How do you plan your trip?

I am very curious how people plan their trips. Some people plan way
ahead, like a year or two, some people just do it on the fly. Some
people photocopy important info, and glue to a notebook; others don't
even bring a guide book.

I have been put together a spreadsheet where i have different
worksheets to cover different areas of the trip, like maps, calendar,
airfare, itinerary, etc. I found it very helpful.

What are your travel planning experience? Any useful tips/tricks you'd
like to share?

L1

L1 wrote:

I am very curious how people plan their trips. Some people plan way
ahead, like a year or two, some people just do it on the fly. Some
people photocopy important info, and glue to a notebook; others don't
even bring a guide book.

I have been put together a spreadsheet where i have different
worksheets to cover different areas of the trip, like maps, calendar,
airfare, itinerary, etc. I found it very helpful.

What are your travel planning experience? Any useful tips/tricks you'd
like to share?

Plan??? Get passport and airline tickets. Pack. Take money, ATM card and
charge card. Rent a car and wander.

I have made three trips to Europe over the last ten years. On the first
one we got a Eurail pass ahead of time, booked out first and last night
hotels and followed our noses for 15 days. One the second trip, I traveled
with 4 other people, and most of the trip was planned ahead of time. That
was much less enjoyable, so for the third one, we flew and took care of
some things that had to be taken care of, duty visits and such, and then
wandered aimlessly for two weeks. We had a ball.

L1 wrote:

What are your travel planning experience? Any useful tips/tricks you'd
like to share?

The amount of planning I do is directly related to the length of the
trip being taken as well as the variety of things to do once there.
Little planning is needed if all I want to do is sit on a nice beach
somewhere.

Basically what I try to do is figure out a time plan. What do I want to
do, how long does it take and how does it relate time wise to other
activities I want to do. This allows me to plan most of my days in
advance taking into account travel times, relaxing and some time to just
decide on the fly.

L1 wrote:
I am very curious how people plan their trips. Some people plan way
ahead, like a year or two, some people just do it on the fly. Some
people photocopy important info, and glue to a notebook; others don't
even bring a guide book.

To each his own, but I find that planning detracts tremendously from the
enjoyment of travel. I want to be surprised.

miguel
--
Hundreds of travel photos from around the world: http://travel.u.nu/

"L1" wrote in message
om...
I am very curious how people plan their trips.

I chose somewhere I would like to go and when I would like to go there,
preferably at least 30 days previously, as that usually ensures better
prices for the tickets. I book, as necessary, airline / channel tunnel
tickets, hotel accommodation and / or a hire car. If it is somewhere I've
not been before, I will probably buy a guide book around the time I make the
arrangements, but it is usually unopened when I pack it. If the country is
one where a combination of English, German and French won't help, I will
probably buy a dictionary too. (I've never found phrase books much more use
than pointing at a word in a dictionary). That system of planning has stood
me in good stead for more than 40 years.

Colin Bignell

(Miguel Cruz) wrote:

To each his own, but I find that planning detracts tremendously from the
enjoyment of travel. I want to be surprised.

You don't believe that planning obviates the possibility of surprise,
do you? If anything, it adds to it, because you have the surprise when
the plan fails, or the greater surprise when it succeeds.

--
PB
The return address has been MUNGED

Padraig Breathnach wrote:
(Miguel Cruz) wrote:
To each his own, but I find that planning detracts tremendously from the
enjoyment of travel. I want to be surprised.

You don't believe that planning obviates the possibility of surprise,
do you? If anything, it adds to it, because you have the surprise when
the plan fails, or the greater surprise when it succeeds.

Okay, that's true. For maximum enjoyment, then, I should spend two weeks
poring over a guidebook to Japan and then board a plain for France.

miguel
--
Hundreds of travel photos from around the world: http://travel.u.nu/

On 11 Feb 2004 16:09:33 -0800, L1 wrote:

What are your travel planning experience? Any useful tips/tricks you'd
like to share?

I haven't had very good luck with unplanned trips. We spend a lot of time
wandering around not knowing what to do, one time to the point that we
missed a flight (this was not in Europe, fortunately).

I spent an awful lot of time planning our 3+ weeks in Europe. It was fun,
though. I planned it down to specific maps for every leg (we drove),
alternate things to do in each area, and of course hotels. I started with
one of Rick Steves' tours, and made several changes to fit my own
preferences. I even had several local maps & I knew roughly where things
were in many of the towns. In each town, we just had a small list of
things we wanted to do, and we just sort of played by ear what we do on a
day-to-day basis.

Everything went superbly. Many of the hotels we stayed in had prime views
and reasonable prices. Its kind of cool to get up in the middle of the
night to go to the head, and see the Eiffel tower glowing outside the
window. There was very little of the frustrated wandering that can waste
so much time (especially if you're on foot). We made several unplanned day
trips, including a totally unplanned day in Munich that was a blast.

Getting rooms for more than two people, particularly if you're picky about
smoking, can be very difficult. This is why I was so strict in the
planning. Having lots of reservations saves time of hotel-hunting, but
it also forces you to stick to that schedule. If you have only one or two
people and don't have an issue with smoking rooms, you could just put
together a schedule (and a list of good hotels for each town) and play the
whole thing by ear.

--
-BB-
To reply to me, drop the attitude (from my e-mail address, at least)

On Thu, 12 Feb 2004 01:28:16 GMT, Miguel Cruz wrote:

To each his own, but I find that planning detracts tremendously from the
enjoyment of travel. I want to be surprised.

Last week I was in San Francisco on business. We were starving on arrival,
and walked out to get some lunch. We wandered for well over a mile,
through various streets, and finally gave up and settled for a dive
sandwich shop.

The next day, we found that there were a lot of nice restaurants only a
block from our hotel - in the opposite direction from the one we'd walked.

That was a surprise.

--
-BB-
To reply to me, drop the attitude (from my e-mail address, at least)

"nightjar .uk.com" nightjar@insert_my_surname_here wrote in message
. ..

"L1" wrote in message
om...
I am very curious how people plan their trips.

I chose somewhere I would like to go and when I would like to go there,
preferably at least 30 days previously, as that usually ensures better
prices for the tickets. I book, as necessary, airline / channel tunnel
tickets, hotel accommodation and / or a hire car. If it is somewhere I've
not been before, I will probably buy a guide book around the time I make
the
arrangements, but it is usually unopened when I pack it. If the country is
one where a combination of English, German and French won't help, I will
probably buy a dictionary too. (I've never found phrase books much more
use
than pointing at a word in a dictionary). That system of planning has
stood
me in good stead for more than 40 years.


So how do you know where you want to go, where you want to stay, and how
long
without reading a guidebook or two?

I love trip-planning. All that anticipation is almost more fun than the trip
itself. For
each stop, I educate myself on the attractions in the district. Then,
according to
the weather and how we feel, we can pick from several options.

I reserve all accommodation ahead. My rationale is for short stops, you
don't
have to spend time finding a place to stay. For longer visits, it's harder
to find
4 or 6 days in one place on short notice. And I can spend my time at home
finding a really memorable place to stay.

The Internet is a wonderful tool for us planners. I particularly value the
mapping
programs that, for a particular journey by car, show you the route, its
length, and how
long it takes.

Marianne