Jenski

I am going to Switzerland in one month (doing a hiking trip with a friend) and the only thing we have done was buy our plane ticket-and we just did that last week! We don't know where were going, have no reservations anywhere, which is somewhat frightening as I think you need them in the hiking huts....yet somehow everything always works out!

simpsonc510

Jenski
I won't say that I hate planning, but I really do enjoy "seat of the pants" travel that allows for all kinds of detours from a "plan" when something interesting comes along! Go for it!!

sandi_travelnut

Not me, I love the planning almost as much as the travel.

LoveItaly

Hi Jenski, you described me, lol. Hate the planning and try to avoid it.
My best trips have been with very little planning, which has been the majority of my trips. And loved all of them. So I sure understand how you feel. Do have fun and let us know how your trip was when you return home and get settled in.

Scarlett

I loooove to plan! I enjoy reading all the guide books and articles about the places I will see, trying to figure out how much I can see in the allotted time frame.
I am researching a trip now that is very involved, so there is a lot of planning and I am loving it.
My daughter is going to Europe this fall, Amsterdam/Belgium/Paris..she has already booked everything, and is making the itineraries now lol...It runs in the family.
<i><font color="BLUE">Hi Love! </font></i>

dina4

I'm with Scarlett and Sandi...
Planning is half the fun!!!

dina

laclaire

For me it depends on the trip. I planned a day trip to Valls, Spain (outside of Barcelona) for about a month before going, but when my mom came over and we went to Italy, I scrambled to get the hotel reservations the day before she got there.

I will say, though, that the amount of planning is really reflected in the result. Not that one is better or worse, but to give an example, when I planned my week in Iceland I was thorough and left no stone unturned whereas Italy, a relatively unplanned trip, saw us in Milan without viewing the last supper and almost ending up without tix to the Ufizi in Florence.

crefloors

I totally HATE planning...have NO patience for it. HATE spending all day on the internet going from site to site..so, I WILL be stoned I know...I get what I want to do in mind, where I want to be etc. and then my travel agent gets it done. I do go on line and check out hotels that are suggested, stuff like that and say yea or nay but that's it. I'll duck now. LOL

seetheworld

I'm a planner by nature, so it just comes naturally.

However, I don't have to have every moment planned, but I cannot just &quot;wing it&quot;.

The planning also gets me through the waiting...extends the trip, gives me a something to daydream and fantasize about...it's just so exciting!

mcnyc

The only thing I like planning is where I'm going to stay. But then I'm curious as to what's around the area I'm staying at, since I like staying in city center. That leads to me wondering if there's anything beyond the little area where I'm lodging. Inevitably, I end up with a nice list of goodies and I end up planning, but not intentionally at first. I then decide which ones I don't want to miss and go from there.

crefloors

Well, yes, I like to learn about the place I'm going and what there is to see and the history of it, the significance etc...but I don't consider that planning. I also know the major sites I want to visit, but other than that, I keep it pretty loose. The, what I consider planning part is, comparing hotels, finding airfares, flight times, figuring out the trains or what ever. I just can't get into it. I tell my agent what I want time wise, budget wise...but also let them do the work and bring me back &quot;possibilites&quot;, and then I say OK or not. I would NEVER go so far as to try to go to Paris, for example, with no hotel or apartment reservations. I'm WAY past the hostel OR shared bathroom thing.

mcnyc

Ah...well, with me, my curiousity about my area ends up snowballing into things like how long will it take to get from my hotel to the sight I want to see, and what train I should take.

I actually like comparing flight costs (especially if I scored a deal), comparing hotels and costs, finding trains, etc.

Hm...um, hello, I'm mcnyc, and I like planning.

Timlin

I absolutely love planning.....we have a broad outline of what we want to see and where we're going but we never make reservations in advance for hotels or B&amp;Bs . At about 3 in the afternoon we begin to look for a place that catches our eye and before dinner we are in a room and ready to stop for the day.

I enjoy that we will move on or stay longer depending on what attracts us or bores us but I love the planning and looking ahead to where we're going.

teacherCanada

We are in the midst of planning our school trip to France and Spain scheduled for March 2008. Planning will be complete in about 2 weeks when we need to get permission from the School Board and then open it up to students. We set up our own itinerary and then ask travel professionals to quote on our plans. This way we get what we want (or close to it), not just another packaged tour. Stay tuned for more info on our plans. Love using this board for info and suggestions.

travgina

As much as I enjoy input from other Fodorites,who contribute greatly to my trip planning, I absolutely love being the one who puts everything together and makes it work. I can't imagine letting someone else plan my itinerary.

Even if travel wasn't becoming very expensive these days, I'd have to be in conrol. I AM an independent traveler!

tcreath

I absolutely love to plan our trips! My only problem is that I want to do and see everything, and sometimes have problems narrowing down the list.

I will say, though, that we are planning our first trip to SE Asia for next year, and that one has me a little dumbfounded. Planning just doesn't seem to be as easy as it does with our Europe vacations, and I'm lost on where to even begin. Still, in a few minutes I'm going to start reading my guidebook again and my planning mode will kick in!

Tracy

Maudie

Guess it is all relative, we have done 5 trips to SE Asia that were a breeze. We are now planning our 1st trip to Europe and are finding that more difficult.
But I am slowing getting there with a lot of reading and help from a lot of lovely people on this board.
Tcreath - you will have to swap over and do some reading on the Asia board.

I do love all the planning though, so much fun.

polly229

Like some others, I love the planning almost as much as the trip. I need some general planning to help decide how long to stay where, also. But I've learned in the last few years to leave some open time. Too often before I wised up, we'd end up with every minute scheduled (and often more than we could fit into the allotted time), then after we arrived we'd discover something we hadn't known about but didn't have time for without giving up something else. Since then some of our most enjoyable times have been things we stumbled onto in our “free” time. My husband, on the other hand, hates planning. He travels extensively for business and mainly only wants to know what country we’re going to and when. Gets off the plane and says, “Now what?” Which makes him an idea travel partner for me, of course.

But in previous years we’ve only taken a couple of trips a year, usually an international and a domestic, plus once or twice a few days added onto one of his business trips. This year we’ve already taken 3 (one a company trip I didn’t plan) and have three more international and two (or maybe three) domestic trips to go. I find myself putting things off longer and feeling somewhat relieved that the last trip is a tour, even though I’m not a tour person (I don’t think – we’ve never done a tour before). I doubt we’ll be taking quite as many trips in ’07 as this year but probably more than in ’05 and before. I wonder if I’m going to get tired of so much planning.

LoveItaly

Maybe let me explain it this way, I probably didn't do a good job with my first post.

I do not want to have reservations at a certain time on a certain day when I am travelling. I am so grateful for example that I have been to the various sites and sights in Italy before reservations, tickets etc. were necessary if one did not want to stand in a long line (I will not stand in a long line for anything except for the security line at airports as there is no choice if one wants to fly).

When I go somewhere I do know various places I want to visit of course. But I do not want to have to be at a certain place at a certain time..of course when one is flying somewhere one does have to be at the airport at a certain time etc.

I really don't know how to explain my feelings..but let me put it this way.

So many &quot;budget experts&quot; suggest that a family should make out a menu for the entire week and buy their groceries for the week predicated upon the menu. Heck, I don't know what I want to eat for dinner at 1:00pm in the afternoon of the same day much less what I want to eat all week a week ahead of time.

So that is me..I admire those that love to have a strict itinerary and enjoy sticking to it..but unless that was for just one day to me it would not be a vacation.

Hi back dear Scarlett

5alive

LoveItaly,

I understand what you are saying, especially for a mid-day reservation. We had a 2 pm resevation for our Scavi tour.

For the morning, we were out seeing some churches near Termini, and due to searching out batteries for my camera got a few blocks off from where we would be at Pietro Vincoli. To get back to it, some Italian women sent us on around this catwalk through some wonderful ruins. Even though we did have some cushion built into our day, we both felt uncomfortable spending much time lingering.

An earlier start time is much less problematic to me as you just plan on going there first thing and then the day is free.