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!