hetismij

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.

enroute

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..

daveesl

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

bobthenavigator

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

NeoPatrick

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.

mcnyc

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>

tara3056

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.

jsmith

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.

travelerjan

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.

twk

&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.

dandj

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.

suze

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.

Nikki

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.

greg

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.

Leburta

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!

Carrybean

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.

wyostiv

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.

chimani

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?

Clifton

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.