sometimes you'll have day trips or activities that deserve their own notation. Just nest these bullet points under your main entry:

- March 4–7: New York, NY
  - Stay: Crosby Street Hotel
  - March 4: Attending Private Company Conference (383 Madison Ave)

This gives me a complete picture of a given day's movements without breaking my main itinerary structure.

Example Schedule

Let me show you how this all comes together. Here's a minimal working example that illustrates my typical usage:

# 2025 Travel Schedule

- June: 7–10: San Francisco, CA
  - Stay: The Battery San Francisco (439)
  - FLIGHT June 10 11:15 SFO → 12:45 LAX (UA1234 - 5HBG89)
- June 10–14: New York, NY
  - Stay: Crosby Street Hotel (98765)
  - FLIGHT June 14 16:45 JFK → 20:05 LAX (AA567 - ABCD12)
- June 14–21: Los Angeles, CA
  - Stay: One Hotel West Hollywood (123456)
  - Meeting with partners in Malibu
  - FLIGHT June 21 13:30 LAX → 22:05 JFK (AA23 - YGL43K)

Isn't that clean? At a glance, I can see my entire two week-long trip across three cities, including where I'm staying and how I'm getting around. When I'm planning collaboratively with my team, they can easily update the file with booking details as arrangements are confirmed.

I typically start with basic transport outlines to sketch:

- February 8–13: Manila, PH
  - Stay: TBD
  - FLIGHT February 13 MNL → KIX

And can update them as the plan gets booked:

- February 8–13: Manila, PH
  - Stay: Ascott Bonifacio City (A434024393)
  - FLIGHT February 13 14:35 MNL → 19:15 KIX (PR408 - ATVY5S)

This graduated approach means I can sketch out my travel months in advance, even before I've locked in specific flights or hotels.

Advanced Topics

5.1 Time Zones & 24-Hour Format

I always use 24-Hour Format (e.g., 13:45 instead of 1:45 PM). Why? It's clearer and makes time zone math simple.

When you're crossing time zones, list local times for each location. Need more clarity? You can add UTC offsets or simply use +1 on the time:

FLIGHT June 15 22:00 JFK → 05:00+1 LHR

This might seem like overkill for casual trips, but trust me—when you're zigzagging across continents, this level of detail prevents costly mistakes.

5.2 Multi-Stop Transport

Got a journey with layover or back to back legs? Break each segment into its own line:

FLIGHT June 15 09:00 AMS → 11:00 CDG (KL1234)
FLIGHT June 15 12:30 CDG → 15:00 LHR (KL5678)
CAR June 15 15:45 LHR → 16:50 Ham Yard Hotel (Taxi)

This makes it crystal clear when and where you're connecting, which is crucial information when you're rushing through an unfamiliar airport.

5.3 Entry-Level Day Trips & Complex Excursions

Short trips that don't require overnight stays? List them inline under your main destination:

- March 6: Philadelphia, PA (Day Trip)
  - TRAIN March 6 09:05 NYP → 11:05 PHL (Acela 2151 - B112233)
  - Conference at Pennsylvania Convention Center
  - TRAIN March 6 18:30 PHL → 20:30 NYP (Acela 2174 - B332211)

This approach keeps your schedule organized chronologically while still capturing all your movements.

Final Thoughts

I created Standard Travel Notation because I needed a better way to manage my hectic travel schedule, and it's transformed how I plan my journeys. It cuts through chaos, helps me spot scheduling conflicts before they happen, and keeps everyone involved on the same page.

Ever struggled with organizing and finding details on a multi-stop trip while you're jetlagged? Or found yourself frantically searching for flight details while standing in an airport check-in line? Or realized too late that you booked overlapping commitments in different cities? This system prevents those headaches by giving you a bird's-eye view of your entire travel landscape and all the details in between.

The beauty of this notation is its simplicity—it takes just minutes to learn but can save you hours of stress. No matter who you are, if you travel regularly, having a consistent way to organize that travel can make all the difference.

One final reminder: even with the world's best organization system, you're still a human being who needs rest. Use this notation to help you travel smarter, not just more. After all, seeing the world should be sometimes enjoyable, not just exhausting.

Start small with your next trip, and I bet you'll never go back to your old way of planning travel again.