It’s officially just 1 WEEK until the Disney Social Media Moms Conference at Walt Disney World and the excitement is palatable in my house. As the person who makes sure that we get there with toothbrushes, underwear and socks, I’m channeling my excitement into planning and packing. I’m also a little anxious that I have 2 more trips to Florida planned right after this one. If I’m not organized something will get left behind.
Thank God that I am usually very organized. I have been making packing lists in Word for years. I worked from a master list and cut, paste and added items as I needed for each trip. Then I printed them out and crossed them off as I packed. It was a good system. It worked.
But when I got an iPad, my world changed. Pen and paper lists seemed clunky and outdated, so 2009. I had learned to use my iPad for so many other tasks, surely I could figure out how to put packing lists on there. Maybe there’s an app for that! I thought. There is; the people at QuinnScape certainly had me in mind when they created the Packing Pro app.
It seems a little daunting at first, but it’s really simple to use and customize. There is a huge Master Catalog on Packing Pro that I used to make general packing lists for myself and each of my kids. These are the lists that I will use as a foundation for each trip. So far I have custom packing lists made for 2 of my upcoming trips.
While I use Packing Pro on my iPad because it’s bigger, I also have the app on my iPhone and I was able to export my packing lists between the devices. First I exported the lists from my iPad and they were stored in Contacts. Then I synced to iTunes and imported the lists to my iPhone. Easy. *UPDATE: Packing Pro now uses “the cloud” to sync packing lists seamlessly between devices.
The photo below is a part of my packing list, the gadgets section, for the Disney Social Media Moms Conference. (This is a screen shot from my iPhone; obviously the screen on the iPad would show more items.) It’s a paid app, but worth every penny–and another reason to love my iPad.
10 Comments
[…] wonderful app for anal-retentive listmakers everywhere – Packing Pro – via my friend Sherelle. It’s […]
That’s a FABLOUS App! Especially good for when you have to not only pack yourself but your kids and husband too! Love it girl!
Yes; when I pack for myself, it’s much easier, but when the whole family is going somewhere, there is so much stuff to remember!
Okay you just helped me make up my mind. Not on whether I would buy a new iPad 2, but about whether I would feel guilty about it!
You know the more I read your blog the more I come to know that we are a lot alike in many ways. We have got to get together and chat one day or Spa of course!
…and speaking of Apps! I just spoke at the Coke Headquarters a few weeks ago about Refreshing Stress-Free Travel. Part of my presentation included apps, but not this one! I will have to share it too. It looks great!
Have fun at Disney. We just got back from the Disney Dream! The entire ship rocks, but the AquaDuck Rules!!! The Senses Spa is a dream of course!
What’s your next event?
We want to go on the Disney Dream someday…the AquaDuck looks like so much fun! And I am always down for a spa 🙂
My next trip is as a chaperone on a school music trip to Disney World–next week!
I love this Packing Pro app…I used it right up until we walked out the door.
Is a visit and review of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter included in the plans of one of those FLA trips?
I wish! Nope, not on these trips, but I was just saying to my son yesterday that we must go see Harry Potter’s world.
Oh I have GOT to get that. I’m a a total packing list geek, but I still do it the old fashioned way, for some unknown reason.
Yours is maybe the third blog post I’ve read this week on the iPad. I take it as a sign because I’ve been on the fence about getting one. More and more I think I need to take the plunge. Do you mind my asking did you get the 8G or 16G? I’m trying to decide if it’s worth the extra $200 bucks to get larger memory.
I had to check on the back of my iPad; I have 32G (I believe that’s in the middle range). I have no idea what this means in terms of memory (too much?), but I didn’t want to worry about it getting full and it’s not even half way.