CarolA

Maybe it's just be, but do you ever find yourself AMAZED at the level of "ignorance" of your fellow tourists? Do they REALLY just get on a plane to Paris, London, etc without a CLUE?

Wednesday morning I was checking out of my hotel in Paris. A woman next to me is checking in. She wants to know how to get to Nice. She assumes it's just a short train ride? But she is CLUELESS on where it really is etc.

A few years ago I did a tour in Turkey. We arrived in Istanbul early in the day and the tour group meeting was not until that evening. We went off and explored using our guide books and info on things we wanted to see we knew weren't on tour. THat night several of my fellow travelers were 'upset' that they hadn't known anything was near hotel. They apparently just show up and go only with what guides tell them?

I have seen people do this type of thing all over the world. They just get off a plane and "figure it out" (Disney is a great example, folks get off the plane and at the end of the week discover there were WHOLE parks they missed LOL!)

So why???? I just don't get it!

jamikins

I have tonnes of friends who do this...they literally just go and do whatever they figure out. I dont understand it either!!!

Dukey

Everyone travels differently.

Ever read some of these proposed itineraries in which every waking minute is planned to the max?

I agree, it seems better to be prepared, geographically, before you go but...

And then there are those who prefer to 'wing it' when it comes to hotel accommodations, etc.

I'm not sure I would use the term "clueless" as i think a lot of them know exactly who to ask and what to ask about..and you know what? Most of them seem to enjoy their trips, they get along just fine, and don't plan on traveling any differently in the future.

adrienne

Folks I know who travel "clueless" live in the moment and enjoy their trips while they are there. They never talk about the trip afterward or look forward to planning future trips. They do everything (not only travel) at the last minute w/o planning ahead and that works for them. They're happy with their travel/life style.

It doesn't work for me since a great part of the trip enjoyment is the planning and anticipation of it all. I'm sure I frustrate my off-the-cuff friends with all my planning and list making!

eliza3

This might be a slight digression but the ones who surprise and amaze me are those who write to travel forums along the lines of ´I am going to (insert name of country) for 2 weeks. What should I do there?

Apparently having not given the matter any thought at all.

I always have a voice in my head asking ´why are you going there´!

J62

Some will say that spontaneity and figuring things out on the fly is part of the joy of traveling/exploring. It's not my style, but I have no problem if others choose to travel that way.

Nor do I raise my nose and call them ignorant or clueless.

To quote from another recent thread.

Vive la Difference!

CarolA

It's true that a lot of them do enjoy it, but then there are those like the one's on my tour. Royally upset that "no one told us what to do" Or those that come back from someplace going "I hated it" and when you quiz them they really just showed up and then were "shocked" that everyone didn't speak English and didn't tell them everything to do LOL! And since they had done no preparation they just "wandered" around.

This woman who wanted to go to Nice was in the "this trip is going to be bad" group. She had a ton of luggage. (One of her questions was does the train have a baggage car for her luggage?) When the nice clerk told her the prices she seemed amazed. Every other question was "how much is that in dollars" (At one point she said "I thought the Euro was worth about a dollar" LOL!)

CarolA

I want to point out that this trip to Paris was very spur of the moment and had NO formal plans.

It did have a few guidebooks that I could consult as the spirt moved me LOL!

zeppole

The first time I went traveling abroad (I was 19), I was taking the bus in from the Athens airport, and I argued with my friend about whether that was the Pantheon or the Parthenon we saw on that hill -- whatever that hill was. We wanted to go to the beach.

I still don't plan a lot of my sightseeing, and I almost always end up giving at least two or three of everybody else's "must sees" a miss in a city. I've learned a LOT of them never interest me (I'm sure I could easily skip more than half the parks in Disneyland) and that I'm often more interested in odder gems I've read about on the internet.

I try not to put myself in a hole when it comes to not knowing train times, or opening hours (although I'm still bad on that), but I never go to a place with the kinds of itineraries I see some people draw up (9am Westminster Abbey, 10:30 Trafalgar 10:45 National Portrait Gallery Noon etc).

Recently, I was driving back from Bologna and I said to my husband, "How about we stop by Parma? I heard the church there is very nice." That's a laugh line -- because the cathedral in Parma is astonishing. I felt rather foolish expecting a nice little renassaince cappella. On the way out of town, I mentioned that we weren't very far from "some castle" I'd seen a picture of, so we tracked down Torrechiara -- a staggering castle fortress that is the stuff of fairy tales.

When I read trip reports about Parma and guidebooks, it appears the thing to do in Parma is take a tour of a cheese factory, and buy prosciutto. I did neither.

It's not that I don't know the Tower of London is London, or that the real David is in the Accademia in Firenze, or that the Spanish Steps are in Roma.

I just think I really got a lot out of happening upon Kenwood House in London when I knew nothing about it, and spending most of my time in the Museo San Marco in Firenze, or finding the Portico d'Ottavia in Roma and figuring the Spanish Steps weren't all that important.

I wouldn't let anybody lead me around by the nose when I travel. I know I miss a lot of sight. But I like discovering things on my own.

LJ

People can be totally unprepared, open their eyes and still have a wonderful time. Then people can be walking guidebooks, keep their heads buried in their agendas, itineraries, guidebooks and see nothing and have a terrible trip.

IMHO, its not whats on your schedule that makes or breaks a trip, its what it is the openess of your mind and (dare I say it?) soul.

J62

CarolA makes an important distinction. There are those who don't plan yet have a great trip - that's not the 1/2 she's talking about. It's the other 1/2 - those that come across as 'victims' of their own lack of planning. Woe is me, this trip is bad, why didn't anybody tell me, yada, yada.

Viajero2

At least they get on a plane to Paris, London. etc....

Yes, there are possibly a few travelers that think travel planning ought to be left to the experienced. I think they are wrong, but don't find myself so high and mighty to be judging and "AMAZED" (?) at "their level of ignorance". I am kinda more "AMAZED" at your hint of intolerance. To each its own. They probably come back with better memories than most minute-planners...

zeppole

I whine a lot on trips when in reality it was all my own fault.

I remember walking into the mob scene in Brugge and muttering: "Who the hell told me I'd want to be here?"

I'd talked my husband into going there.

I'd planned it.

caroltis

I have friends who have traveled a lot as a family and they don't seem to do much trip preparation - they have traveled extensively so it must work for them! However, when they visited Venice and came back telling me they didn't quite "get" why I loved it so much I soon figured out why. They went when it was desperately hot, hordes of tourists, went only for the day...well...need I say more.
I admit that i probably tend to go a bit overboard on my trip preps but for me that is 50% of the enjoyment. I'm glad we are all so different - all the cliches apply...

Hans

I remember a trip when we wanted to go hiking in the Tatra. After arriving in a town close to it, we walked a few hours until we realized that there was really no free hotel room in the region (at least in our price category). Then we walked another few hours until we got back to the railway station in the middle of the night and took the first train. When we got out, we were at the border to the Ukraine and discovered that the people spoke only Slovakian or Russian, two languages in which we spoke maybe 5 words.

I guess one couldn’t have less of a clue. But we had a heck of a good time in a place we would have never gone to if we had planned ahead.

amp322

I think a lot of people are just really busy, and don't have time to properly prepare for big trips. They are happy if they can just get their bags packed. I usually travel in the middle of the summer (no choice - I'm a teacher, and that's when I have time off). That leaves me time to prepare as thoroughly as I want to. This year, I took a trip to Russia with a group. We left the week after school got out. The ONLY preparation I did was go to Barnes & Noble to buy 2 books, which I read on the plane, and as I went from city to city. No other choice -ran out of time. Even though it was a pretty huge & significant trip, I almost feel like I didn't even go, because it was at the start of my long vacation period, and it was so whirlwind in nature. I'm still glad I went, but it was more like "intro to Russia", than a thorough trip.

suze

Why? Because I don't see the requirement to research to death a trip in advance... so I guess I'm one of "them".

I carefully find a good plane ticket & make hotel reservations but that's all I do ahead from home.

BUT I certainly know distances and where major cities are located. I know my currency conversions, how to get to the train station, etc.

I travel independently so NO I am not just taking the "guides" word for things because I'm not with a tour group. Perhaps it's exactly *because* I'm on my own, I always seem to figure things out just fine, thank you very much

In a new city, I likely have brought along one guidebook. Then collect tourist information from my hotel lobby and around town/city as I see it. I'll ask the clerk at the front desk for help with directions, closest restaurants, shopping, language, etc.

So yes I DO just "get on a plane to Paris", but I'd hardly call my method "without a CLUE".

wliwl

I sort of envy the clueless. They're probably a whole lot more relaxed in life.

stfc

I think it's a size problem. I get the impression that many from N America think that 'Europe' is tiny and therefore easily covered in no time at all.

I am a great believer in the 'less is more' idea as I will never see everything. So I make the effort to research a place to avoid wasting time and choose just a few things/places to cover in detail, instead of many very thinly. But everyone to his/her own. If others want to waste their time and money...

happytotravel

I am with wilwl, I envy the clueless. I just read the thread 2 days in Rome, and someone suggested get a good espresso at Sant'Eustachio. Well, I remember reading that same thing in several places before I went to Rome, so as we were staying nearby, I went to Sant Eustachio at least 3 times, and was so intimidated I couldn't figure out how to order. Yet, there are the clueless who just stumble in, and ask.