Planning or ruining a vacation?
 

It seems people are taking their business skills and applying them to personal trips. Itineraries seem to mimic meeting schedulers and trip reports contain details that only a micromanaging boss would appreciate.

Are we desiccating our vacations and removing the spontaneity and joy from them?

Dessicating?

Well, I suppose if we're planning a desert trek.

Please note the following defintions:


American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source des¡¤ic¡¤cate (d¨§s'ĭ-k¨¡t') Pronunciation Key
v. des¡¤ic¡¤cat¡¤ed, des¡¤ic¡¤cat¡¤ing, des¡¤ic¡¤cates

v. tr.

To dry out thoroughly.
To preserve (foods) by removing the moisture. See Synonyms at dry.
To make dry, dull, or lifeless.

StCirq has a dry sense of humour.

I agree, Aduchamp. I like to have a loose itinerary, but it seems many people have a minute by minute schedule. To me, that leaves room for disappointment if you don't get to see everything on your list. I just like to make a list of what I want to see or do and check it off as I do them, with a little route planning for efficiency's sake.

Hi A,

I spend a lot of time planning my visits.

I derive a good deal of pleasure from having a nice, detailed itinerary.

Once, I'm on the ground, however, I don't necessarily stick to the plan. :)

((I))

If you don't want to do that, don't do it. Why do you care what other people choose to do?

"It seems people are taking their business skills and applying them to personal trips."

Why wouldn't a person take his or her business skills and apply them to his or her personal trip? If you are an organizational genius, why wouldn't you use that skill in planning your vacation?

Different types of trips call for different levels of organization. If I book 4 days at an all inclusive beach resort, pretty much all I plan is the plane ticket and the resort. I would have planned such a trip because I wanted/needed a lot of down time.

But let's say you are planning a trip to Florence. The major museums are closed on Mondays. Some things are closed on the first, third and fifth Sundays of the month. Other things are only open until 2 pm. If you don't plan a trip to Florence in detail, you're likely to not see much of what you want to see.

At Disneyworld, guests staying at their resort hotels can make their meal reservations 180 days in advance....and LOTS of people do...some folks call the afternoon of the 180th day and the restaurant they want is already fully booked. If you DON'T plan a trip like that in detail, you're likely to be eating burgers and chicken fingers all week.

I will tell you that one reason our trip to Barcelona was so fabulous is that I had not only collected a long list of recommended restaurants, but I had plotted them all on a map. That way, whereever we were at meal time, I could look at my map and find 3 or 4 highly recommended restaurants. That is an instance where planning (some would say in the extreme) allowed us to be rather spontaneous, with great results.

I don't plan my trips in that way, but it certainly doesn't worry me in the least if others do. That's probably how they like to do it and good for them.

I do plan a few dinners if I think I might need a reservation.

Not sure where the "we" fits into the equation. I do it this way; she does it that way; he does it another way.

Agreed that to get the most for your money, why wouldn't you want to do some advance planning?? It's all about one's personality, though. I have never been the type to travel without an itinerary or reservations. Who knows, I might like it, but one of my favorite parts of travel is creating (and revising and revising again, etc...) the itinerary. I do not have a "micromanaging" husband, but he sure appreciates the time and effort I put in to planning our vacations!

missypie-LOVE that you mapped out restaurants in advance of your trip. I am glad I'm not the only one who puts food high on the travel agenda!

Missypie, that's a fantastic idea. I wouldn't consider that planning is a rigid sense, but planning in a preparedness sense.

My map was the result of many mediocre and even bad meals in Italy. In Rome, I had gathered lots of restaurant recommendations, but then at meal time, I'd look at my materials and the description I'd cut and pasted would say something like "three blocks away from the Piazza Navona." There were about a dozen streets coming off the Piazza Navona, and we could have wandered for hours looking for all of the places three blocks away. My list of Rome restaurants was pretty useless.

I vowed that in future trips, I would try to find every recommended restaurant on a map. If I can't get an exact address for a restaurant, it comes off the list. If the restaurant is not near any place we plan to be, it comes off the list.

I think the OP should realize that for some, "joy" can easily come in the most UNspontaneous situations. Perhaps the OP's post itself is a good example.

It just makes sense to plan ahead and the internet is such a wonderful tool, it's crazy not to use it to it's advantage. Of course, it could get crazy but some people like crazy.

I don’t want to get to a museum I’ve been planning on and find out an exhibit I would have loved to see , just closed the day before. A well planned agenda is a joy. Micromanaging is just stress.

I intentionally over plan because I like to stay busy. But I'm comfortable letting go of things and trusting that if it's important, I'll be back.

I like to tell people that I plan as much as I do so I know what I'm missing once I arrive.

Wow,

I plan my trips with significant detail. My brother-in-law and I are the planning type; we travel often with my husband and sister, and they literally do no trip preparation -it's a wonder they are not married to each other. I do all of the research in advance, and plan out detailed suggested itineraries. In order to make DH and little sis make some decisions, I send them the itineraries (with hyperlinked info)and force them to review, submit comments, and answer any questions I may have; that way, I avoid most of the complaining on the trip.

I'm a lawyer, and you bet I apply my business skills to my trip. (E-mail and memos are sometimes the only way DH and little sis will focus!) But, the difference is this: I totally enjoy every minute I spend researching and plotting out my travel plans. It gives me a break from the stress of the "real world" (like right now), and it reminds me why I work in the first place. I have suggested itineraries for vacations we probably won't take before 2010...

Yes, I literally plan every vacation day; when you have limited vacation time, you make the most of it. I am happy to say, on many an occassion, we have thrown our itineraries to the wind, sat back, and smelled the travel roses. But, I can safely say, I usually know what I am missing!

LOL stevefrat - too true.

I love the planning and the research, and like to have all the closing dates and times, directions, etc noted.

But, I don't plan the trip minute by minute. I just know what I can do and when, and have no problem throwing something out if needed. Or adding something that just looks grand!

But by planning this way, especially for trips where I might not be able to return, at least I don't miss something just because of ignorance or poor planning.

Of course, the friend who dated a guy who did plan every minute, and then laminated his itineraries, may be an example of "gone too far."

I also love to READ all the details in trip reports - not only may it save me time having to find those details for our trip, but it gives me a more vivid picture of the trip!

There are two sides to this coin: planning can result in cramming too much stuff in, but it can also help you cram a lot of stuff OUT.

For instance, I'm a walking tour kind of guy. I like to collate the advice of as many sources as possible into my routes, which I plot out on a map, turn by turn. I do this partly because I'm a crazy person, and plotting out routes on a map is my primary pleasure in life!

But also for this reason: I have gone walking in areas without a plan, and made myself miserable with the wrong ways and wrong turns.

Specific example: London. Once you have wasted three days walking past every tunnel vent, parking garage entrance, and the rears of soulless 90s office towers, while missing the dozens of Christopher Wren churches, Georgian terraces, and medieval guild houses that are just one block over, you'll make a plan next time.

Of course I'm not locked into it; I can stop and vegetate in a cafe or pub if I get tired, and walking routes can be thrown over at a glance if something interesting appears. But if I've done my research, that interesting thing is probably already marked.

If it's too much, I stop.

I think the OP was in part, referring to the tendancy of some to 'overplan' their trip. For example,I have seen some posters list their intinerary down to the hour, including which restaurant they will have lunch and dinner at. I think this takes away from the spontaneity of travelling - when you've 'scheduled' every moment you may miss out on the unexpected, or the new, which could be wonderful. I am a planner and a very organized person by nature. I love to research and plan my trip activities, this is part of the fun for me. But I never schedule out an entire vacation or even a day. My daily life is scheduled to the moment, travel (for me) is to get away from all of that.

My holidays are always pretty spontaneous. Maybe because I avoid cities and museums as much as possible - they are not my idea of fun. I'd rather choose a detination and just wing it. Drive where I want for as long as I want, walk if I want or just stay somewhere and do nothing for a few days.
The nearest we've got to planned itineraries were in Tanzania last year, where you have little choice, and driving Route 66 - we followed the route from Chicago to Santa Monica, and allowed three weeks to do it, so we could chill out if we found a place we liked.
If I were into cities and museums then I too would probably plan things more to be sure the musems were open, and I saw all I wanted to see. Though when we went ot Barcelona a few years ago, a gift from OH's company for long service, we didn't plan anything and just enjoyed wandering around. We probably missed a lot but we enjoyed it, even the snowstorm.
Being European I also have the advantage of longer holidays, so the need to fit as much as possible into a week just isn't there.

I think the main reason for planning is to avoid unpleasant surprises. Perhaps paradoxically, I can "risk" being spontaneous and change plans on a whim much more if I am better prepared to handle the consequences, and if I am aware of the general context. I would compare it to the art of improv or, perhaps, jazz. Generally you have to be quite good at it to be worth watching or listening to.

I also have to agree with fnarf999
(yet again) that it is rather wasteful to miss the most interesting points out of sheer ignorance..

:-)

We found that 1) planning is lots of fun and 2) if we put down lots of ideas then when we change them dramatically it is no big deal.

As an example, last year we were going to do like 3 days in Rome and then go to Sicily. We had ferries booked, apartment reserved, car rented. Wait---ROME IS TOO MUCH FUN, so we stayed 4 more days and nixed the entire Sicily idea and ended up in Paestum.

dave

The better prepared you are the more spontaneous you can afford to be.

I too question the whole concern. If you aren't into planning, why would you worry if others plan their trips. No one is asking you to do the same. So what's the "are WE. . ." all about. If WE are and you don't like it, then don't do it. Problem solved.

The past few trips I've taken, I haven't had the luxury to plan. These days, I just pack my bags and hope the front desk can do some recommending. It's worked out great for me so far.

But when I plan, all I do is find out what the specialties are in the cities I'm visiting (and where I can sample/ purchase them), what restaurants have been recommended, and what interesting sights are in the city and its surroundings.

Like the others, once on the ground, all bets are off and I go with the flow. But at least that's now my choice, instead of being ignorant of what's available. Bobthenavigator said it best, <i>the better prepared you are the more spontaneous you can afford to be.</i>

I do exactly what Ira said - in the months before I trip, I plan and plan and plan. I over-plan more than even most Fodorites I've seen. But see, I love planning and dreaming about the trip. It makes it feel like it will really happen, and I derive so much pleasure - and security - from knowing that, once on the ground in Europe, I have a plan that would allow me to stay at highly-recommended hotels, eat well, and see the things I'm interested in. That said, I don't necessarily stick to the plan. Things get moved from one day to another - some restaurant reservations get cancelled in favor of the freedom of stumbling into something, etc. We're as spontaneous as we want to be, but we have the plan as a safety net. And even if we threw the plan out the window as soon as we got to Europe, I wouldn't have viewed making it to be a waste of time. That was my dreaming-time.

Aduchamp, do you feel properly chastised? Good use of the editorial we and a very legitimate question which I will answer with a &quot;Yes&quot;. And I am unanimous.

thank you thank you bob the navigator!

&quot;The better prepared you are, the more spontaneous you can afford to be!&quot;

Right right right. And also the more relaxed -- because you know when the ferry leaves,and the tickets are in your pocket, you can laze away time in a cafe, not rushing around.

It doesn't mean every single thing has to be nailed down -- if you have a list of 5-6 suitable pensions in the village you're heading for, you can stop and swim at a beach on the way without anxiety.

&quot;Are we desiccating our vacations and removing the spontaneity and joy from them?&quot;

If by spontenaity and joy, you mean wandering around looking for lodging when vacancies are scarce, and passing by important sites without even realizing it, then perhaps the answer is yes.

I am with Ira..
I love the planning part of the trip. I write down all these restaurants and shops that I must visit. I actually visit very few and usually find something while wandering around.

Not me. I have never planned anything further than my plane tickets and hotel reservations.

That said, I do not judge other people who get pleasure planning, and more out of their trips because of those efforts.

I don't make or stick to a rigid itinerary, but when I do have tickets to a performance or specific plans of any type, I find that I am more likely to do those things than if I leave them to the last minute. And if I have tickets to a concert or something in the evening, I make myself go out even if I am too tired to plan something and would probably just stay in if I had nothing planned. Once there, I am really glad I went and that I planned ahead for it.

This is like a difference between my style of travel and the in-law's.

For me, spontaneity is not an excuse for wasting time or money, such as deciding to go to a museum and finding out once I get there that it is closed for renovation or arriving in Como by train at 7:39pm hoping to catch a boat to Bellagio.

Our in-laws, on the other hand, travel without planning arriving in towns when everything worth visiting is closed. They walk spontaneously all over but manage to miss exciting streets just a block from where where they passed many times. They jump into restaurants spontaneously and complain about having bad meals at places already written up as not worth visiting.

As Bobthenavigator said, because I already know the options that work, I can quickly change my plan if the time becomes tight or suddenly becomes available.

My sister and I used to travel often together. While the trips were enjoyable, it was obvious how much we missed before we found these Fodor's travel forums. This and the internet are wonderful things for planning. Being spontaneous and winging it is one way to travel, but these days you want to get everything you can from a trip since travelling has gotten so expensive!

My life is scheduled like crazy. My vacation is when I rebel against scheduling.

Going to a new place naturally requires more planning to hit the high spots of things you feel you must see but my happiest times have been just poking about on a day when I don't have anything scheduled &amp; discover where my feet happen to take me.

For the most part, other than the plane &amp; where I'll be staying &amp; how I get there, the rest is open. I like it that way but others don't. Different strokes for different folks.

Different strokes for different folks. It all depends on numerous factors; e.g., personality type, time available, money, number and ages of people in the traveling group, etc.

I'm with Suze on this. Just buy the flight and go. Planning and research are two different things.

The internet makes it possible to garner so much information, and nowt wrong with that. Be informed, know the geography and the options.

But it has a downside. And that is the temptation to book in advance here and there seeking the perfect itinerary.

What did we do without it? We just bought the flight and went. I've arrived in Rhodes at 11.30pm with nowhere to stay and got lucky.

These days, being older and a bit richer (though I hate spending it on places with frills and flounces I don't need) I do book my first night in a city I've never been to before.

Otherwise - business as usual.

I note hundreds of posts here with every last bleeding second accounted for.

Is it an American trait? seems to be.

Of course you folk get such short vacations - my response would be - do something about it.




Thehy, . houghratioudodedIs it better or worse than pre-internet days?

mmm?

I'd think there were a lot of people who really enjoy all that planning and arranging. If it's in your nature, a person could enjoy just about anything and would miss it if it weren't there. If someone is a planner, they may just feel a bit uneasy and enjoy the trip less without that itinerary in hand.

I am not one of those people. Fortunately for me, neither is my wife. That said, I feel there's a tremendous difference between knowing something and building plans around that knowledge. The example of knowing a desired museum was closed on Mondays might make one person happily write im their planner to be there instead on Tuesday at 9. For some of us, we just make a mental note not to go there on Monday. Not being a planner doesn't mean I don't usually want to know some of the basic facts. So, maybe there's a middle ground.

As to the rest, we make hotel reservations in a city where location can make a difference to a longer stay. We don't usually on road trips. We don't plan out meals, but if I read a rave about a particularly good restaurant, we might check it out. We usually have no specific plans when we wake up and while we may not make it to every site in the latest guide book or trip report, we always enjoy what little things we do (or don't do). Wow, the things and people we'd have missed if we'd been insistant about rushing to a museum or church somewhere. I can't recall a single real regret about a past trip and I can't say I'd have felt the same way with a daily planner in hand. The last thing I want on my down time is to be goal oriented and &quot;make the most of&quot; anything. But I'm just one person.

Hey, you're in Europe (or Asia, Africa, etc). What's not to love, regardless of your style? To each, their own.