Wild hair, spur-of-the-moment, unplanned trips to Europe: please share your experiences

I once flew to Amsterdam at the last minute and got an incredibly cheap airfare. I was there for five nights.

The sex was fantastic and worth every penny, too.

Went to Paris to visit our son 3 years ago. Rockford airport was trying to compete with Chicago with a special promotional rebate on airfare. I think the cost per person was $400.

We found a special rate at Citadines so it worked out nicely. BTW, what is the wild hair part?

We were offered a 10-day trip to Ireland and London by my husband's company. It was with a group, so we didn't have to do any last minute planning...

...Until we missed our flight from Newark to Shannon due to weather. The best Continental agent in the world worked for about an hour to reroute six of us to Paris instead. We then told the company travel agent that if she could put us up for the first night somewhere in Paris, and we could find accommodations for the remaining two nights and a way to get to London.

When we arrived in Paris, they had reserved us rooms at the Hotel du Louvre in the 1st, and they had gone ahead and paid for all three nights. It was a fabulous hotel, one that we would never have been able to afford on our own.

Luckily, we had French-speaking Canadians in our group, and were able to make our way around Paris, out to Versailles, and to book Eurostar tickets to meet up with our group in London.

We went with no plans and no expectations. It was a fabulous three days in Paris.

This year I was lucky enough to return to Paris with my mom and was able to see all the things we missed on that quick trip.

Naughty, naughty Dukey!!!

esm,

"wild hair" is an expression meaning a sudden, often irrational, urge to do something out of the ordinary.

Thanks NN; I guess I have wild hair!

Although I would guess those days are now past us, my wife & I grabbed 'e-savers' several times & traveled to Amsterdam, Paris & Munich. They were all leave Thursday evening, return Tuesday trips. Worth every dime, & I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

Oh I have the impulse all right -- right now, in fact. Go to the airport, get on a plane and be having cafe creme and croissants in Paris tomorrow. alas I am WAY too much of a planner for such a thing... And the planning is very much a pleasure - comparing assorted web sites and hotels, getting the best hotel for the price at the best value... I always thought: if I got an inheritance, I'd be on the first plane to Europe. When I got it in 2002 (grandparents), did I do it? I did not! I still planned out my trips as carefully as ever... Spontaneous I'm not! But I can dream

Pretty much everything I need for a trip is already in my suitcase. Just add clothes and fill a container for moisturizer.

When I come home, I refill all of the travel sizes of shampoo, root lifter etc, throw in a bar of travel soap and a travel toothpaste.

I'm set and always hopeful that I'll have a wild hair, (not going to happen travel blow dryer already in there) spur of the moment unplanned trip to anywhere. If it this trip is in the States, I take out my adapter.

I used to spend 6-12 months planning our overseas trips then we moved to another country to live and it all changed.

We had been in the new country about a month, so stressful times, my husband got a new job and we found we could squeeze in a week's holiday somewhere. We quickly chose the Algarve in Portugal . I knew NOTHING about the country or the area.

I was online searching and booking flights 2 days before we flew out and the night before we left I was crazily trying to find accommodation. On the way to the airport we stopped to buy a small guidebook. Boy, was I stressed with doing no planning but we had a good time anyway.

Kay

My first trip to Europe was spur of the moment. My DH was deployed and we found out they were doing a port stop, so I had one week advance notice. I had gotten our passports (kids and myself) a few months before in the hopes that we could meet him somewhere. But that was the extent of the planning. With the one week notice, I got airline tickets and hotel reservations. I still remember getting on the plane at JFK with the kids, who were only 4 and 7 at the time, and thinking "what in the world am I doing?" as I was nervous about my adventure. Best thing I ever did!!! We had a fantastic time and it really got me wanting to explore more areas.

A few years ago British Airways had a 3 day offer for a round trip between San Francisco and London for $199. I booked it and was off the next week.

Perhaps five years ago, while on break at work, I called my husband and told him there was an independent tour for 10 days in Ireland. $1,500 for the two of us including car rental, B&B's, and flights. He said "No!" I said "Yes!", he said "GO!", and I clicked within two minutes. We left the next month, which considering our normal planning routine, was as spontaneous as we're likely to get.

It was a great trip, made even more memorable by what we considered a fantastic deal. It was definitely the off-season, but during that cold spring, we saw a 50-degree difference in daytime temps between home and Ireland. It felt like summer!

~Annie

A few years ago, I took a last-minute trip to London for six days. I needed to get away by myself and it was wonderful. I did exactly what I wanted to do, walked a lot, and thoroughly enjoyed London.

I travel for business a lot, so I just packed up, and told my family (my kids and mother live nearby)on my way to the airport (from a phone) that I would be in London for a few days. They know me too well to protest. I had a marvelous time - and I'm trying to figure out how I can get a week away before the end of this year.

In March of 2006, I really needed to get away and wanted to go to Rome. I was looking to leave the following week, but the flights were $2000+, obviously way too much for me to afford. I didn't give up, just kept checking them several times a day. Then on Expedia, up popped an Expedia Bargain Fare for around $550 that guaranteed a major airline and not more than one stop. I grabbed it.

This was less than a week from when I left. I immediately went to Sleep in Italy and got lucky with an apartment for 11 nights right off Campo de' Fiori. Loved every minute!
Wish I could do it right now!

After a battle with my ex-family in 1979, I decided "the heck with it" and booked a trip to Sint Maarten for 2 weeks over Thanksgiving. Had never been there & fell in love with it. Met this older lady who lived there with a business & came back to the same nuts family.

Went back in January & stayed with the lady for a month. Wound up getting a job there off-season babysitting a guest house which turned permanent in 1982. Lived there until 1989 when the place was sold.

Moved back to the area of my nutty ex-family for 6 months, sent my resume all over the USVI (never had been here), was asked for an interview, went, got hired & moved here in a week's time.

Be careful of those wild hairs.

I know, I know - it wasn't Europe but it was overseas (half-French/half-Dutch.)

somewhat unplanned. and not Europe..We had a trip to Hawaii planned. I had read books and decided everything. It started raining about a month before our trip and didn't stop. Kauai was flooded and Oahu dumped 50,000 gallons of raw sewage right in front of our hotel...I switched to the Big Island two days before our flight. I bought a book to read about it on the plane, but didn't. We winged the whole trip and it was fun.
Now, I need to have a Europe escape with lots of wild hairs!!!

I would do Mexico or Hawaii for a beach vacation on a "wild hair" but not Europe.

It costs too much and I'd want to have time to better make my plans.

Found a great round trip price to Berlin a couple of years but DH didn't want to go. Called my daughter at school, asked if she was interested and of course she was. The semester was over in a couple of weeks so she, my son and I went for it. One of our best trips ever.

Almost missed the overnight train to Krakow--which we had--the sleeper smelled like butt. Took a sleeper to Prague and were in a compartment smack in the middle of a group of Asian senior citizens. They piled their weight in luggage X2 outside their sleepers and we almost missed our stop trying to crawl over it. Didn't check the weather and headed straight to an 8-hour walking tour of Berlin in sandals and tee shirts. It rained the last 5 five hours and didn't leave the 40s. Got lost for a couple of hours trying to find our hotel in Krakow. Dragged our luggage over the cobblestones in the rain, fought over who was the least competent, only to discover we'd walked past the pension half a dozen times. At at a strange little place called Rooster--the equivalent of our Hooters and there's no way our hamburgers were cow.

All in all, it's still one of my favorite trips. I think because I didn't do my usual obsessive planning!

Some interesting stories thus far. Thanks to all!

Jayne:

Isn't it funny how you had all those crazy and awful things happen, but they turn out to be the best memories? It sounds like a wonderful trip.

My mom and I have had some fun times on spur-of-the-moment decisions. Yay for moms taking their kids on fun vacations!

Last year after a divorce I called one of my friends up and said...let's go to Rome...2 weeks later there we were. Happy divorce to me!!!!!!!!!!!!

The expression is "wild hare" as in hare-brained, nutty, utterly foolish.

Stupid me...I always thought it was "wild hair," as in a crazed-looking person with crazy hair.

Duh! Learn something new every day.

Hmmm, you may be right USNR, but most of us bumpkins in the south don't even know what a hare is. So, the way I always heard it was, "He's got a wild hair up his _ _ _."

Hopefully, "hare" wasn't the intended word in this sentence, but I could be wrong.

LOLOLOL Shelley--I thought the same thing--a rabbit didn't even occur to me!

Went to Germany from Los Angeles on 2 weeks notice with my wife and 8 year old kid, and stayed for 4-1/2 years.

I can beat a lot of you as far as spur of the moment. About four or five years ago I found a great early June airfare (MSP to Paris) on Friday for the next Tuesday (4 days away). Booked it. Found a great gite to rent in Brittany for a week. Arranged a rental car. After our time at the gite, dropped our car off in Angiers where I had arranged a 9 day self-guided bicycle trip of the Loire Valley through an local outfitter. Fabulous vacation! I'll admit though that I was not a first time European or France traveler and had thought about some of these areas before, so I wasn't starting from square one.

I booked a 7-day British Airways London package (air + hotel) to escape from the stress of the holidays, about a week before I left. (I usually plan about a year in advance, so this was truly a wild-hair decision!)

After listening to various parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc get into a snit about who was doing what and where over Christmas, I decided I couldn't take it anymore.

I left them all behind and jetted off to the UK for one of the most relaxing weeks I ever had.

Highly recommended!

Just do it! I guess I'm from that generation - then you come back and be what family, friends and your culture expect you to be. The best time of my life was when I did it!

...... so once you're IN France, this is the place to plan your next move, while sipping a glass of Jurançon and staring at the Pyrenees!!

http://www.fermedecandeloup.fr

Great stories.

We took our first trip abroad when my husband and I were young marrieds without children. We were thinking about having children, so it seemed like a good thing to do beforehand. We had a great trip to Italy.

We enjoyed it so much that a couple of months later, I told my husband that I thought we should do a second trip while we were able. So, off we went to Spain.

Now, my solo trips to London are pretty spontaneous. From time to time, I get the urge to get away, start looking at airfares and try to win a hotel on Priceline. I can decide one day and have it all done the next day or sometimes even the same day.

I regularly get the 'wild hair' to just take off and go, unfortunately by husband is working but very supportive and tells me to get a ticket and enjoy. Usually my unplanned trips take me to Paris where I enjoy being alone with no plans and no limitations, a very rewarding experience to do what you want when you want. I did a last minute Christmas Danube River cruise in early Dec. to visit the cristmas markets, was a bit concerned about being alone on a cruise but had a wonderful time, met lots of nice people, etc. My husband will retire in 2 more weeks and I hope we can do some spur of the moment travels together.

About 3 years ago I was surfing online and found round-trip tickets to Paris for just under $200. I sent my sister a text message "Paris $200 next week you in?" Within 20 min we had both arranged the time off work and I had called my Aunt to see if she wanted to go, and if she thought we should get a ticket for my mom. My mom was in Russia at the time and was due back home 2 days before we would leave for Paris. With no way to ask her we decided the deal was to good to pass up. After buying the tickets for a 10 day stay I called a friend in Southern France to see if she could meet us in Paris, she couldn't but invited us to stay 5 days with her. We arranged for a rental car and were driving from Paris to Chambery less then a week after finding the tickets. We had a great time there, and she ended up going back to Paris with us for the 2nd half of our trip. We had a wonderful time and hope to do it again someday.