Every time I planned a trip, I ran into the same problem.
Not booking. Planning.
Booking a flight takes a few minutes. Finding a hotel isn't difficult either. There are already great tools for that. The hard part starts before any booking happens.
Over the years, I found myself comparing different trip ideas again and again. Sometimes it was a road trip. Sometimes a flight to another country. Sometimes a weekend getaway. Sometimes a longer family vacation.
The process always looked the same. I would open several browser tabs.
- One for flights.
- One for hotels.
- Sometimes another for car rentals.
Then I'd create a spreadsheet to keep everything organized. As new ideas appeared, I'd duplicate the spreadsheet and start filling it again with different destinations, different prices, different routes, and different assumptions.
A few hours later, I would have dozens of tabs open and multiple versions of the same spreadsheet and despite all that effort, I still didn't have an answer to the most important question:
Which trip should I actually choose?
Most travel tools help you book, not decide
The more I traveled, the more I noticed something interesting: Travel websites are excellent at helping people book things.
- Flights.
- Hotels.
- Rental cars.
- Activities.
But very few tools help people compare complete trip ideas before making a decision.
A road trip to the Dolomites might cost more than a flight to Mallorca.
But what if the road trip lasts longer? What if it includes more places? What if the daily cost is actually better? What if the experience is worth the extra budget?
Those are the questions I care about when planning a trip. And I couldn't find a tool designed around answering them.
The spreadsheet problem
Spreadsheets became my default solution. They worked. But they were painful.
Road trip planning was especially frustrating. I had to manually organize stops, calculate distances, estimate travel times, keep track of overnight stays, update dates, and then somehow compare everything against alternative trip options.
The spreadsheet wasn't helping me make a decision. It was just storing information.
Every new trip meant starting over. Again. And again. And again.
Building the tool I wanted
At some point I stopped looking for a solution and decided to build one.
TravDraft started as a personal project.
I wasn't trying to build a startup. I wasn't researching a market. I simply wanted a better way to plan my own trips.
The idea was straightforward:
- Create a trip project.
- Add multiple trip options.
- Estimate costs.
- Build itineraries.
- Compare everything side-by-side.
- Share the details with family or friends.
- Then make a decision with confidence.
That's it.
Not a booking platform. Not another travel marketplace. A decision-making tool.
What TravDraft does today
Today, TravDraft helps me:
- Compare multiple trip options in a single project
- Understand the real cost of each option
- Build road trip itineraries faster
- Automatically calculate distances and travel times
- Keep flights, hotels, transport and costs organized
- Share complete trip reports by email
- Split expenses and track who owes what
Most importantly, it keeps everything in one place.
Instead of jumping between tabs, spreadsheets and notes, I can focus on evaluating options and choosing the trip that offers the best overall experience.
Maybe this problem isn't just mine
TravDraft is still a side project.
I built it for myself. But the more I use it, the more I wonder whether other people face the same problem.
- Maybe you've planned family vacations in spreadsheets.
- Maybe you've compared destinations in browser tabs.
- Maybe you've spent hours researching options only to struggle with the final decision.
If that sounds familiar, I'd love to hear your feedback.
Because booking a trip is easy. Choosing the right trip is the hard part. And that's exactly what TravDraft is built to solve.