Classically Abby - The Classic Woman's SECRET WEAPON： Itineraries! ｜｜ Life-changing way to do everything you WANT to do

00:00:00.000 Hello Classic Crew and welcome to today's video where we're going to be talking about one of the

00:00:04.940 secret weapons of the classic woman, itineraries. So I was actually talking to my husband trying to

00:00:14.460 figure out what kind of video I wanted to do today and he suggested that I talk about my

00:00:19.880 love of itineraries and I thought that was adorable number one because I love my husband

00:00:24.960 and it's super cute that he appreciates how much effort I put into the itineraries that I make for

00:00:30.380 us and for our friends. But number two I actually thought about it I thought that is a great idea

00:00:35.120 because itineraries are something that people can look at and think that they are not useful number

00:00:41.820 one and number two can like cramp your style or make you feel like you're not going to have enough

00:00:47.200 flexibility for whatever you're doing but it's actually entirely the opposite. Itineraries are

00:00:53.480 super useful, super wonderful to have and they're great to have not only for if you are going on a

00:00:59.760 trip and you're traveling but if you're hosting people having an itinerary for them that's available

00:01:05.160 for them is going to make your whole trip run more smoothly. So I am so excited to talk about this topic

00:01:11.960 I absolutely love making itineraries and actually making this video has inspired me to make my

00:01:17.800 itineraries more feminine looking because at this point they're very utilitarian they're just kind of

00:01:22.880 made on a word document and they're just grayscale but I think it'd be nice to inject them with a

00:01:27.540 little bit more femininity. Why not? So when I'm showing an example on the screen by the time that I

00:01:33.520 create that example it will hopefully have some more feminine touches. If you are new to my channel

00:01:39.400 I am the first conservative influencer and here we talk about commentary, lifestyle, beauty, fashion,

00:01:45.100 and opera all from a conservative and classic perspective. If that's something that you'd be interested in

00:01:50.760 please feel free to subscribe and hit that notification bell to get notified of all my new videos.

00:01:54.420 But now let's get into itineraries and why they are the classic woman's secret weapon. 0.99

00:01:59.920 So I'm going to actually separate this video into two sections. The first is why itineraries are so

00:02:06.240 important and why they're not something you should be afraid of or think that they're useless. Why they're

00:02:11.700 definitely something you should incorporate into your trip planning or into your hostessing. And the

00:02:16.620 second part of this video is going to be how to actually create a useful itinerary. So let's get

00:02:21.620 into part one. So the first reason why itineraries are great is because they actually make sure that

00:02:28.140 the things that you want to happen do happen. I have been on so many trips and I have visited so

00:02:34.620 many people where you don't have an itinerary. You don't have an idea of how you want to divide up the

00:02:39.100 day. And even if you want to do something fun it just ends up falling by the wayside because people

00:02:44.220 aren't organized. People don't know where to be at what time. And everything that you may have been

00:02:50.060 looking forward to doing other people may not know that that was even on the docket. And so when you

00:02:55.500 end up getting there and you're all in the same place yeah you're all going to hang out and have

00:02:59.660 fun but you're not going to end up doing all of the things that you want it to. Having an itinerary

00:03:04.460 really prevents that from happening because people know in advance okay this is something that we're

00:03:09.500 going to be trying to do. This is where you need to be at this time. This is how long it's going to take for

00:03:14.140 you to get ready or for you to drive there. And it just makes the things that you actually are

00:03:19.420 interested in accomplishing and experiencing with each other possible. Now I know this from my own

00:03:24.700 experience because my husband I have made him itineraries for trips that he's been on without

00:03:29.820 me. I have made him itineraries so that the trips that he's gone on he actually gets to do what he

00:03:34.940 wants to do. When he doesn't have an itinerary then people just kind of waste time and while away the

00:03:40.620 hours and by the end of the trip nobody got to do what they wanted to experience. So I think that

00:03:46.540 having an itinerary in your back pocket is just the best thing. And I think that the first time I

00:03:52.060 actually made an itinerary was for our honeymoon and it was because we were going to a city I'd

00:03:56.940 never visited. We were going to Quebec City which by the way highly recommend when we can actually

00:04:02.460 travel again. But I didn't know anything about it and so it ended up forcing me to do a lot of

00:04:07.820 research about the city we were going to so I could know what we wanted to hit. And when we traveled

00:04:13.580 there with that itinerary in hand we ended up doing everything we wanted to do. And it was so special.

00:04:19.420 I knew where we wanted to visit. We were able to go. I knew where I wanted to go shopping or for us to

00:04:24.540 eat dinner. I knew what we wanted to do and by making an itinerary and knowing that there were certain

00:04:30.380 places we had to be at certain times we were really actually able to do all of the things that we

00:04:36.540 wanted to do and we had an amazing amazing time. So itineraries actually make it more possible for

00:04:43.580 you to do all of the things that you actually want to do. The second reason why itineraries are so

00:04:48.860 important is that when you're hostessing people you want to make sure that you're not just slipping

00:04:54.140 into your normal daily routine. You're making sure that they're going to have extra special and unique

00:04:59.500 time with you when your guests visit. So I love having an itinerary when guests come to visit

00:05:05.820 because it really forces me to make sure that when they're visiting they know that they're going to

00:05:11.500 have a great time and that it's not just going to be them sort of feeling like they're invading my

00:05:16.860 personal space. Of course I would never want anyone to feel that way when they're visiting. That is

00:05:21.500 obviously not why they're coming. But if they just sort of feel like they're being fit into what you would

00:05:26.540 do normally then it could feel like they are in the way as opposed to very much the reason for that

00:05:34.060 special time that you're spending together and for that weekend. By spending time to make an itinerary

00:05:39.980 it will force you as the hostess not to slip into the daily routine because I think that's very easy

00:05:46.140 to do. If you don't know what you're going to do if you don't have a plan in advance then you're just

00:05:50.460 going to do what you normally do. But if you take the time to say okay we're going to do this we're going

00:05:54.700 to go here we're going to take some time and rest here then it will really make sure that there is

00:06:01.260 a break in routine and you guys are doing something different with each other and people will feel

00:06:06.700 like this weekend was carved out specifically for them. So I think that's a really important aspect

00:06:13.340 of making an itinerary because when you're visiting or when someone is visiting you you want it to feel

00:06:18.540 special. Number three is that making an itinerary gives you structure but it also gives you flexibility.

00:06:24.700 When Jacob and I went on our honeymoon and I had made that itinerary it really allowed us to take

00:06:30.700 a look at some of the things that I had put on because I knew that maybe we weren't going to hit

00:06:35.100 every single thing on the list but it allowed us to decide whether or not we wanted to do something

00:06:40.620 rather than just a complete ignorance of what was available to us. We could look at the list and say

00:06:45.420 okay well this is not something I'm actually that interested in. So we were making an informed choice

00:06:52.540 as opposed to just not knowing and that actually gave us more flexibility. If there was a day we

00:06:58.700 decided we wanted to just go around town and maybe hit up a cafe as opposed to going to a specific

00:07:04.860 museum we knew we were making that decision and it also allowed us because I made the itinerary

00:07:11.580 in advance. I knew where to put in times for us just to spend time together doing maybe whatever

00:07:18.700 exploring, discovering the city, hanging out at our hotel, or even going to some place that wasn't

00:07:24.700 on the list. But building in flexibility for an itinerary while also giving you the knowledge of

00:07:30.780 what's available to you so that you can make an informed decision if you decide not to do something

00:07:36.780 gives you more flexibility not less. Not knowing what to do when you go somewhere and trying to

00:07:42.620 figure out all of that stuff on the fly can be really overwhelming. So actually knowing a plan in

00:07:48.780 advance can also allow you to change the plan but at least you'll have something to start with.

00:07:54.620 The last reason why I love making itinerary so much is that they give your guests a heads up about

00:08:00.540 what you'll be doing and what they should bring. When you send your friends or family

00:08:05.100 an itinerary in advance of their visit, they'll have an idea of what you guys are going to be

00:08:09.420 up to and they'll have an idea of what they need to pack. And not knowing anything at all will lead

00:08:14.540 to the very annoying scenario of you constantly texting them saying, do you want to do this? Do you

00:08:21.180 want to do that? Do you want to do this? Or them texting you, what should I bring? Should I bring this?

00:08:25.820 Should I bring that? Because they don't know necessarily what's going to happen, there's going to end up

00:08:31.500 being a lot more frivolous questions and answers as opposed to, here's the info, now you have it.

00:08:39.740 And of course if someone has a question when you send an itinerary, that's totally different. You've

00:08:43.260 given them the information, maybe they have some questions about the specific places you're visiting

00:08:47.420 and that's okay, that's great. But it's not just unmitigated random questions because they feel

00:08:53.260 unprepared. So giving people an itinerary before they come to visit is a really nice way to prepare them

00:08:59.740 and give them a great weekend and a way for them to kind of start to envision what's in store as

00:09:06.380 opposed to kind of guessing about what's going to happen. And maybe in that scenario they will either

00:09:12.140 get their hopes up and not have as great a time or they'll just envision something entirely different

00:09:17.820 than what you have planned. Having a plan in advance allows people to, everyone will be on the same page,

00:09:23.340 okay, this is what we're going to be doing, this is how we're going to be spending our time.

00:09:26.460 And it also allows people to pack correctly because getting to a location and then finding

00:09:32.140 out that you're going to be hiking and not having brought hiking boots, like that's just

00:09:35.900 a pain in the patoot. So that is why itineraries are so important in my book. That is why I call

00:09:41.500 them the secret weapon of the classic woman because they allow you to be classic. They allow you to be 1.00

00:09:47.740 prepared. They allow people to feel welcomed into your home and they allow you when you travel to have a

00:09:54.620 wonderful plan of things that you really want and get to do. So now let's talk about part two,

00:10:01.260 which is how to make an itinerary. So the way that I create an itinerary is very simply on word. I just

00:10:08.060 divide it by day. So let's say somebody's visiting for a weekend. I do Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and then

00:10:13.820 under each day's heading I will put a little chart with three columns. The first column is going to be

00:10:19.980 the time. The second column is going to be the activity. And the third column is additional info.

00:10:25.500 So I don't necessarily break up the entire day by half an hour increments because who needs to do

00:10:31.180 that? It's too much. What I just do is I divide it by the times that we're doing things. So I do break

00:10:36.540 up the day, the entire day, but it's not hour by hour. If we're doing something for three hours I'll just

00:10:41.660 say 12 to 3 for example. And then in the activity column I'll say what we're actually doing during that

00:10:46.940 time. And then for the additional info column I'll include confirmation numbers, phone numbers for

00:10:52.780 places that we're going in case there's a miscommunication, clothing to bring, shoes to

00:10:57.820 wear in case we're doing something a little bit off the beaten track, so that people have an idea of

00:11:03.340 what to pack. And you can really design this in whichever way you want. Like I said earlier in the

00:11:07.980 video I have made them very utilitarian in the past, but you can make them look really pretty and

00:11:13.020 feminine. And you can make them look entirely the way that you want them to look. The second thing

00:11:18.620 to do when you're making an itinerary is build in times for rest. That is very important. The first

00:11:24.620 few itineraries that I made I did not put in any times for rest, and I could kind of see the eyes of

00:11:31.180 our guests bug out when they realized that we were going to be going from 9 a.m. till 9 p.m. It was

00:11:37.500 just too much and I didn't even realize it because to me I was nervous that they were going to get

00:11:42.700 bored or feel like there wasn't enough to do. And then I realized no people want a few hours in the

00:11:49.100 middle of the day just to take by themselves or to relax or just to get ready for another outing.

00:11:56.620 So building in those times of rest during the day, maybe a couple hours in the middle of the day,

00:12:01.180 a couple hours before dinner, that is so important for having a successful weekend because people

00:12:06.940 can't really be around each other 24-7. It's just a lot for a lot of people to handle. So building in

00:12:13.580 those little breaks, super useful, and just shows that you respect everyone's time. Number three is

00:12:19.420 I like to include a wake-up time and a bedtime. Now the bedtime is very flexible. I just put that down

00:12:26.140 there as an idea of, okay, we'll probably be playing games until this time at night or watching a movie

00:12:33.020 from this time to this time. But the wake-up times I think are more important because you want an idea

00:12:38.060 of we want people to be ready to go around this time. And if people don't have a wake-up time then

00:12:44.620 they don't necessarily know when they should get up and that first item on the docket may end up

00:12:51.820 falling by the wayside because people just aren't ready to go. So I think it's really important to

00:12:57.500 include at least some sort of time. I usually give like a half hour window. I'll usually say 9 to 9 30

00:13:03.500 good morning. And people can take that as they will, but then the next thing I list is 10 30 a.m

00:13:10.380 brunch. And if people want to wake up earlier than 9 they can. If they think they can get ready in 20

00:13:15.500 minutes then they can get ready then they can wake up later. But it just gives people an idea of okay

00:13:21.260 this is how much time you should allot to be ready to go by this time. Number four for an itinerary

00:13:27.420 is make reservations in advance. You don't want to get to a restaurant that you've been talking

00:13:32.940 up to your friends and they're full. Making reservations in advance is a way to prevent

00:13:39.900 any hiccups from happening when you are having friends visiting or when you're traveling. It just

00:13:45.180 makes sure that you are ready to be at a certain place at a certain time and they're ready to take

00:13:50.220 you. Because obviously if you don't make a reservation at a popular restaurant it's unlikely you'll be able to

00:13:56.620 get in for a meal. And having that confirmation number also shows to your guests hey she went 0.99

00:14:01.660 out of her way to actually book it. Or it shows to your spouse if you guys are traveling hey Abby

00:14:07.500 actually is taking seriously that we're going to go to dinner that night so she made a reservation.

00:14:13.260 So having a confirmation number on your itinerary is a great way to show that you guys are going to

00:14:18.460 be doing something and you want to be there at a certain time. Number five is have it on your phone

00:14:23.100 or print it out so you can reference it throughout the weekend or throughout your trip. Having a

00:14:27.820 specific itinerary available to you when you want to reference it is important. Maybe the itinerary is

00:14:33.260 not just for fun. You want it there actually to be useful to you. So having it accessible is going to

00:14:39.340 make a difference. So make sure you either print it out or you have it on your phone so that you can

00:14:43.020 take a look at it when you need to. And if it has all of that additional info that you need you can

00:14:48.060 easily access it. When we host people here I generally will say okay we're not going to go

00:14:53.500 out for every single meal because that's just a lot and overwhelming. But we will have breakfast here

00:14:59.420 or brunch here. I'll make something. It'll be delicious. We'll all hang out and enjoy a slow morning.

00:15:04.460 Maybe we'll have a late lunch and then have a dinner at home. Usually I choose one meal a day that

00:15:11.580 we'll have out and about. And then I usually choose one to two activities depending on how long each

00:15:17.660 activity will be. I also when we're traveling kind of tend to feel the same way. I don't want to go

00:15:23.100 out for three meals a day. So we'll usually have a light breakfast at the hotel if we're staying at

00:15:27.980 a hotel. And then we'll maybe eat a light lunch and then have a bigger dinner. Whatever it is that's

00:15:33.980 what we'll usually do. And then we'll choose a couple of activities while we're traveling. And of course

00:15:39.580 those built-in rests actually apply even if no one is around. So I build into our itineraries while

00:15:45.180 we're traveling. I make sure that Jacob and I have times just to rest at the hotel in the middle of

00:15:49.820 the day if we've been doing a lot. And I have found that that makes our trips so much more fun and

00:15:55.340 relaxing and not just like exhausting where by the end we're so so ready to get home and just fall into

00:16:01.340 bed. So that is all of my advice about how to make itineraries. Why itineraries are the secret weapon

00:16:08.140 of the classic woman. I love making itineraries and I think it will just be something I do forever and

00:16:14.540 ever and ever. So let me know in the comments what you guys think. Have you ever made an itinerary?

00:16:19.820 Do you like the idea or the sound of them now that you've heard me talk about it? I'd love to hear

00:16:24.300 your thoughts. Please subscribe to my channel if you haven't already. Hit that notification bell to

00:16:28.460 get notified of all my new videos. If you'd like to get a little dose of classic into your inbox just

00:16:33.180 twice a month feel free to head to my description box to find the link and you guys can sign up for my

00:16:39.260 newsletter. If you would like to follow me on social media feel free to follow me at classically

00:16:44.700 abbey absolutely everywhere. Thank you guys so much for watching and I'll see you guys in my next video.

00:16:49.500 Bye!

Classically Abby - March 02, 2021

The Classic Woman's SECRET WEAPON： Itineraries! ｜｜ Life-changing way to do everything you WANT to do

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