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!

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

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! (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!