I draw a pencil course line on the map and then highlite it in yellow. I
write the
altitudes of all MOAs by the MOA name so I don't have to look it up in the
air
later. I circle high towers in pink highliter. I mark TFRs in pink
highliter. I print
a DUATS briefing. As often as not it all changes once I get on my way and
talk to Flight Watch enroute. Stay flexible and have a plan A and plan B.
"Nasir" wrote in message
news

Having received my PPL recently and been on several cross countries, I was
wondering how extensive of a flight plan do people prepare before the
trip?
Do you guys do all the checkpoints on a map, calculate time/distance/fuel
to
each leg? Do you just draw the line on the map and mark checkpoints that
you
expect to see but not calculate other things? Do you always calculate
winds
aloft and fly the appropriate heading?
I have found myself getting lazy and I dont do all that I did when
planning
x-countries when I was training. I tend to draw my line and mark
checkpoints, make sure I have plenty of fuel to get to my destination
(plus
an hour more) based on 6gal/hr average. But I dont calculate
time/distance/fuel to each leg. I also have a GPS so that makes getting
lazy
easier! 
How much do you all plan before each x-country? Am I the only slacker?
Nasir