What choices drive you crazy when planning a trip?

Your second to last paragraph hit on the biggest struggle for me. Not only in terms of certain aspects of a trip, but at this particular time, not only in our personal financial lives (kids in/just out of college, etc.) but in this economy, deciding to travel at all is a huge struggle.

As I think you know, Julie, because of my posts about Barcelona, we're going to be in Ireland in June for our daughter's wedding. We've decided that, as long as we're already in Europe, we're going to extend our trip. But, from the time we made that decision, I've wavered constantly between thinking, "We're absolutely nuts to be doing this right now!" and "We have to take this opportunity that's been presented to us. You don't know what's around the next corner and we may never get this chance again!"

I have to think that I'm not the only one who's had that particular struggle in the past few months!

You're right on CAPH52, that's certainly the big one right now, probably even more than the perennial should I jump on this fare right now vs should I wait hoping it will go down?

Yep, Julie. And then, once you make the decision to go, it's the struggle between wanting to keep costs down and not doing so to the point that you've wasted the cost of getting there!

A big one for me is what to do on the day of arrival. It's not a big deal if you have a week in the city, but if you only have a short time, you want to try to see things, only not anything really important, lest you are too tired to enjoy them...

A choice for me is deciding to visit the places that I love and have visited dozens of times or to go some place new. I now make a point of adding one new place each time I go to Europe. But then it's just another to add to the places I love.

Right now my struggle is economic; out of work, bad economy, not saving enough for retirement, bleak prospects of employment. I have decided that I will take a trip to Europe next spring; it's been too long since my last trip.

Other than the economic struggle there is the indecision between going back to places I love vs trying new places. I could go to Italy every year but also want to experience countries I've not yet been to.

The other decisions (hotels, restaurants) are dependent upon my budget which is never large. I'd rather take a trip and stay in a 1 or 2 star hotel/pensione rather than saving for a more elaborate hotel and traveling less.

Same with restaurants. An inexpensive place with good food is fine by me. I don't need the fancy places. Sometimes I choose a place that is pricey but gives great ambiance, i.e., a cafe near the Pantheon or in Piazza Navona - very expensive but the view and people watching is wonderful.

I've never thought of the above decisions as "struggles" except the decision to be practical and not travel now; wait for a better time. That is a daily struggle.

Hi Julie,
I know just where you're coming from and as our departure date draws near I get to bed (and sleep) going over and over our intended itinerary!
eg: Now let's see......first day we will first go here, then after that I think we should do this....No, that won't fit in, we had better head for that and then this, ending with lunch at.....or maybe......Oh, they both look good........sigh....I can't think anymore..................!

Please tell me I'm not alone in this travel wilderness!

My biggest pull is the "where". I always have the "have to go somewhere" urge, but fulfilling it is the tough part. I have an extensive list of want-to-go-but-haven't-yet places and an even longer list of need-to-go-back-to-see-more places. Usually once I get over that hurdle, however that happens, whether it's a good fare or a hunch or an itch that needs to be scratched, I'm good and the pulls are far less in the planning and actual going stages of the trip.

It never takes us too long to know where we want to go.

I love finding lodging. Looking at apartments is fun. Although this time we are still looking for 2 Paris studios.

I struggle with itinerary and restaurant choices.
Once I am confident with where to stay and when to go,
I do stress out on where to eat. I worry that others wont like one of my choices. I am pretty adventurous, but others I travel with, not so much.

Julie:

In my case, it is the hotels that make me crazy! I am going to London tomorrow afternoon and may yet change my mind as to where I am going to stay.

Hey, glad this is working for you. I sure get the return to old favorites vs. explore new places pull. That's a big one for me and a big tug on the relationship between DH and me. He's very much into return. I'm more into new. We try for a balance. Was it ever so!!!

jetsetj, I love finding lodging too, but right now I'm devoting far more time than is rationale to my selection of a single hotel in Piemonte. It will be for 5 days, so the stakes are higher than if it were for 2. The options seem endless. I'm trying to balance style, location, cost, reviews, in town, close to town, out of town, modern/traditional, B&B/full service, etc. etc. etc. I've been obsessing and surfing for 3 days. I just found 2 more that I have to check out. This is nuts. AT least we've decided to return to two old favorites and add one new destination, so the big decisions are made.

Right now, I'm still wrestling with my Dordogne itinerary for August. I just can't figure out where I should place us for 5 nights. I really don't want to move during that stay, but I really don't want to spend a lot of time each day on traffic clogged roads. I am totally at a loss. It is frustrating the heck out of me.

I usually don't have a struggle over what to do each day. We pick a lot of trips based around art, churches, museums, architecture, famous sights. So once the destination is chosen, I can pretty much rank what I want to see.

Restaurants: I make huge lists then try to narrow them down. Often spend hours and hours at this.

Accommodations: If our destination is already determined, then I find choosing accommodations fun. If it isn't chosen, then I go nuts trying to pick towns and look at rooms at the same time. I drive myself buggy.

I understand why many people take a resort type trip. They really don't have anything to think about: drinks at 7 or 7:30?

I have decided that we are going on a Caribbean trip in 2010, if we are still employed. Since I'm so stymied by this France trip, I think I'm tempted to go plop myself down on an island and stay there.

Oh yes, I analyze (overanalyze) all these factors way too much.

Some I have figured out - Pretty much every trip, we spend some time in big cities, and some time in the countryside. But it needs to be a big enough town that there is a selection of restaurants.

Hotels are SOMEWHAT easy, too, except for deciding on exactly which place. We don't need a lot of services, don't eat big breakfasts, so I'm always looking for individuality and charm (what constitutes charm may vary by location), convenient location, not too expensive. DH's latest bugaboo is a place that has someone on staff 24 hours (which rules out some, but not all, B&Bs) - our son got sick on our last trip in the middle of the night, and while we didn't need to call anyone, DH is not concerned about, what if we need to. But deciding which charming place is the "just right" one becomes rather silly. And DH and any other travelers say they don't care, until they look at website pictures, and decide they don't like this or that for various reasons.

Distances and number of nights is a toughy, too. One-night stays get tiring real fast, but on the other hand, staying put in one place may mean more travel time spent on day-trips. I'm currently stuck in not being able to make this kind of decision for our trip to Italy in September.

Restaurants - as I mentioned, yes, I spend far too much time in coming up with restaurant possibilities. Again, we're increasingly drawn to mid-priced, more local places. But deciding which one, oh, that's difficult. And when I come home, I think about all the local dishes and foods that I didn't have a chance to try...

tuscanlifeedit, I love "drinks at 7 or 7:30" I think I just wouldn't find that challenging enough.

Lexma90, we too find ourselves increasingly into moderate, local places. I used to drive myself nuts trying to find all the Michelin stars in an area and then deciding which 3 or 2 star place to try, until we had a couple of really "too, too" experiences that caused me to recognize we were more "one star and local bistro" people, so I've settled down on that score a bit. In Piemonte, however, almost every little town of 300 people or more has its own one star, so I'm really in a tizzy trying to decide--dishes vs. ambiance vs. distance is starting to become an obsession. Good thing I've got 5 months to work on the problem.

I also agonize over restaurants. My husband and I are foodie nuts and we really look forward to trying new things. It's one of the main reasons we travel. I've found Michelin is very good in many cases (especially in France) for identifying those moderate, local places. I look for 2 or 3 forks and the Bib Gourmand symbols. Also Slow Foods in Italy. But then I spend too much time on the Internet, looking at forums, restaurant web sites, etc. Too many restaurants and never enough time!

Since my budget tends to be limited I don't worry too much(actually not at all!) about luxury hotels or high end restaurants. And the lodging options for my next trip (to Germany) seem endless. I'm so overwhelmed! As for food, I just tend to eat in small local restaurants, cafes, and the like.

My issues are where to go...there are so many places. I could go back to previously visited places; there is a certain comfort in having seen the must sees and can now enjoy other things, but then there is that total excitement about seeing a new country or city.

My issues are do I go now and alone, or should I wait until my friend makes up her mind whether she can afford to travel? I have enough airmiles that I have a free economy class ticket to Europe. I want to use it as soon as possible, which means I need to start looking now in order to book the flight. I don't mind traveling alone, but I also find it enjoyable to have someone to share the experience with, and she turned out to be a good travel companion when we went to London and Paris in November 2006. I sort of feel guilty about planning a solo trip.

Right now I've been reading up on Germany and the Christmas markets. The more I research the more I want to go, but it is increasingly difficult to choose which cities. Stay in one city and vist the market and the sites? Base in a large city and daytrip by train? Start out in a large city and overnight in smaller towns? I'm looking at about 8-10 days(including travel from California) and flying out of SFO on Thanksgiving night or the next morning.

I think those of us who are "planners" encounter things that drive us crazy when planning a trip. I envy those who just "wing it." I tried winging it once and was a nervous wreck the whole time. I have to face it, I'm just a planner!. My ex complained I wasn't spontaneous enough and I told him I didn't mind spontaneity as long as I could plan ahead for it.

There are many on here looking for low priced restaurant choices in Paris. I have checked out books from the library, read forums,surfed the web and now I have so many choices that I am more confused than ever.

Maybe too much research and planning can be bad. Hum....

Similar to Jetsetj: the inertia that results from over-analyzing anything; accommodations, restaurants, activities. You do all the research, reading, check all the web sites, Tripadvisor, etc. and still don't make a decision because you want the BEST and the BEST PRICE.

Eventually, you just have to commit.

IMHO we are all suffering from severe doses of "fodoritis", me included.

my particular fault [as pointed out by DH, quite often, LOL] are that I become obsessed with finding the perfect destination, followed closely by the perfect hotel/apartment. this often descends into "packitallinitis" aka the inability to realise that you can't get a quart into a pint pot, despite the fact that I often advise others that they are trying to do just this.

our punishment? - to be forever booking our accommodation on a non-cancellation basis because it's such a "bargain", only to find that there's somewhere better jsut round the corner.

the cure - a totally non-planned holiday. go on, dare you!

regards, ann

tuscanlifeedit,

I started a Caribbean thread as I dont know where to start.
What area are you interested in. Western seems nice.

http://www.fodors.com/community/cruises/what-caribbean-cruise.cfm

For me at least, I know that's never going to happen. That's one pull I never experience--to plan or wing it. I always plan--and plan, and plan, and plan.

For me, the worst is to choose a hotel, location is probably the most important thing. Everything else is a search. Hotel is a tough choice.

dayenu,

Countless people have come on this forum saying they wish they would have stayed closer to the sites.

People assume (later regretting it) that by paying less is a good thing. If you are spending time and money traveling somewhere you could have walked to isnt a good value.

I agonize over it all! But we also plan well in advance so the planning becomes part of the adventure and, by the time we leave, I'm usually comfortable with most of our choices. I am the planner and my husband would just go. He's happy with almost anything. I'm higher maintenance.

Of course, there will always be the "perhaps we should have done this restaurant vs. another" but that, too, is subjective.
As long as we have a great time, it's all good and worth the effort!

And then there is the packing! My normal pattern is to start simple, then add things, then pull everything out and simplify again. This has been going on for years, so it must be basic with me. Do I wear the same thing for the whole time and then want to throw it out when I get home, or do I burden myself with too many options? And how's the weather? Will I freeze or bake? Raincoat? Ski underwear? Skimpy tops? And how much room to leave for purchases? How to pack so as to avoid hassles at security ........ and so on. It helps if I'm too busy in the lead up to the trip to spend much time obsessing.

WHOKNEW-it's been a while since we were in Germany, but I don't know that you can go wrong w/any city's Christmas market, Nuernberg & Heidelberg especially. Unfortunately the 2 are not close enough to do in one day...

CAPH52--I can totally relate to that dilemma. Budget's tight, do we spend the extra? We're already going - who knows when we can go again? Enjoy it while you're there!

Our biggest challenge travelling in UK is whether to use public transport or rent a car. Public is very reliable & more relaxing, but doesn't always go where/when you want or allow for spur-of-the-moment changes. Driving is a challenge (duh!) for a day or 2, but there's no time lost waiting for train/bus schedules; 'course, on public trans you don't have as much opportunity to get lost, either! = ) Going in the wrong direction can take you places you'd have given no thought to seeing & yet thoroughly enjoy...and there's no language barrier!

DH saw bbcAmerica's The Hotel Inspector recently which got us comparing B&Bs w/hotels we'd stayed in & which we preferred. Overall, the B&Bs won; they just suit us better - friendlier, more relaxed, just as knowledgeable.