| As told to J.J. McCorvey

My Favorite Tool for Organizing My Travel Plans

Entrepreneur Aaron Booker explains how he uses TripIt to plan business trips.

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Courtesy company

Aaron Booker, Founder and CEO, Varvid, Bellingham, Washington

As the head of a company that produces videos of events and conferences, I travel at least 15 times a year. Last year, I realized I needed a better way to plan and book my trips, so I started using a Web-based service called TripIt.

Before using TripIt, I would scour through my e-mail inbox searching for hotel, airline, and car-rental confirmations before every trip. Now, when I make a reservation, I just forward the confirmation e-mail to TripIt, and the app builds an itinerary listing all my travel details, including confirmation numbers, flight times, and hotel addresses. TripIt has an iPhone app, so I always have my itinerary with me.

After using the free service for a few months, I upgraded to TripIt Pro, which gives me access to a host of other features for $49 a year. Now, I receive a text alert if my flight is delayed or canceled, or if my gate number changes. I can also share my itinerary with family members and employees.

TripIt also helps me stay in touch with friends and colleagues on the road by automatically sending travel status updates to my LinkedIn and Facebook profiles. Sometimes, people in my network will see that I'm in town and ask me out for lunch.

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J.J. McCorvey is a reporter at Inc. magazine, where he covers a wide range of topics, including technology and business research. He has covered metro news for The Detroit News, and his work has been featured in Men's Fitness. @jmccorvey