Question for the americans
 

I know this is a travel dorum and of course people will publish iteneries but I've been wondering.

Just how much planning do you guys do? From the forums it appears everyone plans their trip in minute detail before stepping on the plane.

Does noone do the "buy the flight and just book the first night" kind of travel?

Just curious

When I was in my twenties I travelled around the world and never had reservations for anyplace until I got there. Now, I like to have hotel reservations before I go so that I don't waste time once I get to a city looking for a place to stay. I also like to know what sites are in a place so that I can prioritize what I want to see and if it's necessary to have reservations (such as at the Academia or Alhambra) to avoid huge lines, I like to get them in advance. But I also like to allow some flexability for those magical happenings that can't be planned and don't like to "plan down to the minute."

I'm too darn old to book a flight and the first night. I need my comforts. Having said that, I don't set an itinerary. I'm heading for Paris in about three weeks and I have a note book with lists, addresses, open hours etc. of things I want to do. I have no special order or time to do these activities. I also never make restaurant reservations. I just wing it. My whole life is scheduled and works around other people so when I'm on vacation I just don't like to be programed. That's just me.

we tend to travel like you said, but i like to have SOME idea of things to do, etc., and then at least we know what there is in a place. this last trip, though, was a lot like what you said--we just got in the car with a list of some hotel ideas (the first two nights booked) and drove up to Trieste with no set plans. It was actually quite refreshing, but it doesn't always work out so easily!

>>Does noone (sic) do the "buy the flight and just book the first night" kind of travel? <<

Yes... during the off season, needing only two rooms (or less) and having our own car.

When we've traveled with a larger family group (needing four rooms,) in the summer, and traveling by train... not having reservations is too risky for my taste.

fwiw

I like having hotel reservations because I can pick my accommodations in a leisurely way while I'm still at home and get the kind of places to stay that I know I will really like. I remember the last time I traveled without hotel reservations and how tense I became toward the end of the day if I didn't know where we were going to sleep.

I also buy tickets for concerts and plays if I know about them in advance so I can see the things I want without worrying about them being sold out. And I make reservations for sites that require them in advance. Last summer, for instance, in the Dordogne, I really wanted to see the cave paintings at Font de Gaume and reserved a tour there. I saw people turned away when I got there because they were booked up a month ahead.

Other than that, I generally have no itinerary but a head full of ideas and pages of recommendations copied from this forum and other places.

For me and my husband it's a strict, step-by-step process:

1) Narrow destination list. "Where do you want to go?", "I don't know, how about ____ or ___?", "That sounds great."

2) Buy/read guide and consult the forum to make sure the place we've decided on isn't prohibitively expensive and/or in the middle of a bird flu outbreak.

3) Buy plane tickets.

4) Ask for vacation time.

4) Maybe book hotels, maybe not.

5) Board plane. Discuss itinerary: "I really want to make sure we don't miss ____.", "Yep. And I think that would be cool.", "OK."

6) Land. Do what feels right at the time. Eat where the food looks good.

7) Come home happy.

Works for us, YMMV.

For me, a great part of the fun is the research I do during the 6 months leading up to the trip. Planning, booking, then changing everything time and again keeps me thoroughly amused and build up my anticipation. Every second of vacation time and time away from work is precious to me, just as every cent I spend is very dear. I like to make sure I get the best bang for my few bucks. I plan an hour by hour itinerary before we leave. However, anticipation and reality are two different things: restaurants go out of business, stores burn down, Europeans have holidays no one else ever heard of, and renovations are constant. We rarely experience a day exactly as I anticipated on paper. That's also what makes the whole experience so enjoyable.

Now this whole process goes out the window when I win the Power Ball...

sashh,

I imagine for most of us, the only planning is to buy airfare (far enough in advance to get the best price) and reserve hotels for entire stay (I know I have found particular lodgings I wanted booked more than six months out). As a result, we don't have many questions about the minutia of travel.

The few that do plan every detail are the ones that post most of the questions here which can give the mistaken impression that EVERYONE has a million questions.



Worktowander,

Did you perhaps switch steps 3 and 4?!

Everyone adopts a travel style that fits them best, and I can't think of any reason that planning ahead or winging it as you go would be determined by nationality. That said, I am American, and I do plan in depth before each trip.

For me, like Zeus above, part of the fun of the trip is in the anticipation; not only do I spend time searching for lodging in my budget, I also read a great deal about the history, culture, and offerings in every location that I visit. I make lists of key things I want to visit: museums, historic sites, markets, cultural events, etc., and plan a probable itinerary for my time. That doesn't mean every hour is scheduled, but that I have a plan to work from so that I don't miss something that is very important to me, or spend a lot of time backtracking.

Once the reading and planning are done, we set off with the attitude that everything is subject to change, including our mood and preferences on any given day. I can certainly say that we take time to "smell the roses" as we go, and don't have hang-ups about dropping something from our list if we feel so moved.

As Americans, we get only a modest amount of time off for holidays, and overseas travel takes a day off each end of the holiday, so it's important to feel we have organized ourselves to optimize our time once we arrive.

I book my air, hotel, trains if they're the type that fill up quickly, but that's about it. I have a small notebook that I jot down notations on nice cafes, opening hours to things I want to see, etc..but basically once I'm there I just wing it. I travel alone, so I get to do what I want when I want to do it! I don't have to see EVERY SIGHT, visit EVERY MUSEUM..I just do what really interests me. I spend a lot of time just wandering through neighborhoods, sitting in cafes..

I like booking my hotel prior to leaving, no worries once I'm there and it's fun to research hotels and neighborhoods. I like the IDEA of planning, I visit travel websites daily especially when a trip is coming up--and a trip is ALWAYS coming up--but I don't adhere to any strict guidelines, not at all. I do like to know about time saving tips beforehand (like purchasing it advance for the Louvre and not using the pyramid entrance, etc..)

Concert and theatre tickets I sometimes purchase beforehand if it's something i REALLY want to see.

Having slept in the train station in Munich because all the hotels were booked -- I was much younger than -- I like to at least have my hotel space booked before I leave.

I plan quite a lot, about like Zeus, as I also enjoy the process. However, I'm not beholden to my itinerary by any means, but I want to make sure I maxmize my sightseeing time as much as possible, so I plan out museum vists to get the most time in each day, taking care of days with late closing hours, for example.

Like others before me (Joetro, Zeus, Barb_in_Ga, etc), half the fun is planning the vacation MONTHS in advance. It's all about research. The sooner the better. For the trip to Paris I took this past September, I'd already started planning in in January. One has to consider many factors when they know (as opposed to "my husband/wife has to go to Europe tomorrow and I need info now") that they will be going over to Europe (or some other location):

- actually knowing that you have the vacation time to take your trip. With my previous job, we had to submit on a form what days we wanted off and then wait for approval from the boss (which didn't come too quickly). With my new job, I don't have to do that - but, it pretty much depends on the time of the year.

- air fare. IMO, the sooner you book the better. I had my BA tickets purchased at least 6 - 7 months before we went.

- hotel. There was much researching on my part using various websites to find a hotel in the right area at a good price. I used Venere.com to book my hotel, but a few weeks before leaving for Paris I received an email notifying me that the hotel had cancelled my reservation! Of course, I hadn't, so I fired off an email to Venere stating I hadn't. Not content to wait for their response, I quickly search for other hotels in the area and found one in a much better location and for less money.

- rough itinerary. It's probably best to research where you are going, pick out some high points that you want to see, list what you want to do/see on certain days and go from there. I posted my ideal itinerary on here and was quicly brought back to reality with responses from posters on here. In the end, what my sister and I did really differed from what had been suggested.

- documentation. Make sure you have a valid passport and anything else you might think you'll need for where you are going (maps, addresses, etc).

Not me and my little travel coterie. We plan the essentials - planes and hotel reservations - but the rest of the trip - we take it as it comes. You have a much better time that way, IMO.

In my younger days, my husband and I used to rent a car, drive, and stop for the night spur of the moment in towns that interested us We never had trouble finding hotels in smaller cities or towns. We loved it! We never searched out restaurants in advance and had the best times.

However, I'll never forget the time we arrived in Paris in the middle of the fashoin show season (unbeknownst to us - where was Fodor's back then?!) and couldn't find a hotel for many hours. It was awful!

Now, I do think about booking in advance, but don't always do so unless it is high season, during a time when the hotels would be filled up, if I want a special hotel and/or view, or the kids will be with us. No way would I chance looking for hotels for hours with the kids! Way to spoil a vacation!

I like to plan in great detail and then throw the plan away.

I like to pay for as many things in advance as I can, so for that reason I like to buy tickets and hotel rooms early.

I love the anticipation part of the trip and good quality anticipation requires details, hence, planning.

Having said that, I have taken trips where I did not open a guide book or look at a map til I was in the air, en route.That works too.

For me, I want to have transportation and lodging taken care of before I leave. For the rest, I'm flexible.

I'm taking a 17 day trip (the longest I've taken in 22 years) to the UK during June, with 7 nights in London, 6 nights in the Highlands of Scotland, and 3 in Edinburgh (one day lost to transatlantic flight). I've managed to rent an apartment in London that is next to the St. James tube stop, and reserve a family style hotel room for my party of 3 in the middle of the Royal Mile in Edignburgh. I know where I want to stay in the Highlands, and will probably book those places in January, and will book train tickets from London to Edinburgh as soon as I can by the most discounted fares (seems to be about 75 days before departure). If that is obsessive planning, then I guess I plead guilty. I just wouldn't want to get over there and end up paying more than necessary or getting a lower level of accomodation than I might have if I had taken the time and trouble to make early reservations.

However, I don't try to make any kind of itinerary for what I'm going to do when I spend multiple days in the same city UNLESS there is an activity that has to be done on a day certain. So, when we get to London, we'll have a list of places we want to go (and info on when those places are opened and closed), and will just choose whichever one sounds good at the time.

Like most of you, I consider all the planning and research almost as fun as the trip itself. As for having an itinerary, that depends if the trip is a first one or not. For instance, when two friends and I traveled to Roma back in 2004, is was out first time there and we had a lengthy list of "musts". My very organized travel companion even had color-coded index cards for various travel categories such restaurants (my friends are foodies), sites and shopping, etc. we got to see/experience most everything we set out to do and had a wonderful time doing it.

However, when I return to London for the 7th time, I think it will be a very leisurely, itinerary-free trip as I have seen all the major sites more than once and will probably spend some time exploring paths less traveled by fellow tourists and maybe take a daytrip or two.

Use vs. user.

Those who fly by the seat of their pants aren't going to ask questions here and set a schedule.

I don't think my husband and I would ever consider flying by the seat of our pants and not booking hotel, etc, in advance. We're planners and have a lot of fun actually planning everything. I have friends who literally type up an hour-by-hour daily vacation schedule, and they include their morning jogs in their itinerary. We don't go that far - we do like some spontaneity. We know what we want to see and do while we're on vacation, and we have a loose plan of action before we arrive (e.g., we'll see the Forum and the Colosseum on Monday, we'll tour the Vatican Tues...).

Besides, by and large, Americans don't get as much vacation time as Europeans, so we need to make every minute count! Though I consider myself lucky since I get just over a month.

W/a wife & two small children that is hardly an option. We build in 'flex time' on our trips so if we find a great place, or make a detour, it is no big deal to change or cancel reservations (just one more reason to stay away from Expedia & their ilk). Although I have a general idea about things I would like to do or see, that seldom happens once we arrive. We are much more like 'wanderers' in that regard. Seeking our own little surprises.

A note to Worktowander and others who face this dilemma:

)>>> Ask for vacation time.<<<

First of all...I agree with everyone who finds that a trip actually begins way back to the planning stages..what fun that should be! Of course, the older we get, the more detailed planning we do...I sometimes long for the days of our youth when off we went with nothing much in mind except getting to Europe, Asia, Latin America, and wing it from there.

But geting back to "asking for vacation time"...just a suggestion to mull over...when I was working (77 now) for major companies (RAND, Honeywell, Arthur Young) I never asked for vacation time...I began to tell my boss instead..and it worked every time. I would wait for the appropriate time many months in advance, and say something like: "Fred, I plan on being away the first three weeks of April. Any problem with that?" Try it....

Stu T.

American here!

I usually buy all the flights and reserve all the hotels before I travel.

I wish I didn't have to, but usually when I travel I am on a pretty tight budget and tight timeline, since vacation time is often scarce.

But really it is mostly about the money. Our travel budget needs to be stuck to, and that means doing a lot of research before to find hotels in our price range that are decent and finding the cheapest flights we can.

But, as far as what sights to see and which restaurants to eat at, that is almost completely up in the air....

As others have mentioned planning is part of the fun. I have a trip planned next June/July and have confirmations for all 8 accomodations. First, I wanted FF tickets into Athens and out of Istanbul so that takes very early planning to get the tickets. Secondly, when we travel I do not like to stay in large chain hotels of any kind so in order to book the very small local accomodations that must be done early. Since we are a family of four "winging it" is not an option. I do not want to waste time looking for accomodations. I want to have adequate time to get feedback from others who have stayed at my choices to help me make an informed decison. I do not want to be forced to "settle" on accomodations that are either not up to my standards or are overpriced. Particularly, when it is difficult to find accomodations for four or having to book two rooms for our family.

Also, there is no way to know how much you anticipate spending if you do not know how much you are spending on accomodations. Knowing this helps me to decide where I can splurge or what I can forgo. If you are a single budget traveler I guess you know that you expect to spent maybe 50 Euros per night and that is all you are willing to spend. If you are traveling with a family you do not usually have that option especially on the fly.

One thing I have noticed about the difference in "American style" travel is that we seem to move more frequently. For example, I have noticed in my Greece planning that Americans want to see as much as possible not knowing when they will get back. Therefore, they will island hop or explore more of one area as opposed to going on "holiday" for two or three weeks in one location. It requires much more planning to move.

Lastly, I love food so I spend a lot of time gathering information on restaurants and neighborhoods. I really dislike having the opportunity to explore local customs and cuisine and blowing it on crappy food.

It depends. If I'm on a one city trip, I book the hotel in advance.
If I'm going to a couple of destinations then I book only the first and usually the last night.
I only plan in minute detail because I love to plan for the same reasons that Zeus has named. The surfing and reading is all part of the travel. It's comfortable for me to over research so I have a back up plan. Even if, when I get there, I throw all the plans out the window.
It's important to know the opening times of attractions and ground transportation. Who wants to waste time and money looking for something so easily obtained in a few minutes on the internet?
There are plenty of Americans who don't plan. They either just think of a place go there, "just to check it out", and come back disappointed or they go on a tour. Of course on this board of mostly travel addicts you'll find the planners.

American here, who reserves air and hotels, rental cars and (once in a great while) popular restaurants in advance. While I research the location, I seldom commit to what we'll see when in advance. We play it by ear after we arrive. This is becoming more difficult with the amazing crowds of summer at top attractions, particularly in Italy. I am staggered when I hear of someone with an hour-by-hour schedule -- sounds efficient, but efficiency isn't my primary goal. Anyway, I know I could never keep to it.

The days of grabbing the first pensione by the train station are over for me. Next year, though, I am planning a solo trip in France, one feature of which will be no reserved hotels. In some cases, even the town may be a question. But that's for a project.

Non-Americans often fail to take into account how little vacation time Americans have compared to most other developed countries. With only two weeks of vacation time a year, frittering away precious time trying to nail down accommodations on arrival may seem wasteful, especially when it's now SO easy to make hotel reservations from home. When one has 5 weeks vacation, it's easier to be more cavalier. Moreover, I don't think there's any reason to look down on people who want their hotel or restaurant choices to be as good a fit as possible for their taste and budget.
Moreover, accommodations aside, I don't think it's a fair assessment of American travelers to say "everyone" plans their trip in "minute detail" before stepping on the plane. If people pose numerous questions about various sights, they're merely trying to get some priorities in order from travelers who have already been there, done that. Isn't that one the things these forums are here for?

I was going to mention the differences in vacation time as well. I want to make the most of the time I have. I don't plan to the smallest detail, but I do make hotel reservations ahead of time. I research the sights we want to see and make a list. I also have a list of restaurants that look good. Then we pick and choose from the lists or go with what looks good at the time. When spending several days in 1 city, we generally plan our day at breakfast based on the weather and what we feel like doing. For some things I make reservations ahead of time - like to see the Ludwig castles or something.

I completely agree with BTilke.

Our vacation time and budget are precious, and every drop of time and money have been saved and usually other things have been sacrificed in order for us to travel.

So, given those circumstances, we do our best to get decent air prices, or, as sometimes happens, get FF tickets well in advance of our trip. (Our tickets to France in May '07 were acquired in July '06).

I have health problems, so comfortable accommodations at the best prices are necessary for us. This requires research.

And after that, I like to know what is open when, and what restaurants I may want to reserve.

I don't plan a daily hour by hour itinerary, but I do sometimes know things like "Isle sur la Sorgue on Sunday for the market" and so forth.

I just totally agree that the general type of person you will meet on a travel forum, is a person whose hobby is travel, and as such, we are people who invest time in planning our trips.

It's what we do for fun.

I know lots of people who don't plan to the degree that I do. But they don't hang out on Fodor's.

I would never travel just by buying a ticket and that's it. I have no interest in traveling that way, that's all, it doesn't appeal to me for any reason. It would just waste a lot of time during the trip and you'd end up in places that weren't as nice or as good value as you could have if you booked in advance. If you have no idea what hotels even exist in an area, or their prices, or how close they are to things you want to see or public transport, etc., you just have to go by what a tourist office books for you, I suppose. I've done that when traveling and was in a very small place for only a few days, so location wasn't a big deal. The hotel wasn't that great, of course, but I suppose that's why it had vacancies.

If you do research all that stuff in advance to get an idea of costs, where you want to stay, etc., then you might as well make a reservation.

I do not plan in minute detail, though, and don't think most people do on this board. I can tell from the question to "Americans" where this is coming from, which isn't just curiosity. I only plan flights, major long-distance train trips, reserve hotels, and get tickets for major performances like ballet, etc. Other than that, I read my guidebooks and have an idea of the things I want to see in a city, and play that by ear when I'm there -- depending on time, weather, mood, etc. I never plan restaurants.

I have several German friends who travel a lot because they do have a lot of vacation, and they plan more than I do or most Americans I know. They buy a lot of packages, also.

I love to plan..Oh, sorry, just now I noted that I have not been asked! I am not american!

Websites like Fodors.com do not end up with a random, representative sample of travelers. You are more likely to get travelers who do more planning on a website designed to provide information on destinations.

Actually I can go both ways, plan or not plan.

In 1996 my daughter and I went on a six-week europe trip and we booked only the first night and the last night.

We used eurail pass and on arrival in the train station we went to the hotel booking line and they always found us a nice room in the budget range we desired.

In 1996 you could go to the museums without a reservation and long lines.

Now when I travel with four people, I plan in great detail and book all hotels before leaving home. I have read so many good comments on this site and like to try the hotels the Fodorites recommend. They are popular hotels so they need to be booked well in advance.

I leave the day to day itineray open. I've researched what to do at each destination, but we do whatever fancys us at the moment.

Larger groups require more travel planning while two people can fly by the seat of their pants - so to speak.

I've been known to cancel reservations at the last minute while in Europe and gone in another direction entirely.

I have already booked hotels for September 2007 in Les Andelys and Honfleur and working on Bayeux.

Comment: Planning is limited to the information available. Tourists are limited in choices either because they rely on anecdotal information or advertising. The London and Paris tourist paths are so well worn that few visitors ever escape them. This is comfortable. The real Europe or whereever is seldom visited. Today most foreign visits are simply a visit to an expanded 'Disney World'. Planning will do little to enrich the trip except make it even less exciting.

If I were picking up a rental car during low season, I would probably not book as much ahead of time. However, summer is high season and with no car, I found myself walking from hotel to hotel looking for a place last summer in Corsica. Everything else was planned out for four weeks except the three nights in Corsica.

We are retired now and have all the time we want(lucky us). When we were younger we had children and not much extra time AND money, so we "traveled" to the Jersy shore :-). Nevertheless, I agree with others that planning is half the fun now thanks to the internet ! I just love it when I get great deals...I feel so uhhmmm satisfied ;-). We were sitting drinking wine, eating chees, in St Remy on our little terrace in the fronnt part of Hotel du Soleil. The six days we were there at least 3 couples walked up and asked if rooms were available, they looked miserable when told there were none available. That is not my idea of fun. I can just see my DH and I carping at each other about where to go next...the thought is not a pleasant one LOL! Too old for that nonsense ;-).

I used to think our way of doing things was unique, but after reading this board for awhile, I think the wifey and I are kind of normal now...

We'll decide where we want to go. Then, about 6 months out, start looking for cheap plane flights. We'll decide where we want to stay, we prefer having 1,2 or 3 central bases (depending on where we are going).

We make a list of the things that...
1) We really want to see or do
2) Would be great to see or do
3) Would be nice to see or do
4) Would see or do if we had time to spare.

We are always open to changing things on the spur of the moment. We do like to get our money's worth, so we cram in lots of stuff in short periods of time.

Basic plans are done well in advance, but day to day plans don't really exist, just ideas.

dave

About 75% of my trips have been "seat of the pants." Actually more so. I will often go on a space available standby basis and only have a general idea of which flights I have a chance of getting on - the first one I get on is where I am going. Had some great discoveries and adventures that way! I do research on several possibilities beforehand so I have a good idea of what I would want to do in different places, and by now I have been to a number of countries multiple times so I am familiar with the lay of the land when I get there. Having said all that, the other 25% of the time, it is also nice to have tickets in hand and some hotel reservations.

I plan and overplan and over-overplan. Make flight and hotel reservations. Then come to the place, toss my planning down the drain and go where my whims take me :)

Most of my planning is just for fun, but it helps to know the hours of the museums, the days when they are closed, how late the buses are running, when to see a parade, etc...