A couple months ago we introduced a special freebie for our email subscribers, the Yellow Van 50 State Travel Map. While we are outside the states traveling in Europe I just wanted to take a moment to introduce you to this little gem, how it works, and how to get it.
What is the 50 State Travel Map?
The Yellow Van 50 State Travel Map is an awesome way for you to track your travel through the 50 States that make up the U.S.A. The map shows all the states and is color coordinated to help you see where you’ve been.
The color coding lets you know whether you’ve never been to a state, or you drove through, stopped at an airport there, or actually visited it. I find this really helpful because when you are thinking about where you have been you don’t want to say that you have never been to Georgia if you’ve had a layover in Atlanta, but you also don’t want to just say that you’ve been there because that gives the wrong impression.
This map can be helpful for reflecting on where you have traveled to or planning future trips, especially if you have a goal to hit all 50 states.
How it Works:
You shouldn’t have any trouble using the map, but just to help you get started I have some instructions.
The Yellow Van 50 States Travel Map is actually a fancy Excel Spreadsheet, so it will open in Microsoft Excel, but don’t worry you don’t need to know anything about Excel to use it. Special Excel code called Macros are used to make the map work, which means that when you open it up your computer will ask you for permission to run these codes. The computer may tell you that this is dangerous because you got the map from the internet, but don’t worry I haven’t put anything malicious in the code, you can go ahead and let it run, the map will not work otherwise.
When you come to the map you will see the map which will all be green because you haven’t put in any data yet. There is another tab called “Answers” in the bottom left corner which will show you a list with all the states on the left side.
Next to each state is a drop down menu that will let you select what the status of that state is for you.
When you first open the map you will of course need to make a selection for every state. As you travel around the country be sure to open the map back up again and change your status. After you have made all the changes that you want you can hit the yellow refresh button to see your map update to the correct colors.
How to Get the Map:
Getting the map is as simple as signing up for our email list, either at the bottom of this post or in the right hand sidebar. When you sign up you will get a confirmation to make sure you actually want to sign up, and after you confirm you will get an email with a link to a Google Drive file that is the map. You just need to download it and you are good to go.
If you sign up for the email list you can expect to get an email from us at the beginning of each month showing the highlights of Yellow Van Travels for the last month. We may occasionally send out other special emails, but for the most part just expect to get one email a month.
