Planning by the Hour, or Take it as You Go...
 

(first, I confess, I'm addicted to Fodor's now--we'll see what happens after this trip has passed)

When planning your itinerary, do you plan your days by the hour, so you know exactly what you're doing when. OR...do you have a big list of stuff you want to see and do, and just take it as it comes? Curious what works best for everyone :)

Pretty much as I go. I plan the big things like hotels and connections and such. Besides Tgv tickets I do the train tickets there. I'll do a loose list of day trips and sights but not what I'm doing each day unless I'm someplace for only 2 days and a museum or something is only open one of the days, stuff like that. Definitely not hour by hour, I'm on vacation which is why I stay away from tours.

Hi Tamara,
Depends on the place and on how much time I have.

If I have a short time somewhere with lots of things that I want to do, I like to have a very definite plan, know opening/closing times/days, maybe even make reservations. (This does includes leaving some "down" time every day.)

When I have more time, I just make a list and see what we feel like doing every day.

I have to admit, though, that the planning is half the fun for me. So I tend to plan a lot! You just have to remember to plan to be flexible and have a good attitude when things don't go as planned!

(And I'm addicted, too!)
So have fun planning!
dina

Follow my nose...but lots of reading and planning so I'm not flying blind but have ideas of what to see and do.

I made a chart for my trip to Paris with key info (days closed, hours of operation, etc.) so I could pick and choose based on how things were going each day.

Reservations were made for "must dos" including lunch at Jules Verne and night Fat Tire Bike Tour.

So...combination of the above?

I like to have things planned so that we're not hopscotching all over town every day, and that we don't go to a museum the day after their free day (if thre is one) and like that.

Tha being said, we stay loose so that if something takes more or less time than we anticiapted, we can adjust the plan as needed.

We used to plan the big things like Museums ( one is closed, so you go to another one that day-get museum cards etc) and then whatever neighborhood we were in, we stayed in the neighborhood and shopped and did our sight-seeing.
Dinners in places that were hard to get in to or special, we booked ahead of time, so that sort of ruled what or where we would be in the later part of the day.
Otherwise, we made lists of what we really wanted to do or see and just went through them.
Now when we go to Paris, we just go. We get up in the am and walk, stopping wherever we feel like it. But hotels, restaurants and museums I think should always be taken care of in advance.

Mrs. Fly and I make lists of what we want to see in each location. Then we prioritize those lists in 3 categories:
1. If I don't see these things I'll regret it forever and will be moody and bitchy the rest of the trip.

2. I'd really like to see these things, but I'll get over it pretty quickly if it doesn't happen.

3. Nice to see if I happen to pass by while strolling through town.

We do make general plans for the #1 items; e.g., Wednesday morning we'll see these 3 sights and Thursday morning the other 2 sights. Second level items we kind of work in and around the #1s. 3s get picked up catch as catch can.

Sometimes our priorities don't match--for #1 items we'll sometimes split up for a while--she can have her 4 hours in the Louvre while I spend a couple of hours in the Picasso Museum and then wander around for a bit.

We usually plan the trip between us, my hubby would be inclined to cram too much into one day if he was left to his own devices! So we plan together, I like to stop and have a coffee here and there between each attraction. I make sure I know in advance which shops I will be looking at, but dont tell him!

Hi TE,

I carefully plan an itinerary, and then scrap it about the second day. :)

I follow RFT's model.

Always leave time for serendipity.

((I))

A little of both. I do a lot of research and always have a daily plan to go by, but don't follow it to the letter and enjoy plenty of spontaneity.

It depends on how much time I have, but usually DH and I come up with a list of "must sees" and then go with the flow from there. Sometimes we get to all the "must sees" and sometimes not, but we don't stress about it too much. Some of my favorite vacation memories include doing or seeing things that we had not planned on. I also like to leave a lot of time for lingering, taking in the atmosphere and enjoying a good glass of wine or cup of coffee.

Tracy

If you are going to visit museums, you have to figure out when they're open and when they're closed. When I arrive on a list of the most important things to see and do, I look at a detailed map and see what else of interest is in the nighborhood. There may be something (e.g. a fountain, a small church) that is worth seeing if you're in the neighborhood, but not neccessarily worth a trip across town.

I also like to try to figure out what is open at night and visit that then, in order to save the daylight hours for those things that are only open during the day.

Other cricumstances may require more detailed planning. For example, if you buy a museum pass in Paris, I believe it must be used on consecutive days. You would want to time your musuem visits for those days, rather than taking a day trip in the middle.

Some things are best seen in clear or sunny weather. For example, before we went to Interlaken, someone told us, "If you wake up in the morning and it is perfectly clear outside, that is your Jungfrau day." On about the third day we were there, we got that clear day, so off to the Jungfrau we went. I'd say the same thing about visiting St. Chappelle (sp) in Paris (or anywhere else with terrific stained glass). If you ever have a very bright, sunny day, that's the day you should go.

Absolutely agree, Missypie. You have to keep plans open to make changes for weather and opportuntiy.

My clear day outside of Kandersteg was wasted when I kept plans to go on somewhere else, thinking I could hike t the lake the next day. Which I never did because the weather turned.

I have also been on a river cruise tour where I was pushed along when I would rather have lingered in a town.

It is your vacation, my suggestion is to be lose and learn and have fun, otherwise it is just another form of a workday.

If I'm in a big city with lots of sites, and a number of days to see them, then I don't try to work out any kind of hour by hour plan, although if there is a particular time that is best to be someplace, or not be someplace, I take that into account.

Now, if I'm in a rural area, or moving from one destinations to another, I've pretty much got that planned out, though plans are always subject to change. What is it they say about war? Everyone's got a plan until they get shot at.

Everyone is different. Our preference is the big picture approach particularly with Paris. We agree we want to hear a concert at St. Chapelle, visit the Musee D'Orsay, go to favorite restaurants, etc. We do not schedule days, hours, when, and remain flexible if alternatives present themselves.

Let Paris, Rome, etc come to you. Just sitting at a sidewalk bistro can be fun. Do not make a rigid detailed schedule as it will probably become more of a hindrance than a help.

Have a great trip.

We get plane tickets, hotel ressies and car in advance. Then we have guidebooks and a long list of what we want to see/do.

We check to see if there are things that you need definite tickets for in advance - and do that. (We have found these to be very rare - Vatican Scavi tours and Ceremony of the Keys in London the only things so far.)

Otherwise we play everything as it goes.
(Who knows what the weather will be? Who knows which nights you stay out late and want to sleep in? Who knows what you will happen on that looks more fun than what you originally planned?)

Otherwise - it's more like the DDay invasion than a vacation.

I take it as it comes... or eludes me ;)

There's always a "list" and it rarely ever gets completed. Don;t even think about planning every minute unless you are not going with anyone else; you'll never stick to the plan completely so why waste all that energy?

I am very much like Ira. I do a ton of research, have a general list of want's. Get there, & scrap it as I find even better things to do. Over the course of time we have done a better job of having reasonable expectations, as well as 'down time' during our trips.

>Otherwise - it's more like the DDay invasion than a vacation.<

That is, a very careful plan that is scrapped on the 2nd day. :)

((I))

I'm glad a posted a question that was of interest to others. I'm like many of you. I buy guidebooks galore, I am on the internet daily looking up "stuff", I made a file on my computer of places I want to see, things I want to do, I'll add restaurant suggestions later. I also have a calendar I made on the computer with just the dates I'm going to be there, which hotel I'll be at on each day. I can leave this for my pet sitter, and a close friend in case they need to find me.

As far as daily/hourly planning, I think my friend and I will just plan the big things that we need to actually travel to, such as the small concentration camp outside Antwerp. Other than that, I don't plan hour by hour.

I figure with my 5 hour flight to NY, my 3 hour layover, and my 8.5 hour flight to Amsterdam, my travel partner and I will have plenty of time to micro-manage our time if we so choose :)

We prepare but don't plan. The Michelin Green Guides are our bible.

Other than reserving hotels in cities we do little planning. If we do any touring by auto we will reserve at a few BnBs which we cull from "The Best Bed & Breakfast England Scotland Wales".

In 5 trips to London, 4 to Paris and one each to Rome and Amsterdam in the last 6 years, we reserved restaurants only twice, both in the same Paris restaurant in the 14th. Once because there were to be 6 of us and one couple was coming from their home in the 16th. We have always gotten good recommendations from the hotels and BnBs and have had very good results on our own.

On our last trip to Paris for 7 nights in November 2004 we had only one thing planned. We purchased tickets for Turner, Whistler, Monet a month ahead of time to be picked up at FNAC. For us, this was a show not to be missed. Everything else we did was spontaneous.

Have I answered your question?

I do a ton of research before to the point that I wonder if I have some sort of abnormal obsession with planning trips. I often wonder how people traveled before the internet, I worry that I might have some terrible addiction to travel planning, I read fodors and then realize, "I am not alone."

We always have the hotel reservations settled way in advance. Then, I make a list of the things we want to do and sort of group them by location. For a multiple destination trip (like many cities within a country), I pretty much do a daily high level itinerary. We always leave at least one free day to flex for down time.

I even start planning trips to places for way in the future. I set up a "favorites" folder and bookmark hotels, travel sites, articles for when I plan the real trip.

For our trip to paris in a few weeks, i made a spreadsheet in excel of all the restaurants i want to go to, when they are open, and where they are. Then I ranked them in order of preference. How incredibly anal of me ,huh?

I also read some historical fiction and regular history before i go to remind me of what i really want to see and get in the mood.

It would be very unlike us to just show up somewhere and wing it. Except maybe if we had been there many times before but so far thats not the case...

Strictly seat of the pants travel, except for the days we MUST be in any particular location on business. Other than that, we plan it a day or two at a time. Flights to and from USA, rental car, first and last night hotel, and the hotels during business times are all we book ahead. The rest is planned on the run. We LOVE it that way!! I can't imagine going on a vacation with everything planned ahead. Takes the "adventure" out of it imo.

I can't imagine either extreme--planning everything or planning nothing.

Planning everything to the hour makes a checklist vacation--can't imagine enjoying being so restricted.

Planning nothing is fine for a weekend road trip from home, but to go all the way to Venice or Rome or Paris and just wander about aimlessly--dang, just couldn't imagine coming back not having seen all the sights around P. San Marco in Venice, or the Roman Forums, or some of the great museums of Paris.

But we all do have our individual personalities, needs, and desires. What is unimaginable to me is undoubtedly the only way to do it for someone else.

I prepare to the extreme by reading everything about the proposed place/trip. I use this board for fine tuning or things I never thought of. I keep a small list categorized like RufusTFirefly's and then leave it up to weather and how I feel as to what to do. Just because you planned on going to a particular place that day and it is on your "schedule" precludes you from serendipity. I like serendipity a lot, since I tend to remember the people I meet and the conversations I've had more than the buildings I saw (although most of my pictures are of buildings - go figure...)

By the way, I recently turned down a trip with a "micromanager" friend when it became evident that a trip with her would be a trip with a stopwatch for every "event". No, thanks.

Stopwatches = Bad
Research = Good