I agree with most people above. NOTAMS for airspace en-route, planned destination and alternate yes, anything else, probably not. The OP appears to be in the USA - all of that, and met, is available in 5 minutes on 1-800-WXBRIEF. 2 hours is enough. Frequencies are on charts. Fuel prices are irrelevant to most purposes. Take an airfield guide in the cockpit, and learn what you really need. There's always space to park a light aeroplane at any airport for a few hours if you need to go there, it's a pointless question.
I did a ferry trip last week, new type, new and complex airspace, necessity of filed flight plans - and my planning time was about the same as my flight time. For CPL training, you probably get 2 hours to plan a 90 minute sortie, which is plenty, and you're on known territory.
Plus, routes, airfields, plans change constantly - flexibility in the air is vital, so have data there, and the ability to access it - but not have copied it all out, that's just wasting time and paper.
Also all my experience from when I did my CPL is do NOTHING the morning before a lesson except go to the flying school after breakfast. Otherwise your mind is on the wrong things and you won't get the best value out of the lesson.
G
Last edited by Genghis the Engineer; 12th Sep 2013 at 10:52.