I am an obsessive planner when it comes to travel. I have also wondered if it would ever happen that I planned and read so much that I'd be disappointed and let down when I actually arrived at my destination. It has NEVER happened---- I'm always thrilled with the results, and I STILL always have something that surprises and delights me in spite of all the research. I just returned from my first trip to Europe, and due to circumstances, I had to go with a tour group and I didn't have the time to do ANY research. I felt a bit "out of control", but it was still a fantastic trip. It probably could have been an even better trip if I'd done the pre-trip research----for example: while roaming aimlessly in Paris (and loving it) I didn't realize until I was on the plane home that I had been only a few blocks away from the Pere Lachaise cemetary that I've always wanted to see!! I was a bit disappointed, but c'est la vie-----I'll just have to go back!! I have no regrets----my unresearched trip was wonderful, but I DO believe it could have been better with more pre-trip planning.

Some vacations don't live up to expectations, not because of preparation (as you seem to be wondering) but despite preparation.

I am a light sleeper and I figured out a long time ago that when I wake up in the middle of the night, the best thing is not to worry about the fact that I'm not having a blissfully wonderful sleep (or even any sleep at all.) This is also my attitude towards vacations (or even just parts of some vacations) that don't carry me away into joy but leave me very much, well, awake. Accept the experience you did receive, and don't fight it. Regardless of quality, it was uniquely your experience, and so not comparable to any previous or subsequent experience and certainly not meaningfully comparable to anyone else's experience or to any 'standard.'

Amen to that! My husband and I did that on our first trip to Italy. Now we show up every year for a month's vacation with zero hotel reservations and we totally fly by the seat of our pants. Research has its place, but stumbling upon the perfect town in the middle of no where is better! Throw out your tour book next time and wing it, its scary at first but ultimately liberating!

Do you think maybe it's not so much a matter of "too much knowledge" as too much imagination? Not in a bad way, it's just that if you imagine how things are going to be, based on other people's experiences or daydreams while you're waiting for the trip, things are bound not to happen that way. I don't think I could be disappointed because of knowledge but rather what I thought was knowledge - and wasn't. And yes, that's happened!

I haven't really had the experience of having too much planning ruin a trip for me, but I think maybe I DO understand what you mean. Could it be a matter of too much very "left-brained" type of learning making you feel so rigidly planned that you no longer feel free to let your imagination wander and observe things in an alert but relaxed way? I'm not an obsessive planner myself, and I dislike too much structure and feeling overloaded with too many very concrete details. I have a problem planning in advance how long various activities will take, whether for work or vacation. However, I'm definitely not one to go off without gathering information, by reading about the history or art or folkways or architecture or geography and attractions of a place, making phone inquiries, asking about others' impressions and experiences, brushing up on a language, photocopying pages of guidebooks, etc. A lot of my planning must look terribly haphazard to the really organized folks, because I don't plan schedules and walking routes and make neat little lists of restaurants and museum hours. I probably forget many of the details people give me when I'm making preliminary plans. But that doesn't mean that I haven't "used" the info and found it helpful. I think what I'm left with after digesting all the info I gather from diverse sources is a stronger feel for the place I'm visiting so then I am better able to figure things out as I go along. So, ideally, I can be perpetually excited about everything being so new and surprising, but at the same time, I have background knowledge and understanding that makes thngs fall into place in my mind.

all good responses. I think the idea that it is imagination(Yes I am a designer..so on the creative side..)and not knowledge is exactly right. I couldnt go on a trip like the one we just did,or the one coming up to NY without hotel ,and in NY ,restaurant plans.It was more of the way I thought it would make me feel. I truly thought that I would find a little town and not want to come home..ok so yes like in 'under the Tuscan sun' I loved Cinque Terre,but wouldnt want to live there,like I thought I would.. Loved almost all of our hotels,the villa was fabulous,resrevations for the Ufizzi and the the David a must...other stuff was by the seat of our pants...slightly..I would like to go on a trip where someone else plannned though..of course as long as we had the same ideas in mind!!!

Interesting question.

I love planning trips and learning about places and knowing options, but that's a very "left-brain" experience. Once I'm there, it seems my sense take over and everything becomes more of a "right-brain" experience...very viseral and in the moment.

Yet I think the planning allows for greater options, plus it's so much fun!

This query reminds me of the proverb "ignorance is bliss." I think not.

I do a lot of planning because I don't want to find out after we come home that we had been right next to something we really would have wanted to see, but didn't know about it. Some people seem to have every day completely planned with no room for spontaniety, and I would not like to live like that. I think good planning can save you time (knowing that two sites are close together and one is closed monday and the other tuesday allows you to plan to visit them both on another day), but I always try to plan a lot of unscheduled time, which lets us spend more time on something we liked, or just soak up the local culture.

...I dont think info ruins a trip but overplanning certainly does. If you want a totally planned vacation with no glitches suggest disneyworld..the best thing about a trip (at least for me) is the sense of awe and surprise of something ive discovered for myself..but a lot of background info is helpful..including language, history a novel set in the area, a biography makes the trip even more fun.

Interesting. When I decided to go to Paris, THEN I started planning. I thought it would be a good way to waste er...spend time until I could "take off". I found all the websites (like Fodor's here..) and I read the books and booked my apartment coz I liked the thought of it...and my hotels coz I liked their looks (the apartment turned out to be a bad idea...) but the hotel was my best idea...witout anyone's approval or recommendation. I knew when and where concerts were being held, I knew if there were plays at theaters, I knew what clubs played jazz, had a few restaurant recommendations and pre-read menus...
I knew to do D'Orsay one day, Louvre the next...but once I got into Paris... then I was VERY flexible as to how I felt and what I wanted to do! But I was fortified with my "knowledge" that I had lots and lots options. Never have seen the D'orsay yet... (and I'll be called a heretic but I haven't seen the Eiffel Tower up close yet either...)
.... reasons to go back?

To NYCFS - - I don't think my father-in-law would have proposed that &quot;ignorance is bliss&quot;. I think he would have said that <i>emerging from</i> ignorance is bliss - - and that was part of the enjoyment of travel for him. He enjoyed doing that once he arrived. Not my style, but I suspect that more people feel this way than I would ever suppose.

I totally agree with travelbunny!
I love to pick out information about a future destination but not overplan my actions once I am there.

To me that takes all the fun out of a trip, if I miss something it is because I chose to in order to do something on the spur of the moment instead.

If I set myself a rigid schudule I am just as miserable than if I miss visiting someplace nice, probably moreso.

&quot;at times felt dissapointed because a city or an experience wasnt like someone said it would be.&quot;

I think the problem you had isn't too much information, but too little! If somebody recommends a place, be sure to find out WHY. They might have different tastes, interests than you, so something THEY loved, will leave you cold.

That's the thing that bugs me about people asking for itineraries: how can I set one for you, without knowing LOTS about you?

~Liz

I think we knew before the original question was asked that there are many kinds of travelers, those who like to plan, those who don't; those who like the research, those who don't; those who like a rigid itinerary, those who don't want any at all; those who like to make hotel reservations ahead, those who like the flexibility of moving about as they please; those to whom food is important, those who are happy to stop and eat when and where they want.
I think it is silly for one group to try to convince the other that their way is the correct way. It is like so much in life - it takes all kinds.... I don't believe that planning and research has ever ruined an experience for me - in fact, the more I know about things, the more I am likely to appreciate and enjoy them. Despite my three trips to Venice and my planning and research ahead of our last trip, I was once again blown away when we entered the Grand Canal on the Alilaguna. But I also appreciate that it is not that way for everyone.

Great question - the replies are among the best I've ever seen on the Fodor's board.

I fall in with the obssesive, over-planning group. I also read everything I can about the history of where I'm going and keep up with whatever is happening there currently.

I envy the people who go by the seat of their pants and sometimes wish I was more that way. Since I travel in the shoulder season I don't know why I'm so terrifed I won't get a hotel room. I'm so bad I try to download everything about the place I'm staying, including the Room Service menu, before I go!

But even with all that, I have yet to go anywhere where there weren't some surprises in store, some negative but most positive. And I completely agree that what someone else or a reviewer likes might not be your cup of tea - as evidenced all the time on this board!

No, but too high of expectations will.

I love to research, but am determined not to overschedule. The best part of any trip are the surprises and discoveries and, yes, even the &quot;hiccups&quot; or unforeseen problems.

I cringe when I read someone talk about the &quot;perfect&quot; trip. That's like a perfect wedding. It's not going to exist or ever happened.

I do enough research to know:
1) what I REALLY want to see
2) what I'd like to see or do if there's time
3) things I can do if I'm absolutely bored.

The trip usually is about 70% of what I think I'm going to see and do and the rest is &quot;going with the flow&quot;.

On my last trip I didn't get to do what I REALLY wanted to do (and had delayed the trip twice to be able to do). I was disappointed for the first 20 minutes, redirected my thoughts toward other options and had probably the best day of our trip in Paris.

I would rather weed a garden for 10 days non-stop than go on a trip with someone that knows what they are going to be doing hour by hour on the trip. Their &quot;perfect&quot; trip will be far from perfect and what a miserable person to be traveling with.

The only times I've been disappointed are when I didn't do enough research and missed out on something as a result.

well pretty much anyone on this site does a lot of research and is interested in information..I think what I meant is 'pre-conceived ideas',more what I thought something would be like.
Going to Cinque Terre we were parking,or so we thought! at La Spezia..for some reason I thought of it as a tiny town with this railway going to these lovely five towns..Well we couldnt park, as someone had suggested and ,the city was so busy!! But all turned out fine,even though we had thoughts of abandoning the idea all together,by driving to Cinque Terre.

But it was that pre- conceived idea that threw me off for a bit..

I find that my vacation in Europe is sadly lacking if I don't have enough historical information. I load up on the history of any destination I chose.
I do like to have sense of what attractions are available. There are always buildings, historical and modern that Mr. McGeezer must see, so I research those beforehand.
It doesn't matter to me where we eat. Although, if a restuarant is exceptional and in a nice building, (The Perle de Prague comes to mind)it becomes a highlight.
I like to have a place to stay picked out for my first couple of nights in a city then if we are planning a road trip, we just wing it. Sometimes I hate being tied to a tight schedule.