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...