Do you start planning your next trip immediately?
 

I just wondered if I am crazy, or if many of us are alike, travel addicts that we are.
I just returned late Monday night from a 12-day trip to London and Edinburgh, and I'm already going through these posts trying to plan my trip for next summer!
Okay, to be honest, I was already thinking about my next trip (Ireland? Croatia? Vienna and Salzburg?) BEFORE I left for the UK.
I find that planning a trip is at least half the fun, as is the anticipation. The hardest part for me is honing in on my ultimate destination, because I basically want to go everywhere, especially in Europe, and to make it worse, I always want to return to the places I've already been.

yes, I'm always planning the next trip, even before I've set the dates or booked the flights. You may feel you have a travel addiction, I prefer to think of it as a hobby. I can stop anytime I want, of course, I just choose not to.
:)

I am always planning! We have a trip to Sonoma County and Yosemite in October of this year, which is basically planned, so now I am already researching ideas for our next trip.....which is looking more and more like Germany, Switzerland, & Austria in September 2006!
For me the planning is almost as much fun as the trip itself, and its so nice to get to your destination and see the things you've read about for months and months and months and months!

Yes, Yes we are always two steps ahead.
I think I'd be so depressed if I didn't have a trip on the books.
Yes...to returning to favorite places....and the list keeps growing!!

I'm exactly the same as I've actually been guilty of planning my next trip whilst on my current trip !!

I'm sure it could be classified as an addiction.

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ALWAYS! And I too Maureen, am planning the next one before we even leave for the first one!

I agree with Elaine, I can stop at any time, I just choose not to! :S-

The planning is one of the best parts! I call it the discovery process, quite a thrill!

((Y)) Tiff

I, too, am addicted to planning! I am leaving for Italy next month and I've already started preparing for our next trip. Just last night, my husband asked me to stop looking at this board for one week, just to see if I could do it. I told him he was crazy - with 34 days left 'til we leave for Venice, I can't stop! For me, planning is such a big part of the fun of taking a trip.

My problem is that just when I have everything booked and I can breathe a sigh of relief, I start questioning my plans and have to rethink everything from square one! It's a never-ending process up until the time we board the plane. : )

Yes, I am insane. I have a fall trip and a quick trip with husband in winter. I will have to go to Maui and help son move in his new house, he is paying, toward end of year or beginning of next. And, I have been reading and searching for a trip to Russia in May or June.

I am really a budget traveler so search and planning takes time. Always scouting out a bargain. I am using ff miles on trip to Paris and Budapest, a very budget apt. in Paris. I got a good BA special for trip with DH including a stopover in London and 2 free nights at Thisle Kensington Gardens and got world traveler plus seats going over. We are spending other 4 nights in Munich..special rate if paid in advance on Hotels.com of $64 night in Munich at Munchen Deutscher Kaiser. We will see christmas mkts in Munich and Nuremburg.

Sorry, I did go off on a tangent but my point is it takes a lot of seraching and planning to go budget. So I am always searching for the next trip and next bargain.

Definitely! I have a general idea of where I think we will spend our next four or five vacations. I've already been planning our 2007 vacation and I started planning our 2006 vacation before we returned from our last vacation in May. I agree...planning and anticipation is definitely half the fun!

Tracy

At least that is what I tell myself...it is the budget. I am not addicted!!

Well, all of you have made me feel much better---apparently we are all truly addicted and not even remotely wishing for a cure! I guess I'll go back to figuring out my next destination then....

You're not crazy! When we returned from Paris in March, I refilled all of my travel products as I unpacked. My husband called it "obessive", I called it "prepared".
The key to success is having a goal and we are just motivated, that's all.
Nothing wrong with it. Not at all.
Now, excuse me, I must go think about my next vacation and organize my travel drawer! :S- (crazy would be packing the entire suitcase already)

I can't say that I plan the next one immediately, but I am always thinking about where we should go next! Sometimes I will see a plane fly overhead (we live near an airport) and I wish I was on the plane, going somewhere, and I know I am ready to go again. (Even if I was violently ill on the last plane!)

Next year is our 30th anniversary, and my husband has decided he will plan the next trip. But I am the planner!! AARGHH! Can I go if I haven't planned? Will it be fun for me if I'm not involved in the planning? I'll tell you next year!

For some reason last night I was thinking of a business class I had in college with a textbook called "Management by Objectives". That's how I approach travel plans. I can't let my brain go to the addiction realm.

Boy can I relate to this. I am definitely an addict and like ggnga a budget planner. That's the only way I can keep feeding my addiction. I'm going to Italy end of Sept. and I'm busy planning my trip for fall of 06 already. Hmmm Sicily or Amsterdam, Bruge, Paris. BTW ggnga what budget hotel did you find for Paris?

Ditto for me too Barb. Big time budget planner and am always planning way ahead. Sometimes I even get the trips mixed up. LOL:) We're leaving in four weeks for London, Paris and Ireland. I'm also in charge of our "girls weekend" in Chicago the first weekend in November. I already have a Feb 06 vacation booked for Manzanillo Mexico for my DH and me to get away from our "cold" midwest winters and am looking at a long weekend in New Orleans for the latter part of March. I just know when I get these pretty much planned that I'll be "looking" for another idea/plan. My DH thinks I'm totally off my rocker at times. He never knows where he's going just that he has to put in for vacation. Never a dull moment for us though. Happy planning everyone!

Planning my next trip is the only way for me to deal with the depression of having to return to work. :)

I've already got the next 3 or 4 vacation destinations planned - which means my vacation time allotment for the next several years has been spoken for. The only downside to this is that I never have enough vacation time to take advantage of any last minute trip opportunities.

Count me in too....I usually think about a year or two in advance. Then as I get close to the current trip, I am thinking about the next one. Last year while in London, I bought guide books at a bookstore for my trip in October. And I have been thinking about my 2006 trip for quite some time...I'll be 50 in October of 2006 and I think I should do a special trip to celebrate....unfortunately, my bank account may not agree with me. :) I see to plan way in advance, even make reservations, and then put it on the back burner for a bit...not entirely, just not as intensely...

So, you may be crazy, but since we're all just as crazy as you are, we don't think you are crazy! :)

Start planning your next immediately? No. It's a bit too late for me. I start to plan my next trip on the plane going home.

I also have to force myself not to pull my suitcase out of the closet to start packing too early :)

The most difficult thing for me is to pick a vacation destination, as it's not easy to save even for a budget vacation.

I always have several different vacation ideas/destinations rambling around in my head at any given time. It's just a matter of picking which destination fits the season, length of time, budget, etc. If I actually attached a year to each idea, I'd be well into the 2020s by now!

Yes, I am always planning at least one trip and often several. I am usually working on a big family vacation, a quick getaway, a family visit, and/or an adults only trip. I also help friends with their trips. So, I guess "addiction" would be a fair diagnosis.
Like Chele60, I tend to have a variety of possible destinations in mind, then choose based on time of year, who is going, budget, and general mood.
For me, planning is a large part of the experience/obsession. I learn a lot and have fun with it. And, like MaureenGP, I want to go everywhere and love places I've already been.

I have my future trips stacked in a holding position until I can take action on them. At the moment there are 4 in the stack, plus 3 trips already planned and waiting to go.

I have a tradition of taking a guidebook with me on the trip - a guidebook for my next trip. I read it on the flight home and it makes the end of a vacation go a bit easier. I'm filled with anticipation again...!

wow it's gr8 to meet y'll! My BF always makes fun of me saying im planning trips all the time - sometime in classes where i'm bored with wat the prof is sayin i'll be writing out my plans, where I wanna go etc. But i too am in love with europe and wanna go everyone there plus return to places i've been. Trying so hard not to re-visit those places. Am goin to paris/amst in september and already u'll find my school/work papers have notes on next yr's possible trips!!!! I just love planning and reading stuff on fodors - it's sheer fun.

I've got the next few years planned. This works out especially well when planning trips around (to include to exclude) festivals such as Semana Santa,Carnivale, or Oktoberfest. Either you want to be there when it's happening or you want to be as far away as possible. Plus when using FF miles for booking, the earlier the better.

Happy planning...happy trails to all!

Yes, even before the current trip is over. I love to have at least one trip in the wings.
I'm a budget traveler too. But I really think that we are in the minority on this Forum!
No worries, I just keep searching and reading and dig out what I need.
I have to admit, I would like not to HAVE to be a budget traveler - maybe for just one trip! But my husband always reminds me, that if we *weren't* budget travelers, we wouldn't travel nearly as much as we do!
Carol

I admit it, I am a crazy travel addict. Just got back Saturday from a 25 day European adventure and have barely gotten over the jet lag. I'm feeling guilty because I haven't printed my pictures or started my trip report. BUT, I have pulled the Germany Travel Book off the shelf and checked out airfares on the internet. Planning is great fun! Barb

Barb, I am renting an apt. in Paris vrbo #37144 on rue Dauphine 440 euros per week. Last trip in May I got a real bargain apt. from beau-paris.com. It was 9 rue Christian Dewet 2 blocks from Nation metro. It was clean and comfortable, owner very nice and helpful, and only 365 euros per week.
I really wanted to stay in St. Germain so chose this other apt. this time.

I also have a very budget hotel I like, Hotel Floridor, 51 euros incldg breakfast for a single, ensuite room, elevator, had a double bed and a french door overlooing the street. It is accross the street from Denfert Rochereau metro and RER which makes it very convenient. Rue Daugerre is a great market street very nearby. Hotel Floridor does not have a website.
Phone 01 43 21 35 53, Fax 01 43 27 65 81. It is on place Denfert Rochereau. I also stayed there in a triple with DH and son. The single bed was in kind of an alcove away from the double giving some privacy.

I feel perfectly normal now, at least by Fodor's standards.

Happy planning to all.

gg

I think I have all of you beat--I have put off cataract surgery until November because I have a September trip to Charleston and an October trip to London already planned.

Then, my husband said he would like to go back to Paris next spring for our 25th anniversary; so that's in the works. Also thinking about an Alpine trip with DD in 2007. Next?

To me travel has three parts:

-Planning
-Doing
-Writing a journal from my notes

Like most posters I am always planning the next trip. That trip will include a Provence/Paris segment(we have done that for most of the past 13 years) and one other place--this year it was Rome, one year it was Siena, another Normandy, Lugano, Brittany, Ireland, etc.

This really is how we solved your dilemna. (By the way, our average vacation is 16 days including weekends.)

I'm starting to feel normal again....
I bought guidebooks for Amsterdam, Prague, and Austria before I took my London trip. I just didn't want to admit to it (kind of like stashing away your drugs or alcohol, I guess!). My best friends are non-travelers (or Disney World types, which is fine, too) and they don't understand like the rest of you do. They say things to me such as: "You haven't even gone on this trip yet! How can you be worrying about the next one?"
Well, I'm not "worrying," I'm looking ahead, and savoring the idea of more to come. Thanks for letting me know I'm not alone in this obsession....

gg, thanks for the info. The apt. on rue Dauphine looks great and so is the price. When are you going? Please let us know what you think of it when you get back.

Maureen: normal? NOOOOOOOOOOO Please stay with us :)

Having come back from our "big trip" June 27, all I can think about is how can we go again??? But, with one kid entering college this fall, and another going in 2007, I don't see Europe in the near future. (I do, however, see a LOT of domestic driving!) But you never know!

As I am very happy to hear that others share my passion/obsession with travel and planning, I decided to tell my DH about this thread while cleaning up dinner. When I pointed out how "normal" my interest is, he chuckled and said, "Now this is just a case of the inmates running the asylum. Of course ,they agree with you." LOL :-d Then again, he never complains while enjoying the trips I have planned!

Well, I know what everyone means, but I found that I actually got mayself burned out on planning my trip this time around. Because I planned a destination that was truly going to be very crowded, I was finding it difficult to find hotels and travel connections were going to be a little difficult.

We ended up not going and opted for a trip closer to home. Had a great time, but I truly got myself all tired out with the planning. I did feel that through the planning, I actually felt I had already been on the trip! ! !

Maureen,
You are not alone. I already have plane tickets and lodging reservations for my next THREE trips!

Of course, we all start planning the next trip right away - well, probably just filling in the details on the next trip, because most of us here always have at least three or four "serious" trips planned with the outlines of many more in our minds! I have about three future trip itineraries to various places (Italy, Costa Rica, Alaska)planned at present, with alternatives for more or less days, different modes of transportation etc. My real planning issues are elderly parents, elderly in-laws and school-age children. So I am making do with a trip to Kansas City to Oceans of Fun next weekend. But I still can have a little fun researching the best BBQ restaurant in the north Kansas City area and downloading maps etc.

Yes, yes, and yes! One always has to dream of his/her next great travels. DH & I always have a running list of places in our minds that we hope to visit in the future, our "Wish List". We usually work on the plans for each year's Sept. trip during the dreary months of Jan. & Feb. Let's re-phrase that, I work on the plans. Like a previous post said, we catch ourselves talking about ideas for the next trip while in the midst of a current one. At home one of our favorite topics is travel, and planning is an important part of the fun.

Oh my yes..proud to admit it too since I know I'm in good company. Wish I could go multiple times a year but this will will be within the US..next year I'll have enough miles to get an international ticket free. You bet that we're already planning!