From where I sit, it seems most folks plan every detail of their vacations. I get questions like, "Do you know how many steps it is from track 10 in Florence to the bus station? I am allotting 12 minutes and 19 seconds to the task."
I am constantly amazed at the completeness of these plans. So, now and again it's good to see some warning about over-planning that I haven't written. Nomadic Matt has penned Traveling Without a Plan which pretty much sums up my own Footloose Travel: Planning Tips for Flexible Travel to Europe.
Here's Matt:
Most new travelers do what I did- they plan out everyday. Their entire route is planned, sometimes even down to a specific day. This holds true especially among young or gap year travelers. They try to race and see it all. 2 days here, 2 days there. This is a bad way to travel. When you travel, less is more. Spending more time in a place allows you to better understand it. Why go to Paris when you really aren’t “seeing” Paris? You simply took a few pictures. Moreover, what if you love Brussels but, like Colin Farrell, think that Brugge is what hell really is? If you are committed to your dates and times, you have any flexibility to leave earlier or stay longer.
Matt recommends planning your direction. He calls it travelling with the semblance of a plan. Good advice, it seems to me.
So, up for a little poll on your travel planning habits?
We fall somewhere in between the third and fourth option. I like to have a basic plan that hopefully leaves some float in it due to weather or other things but there are some things that need to be hard points. Examples:
Arrive and spent 3 nights in Paris was a hard point because we were to pick up the lease car on the 4th day.
We had to be in Rothenburg on a set day because I had a reservation to stay at the Alt Frankische Weinstube for two nights. By the way, the inn is great raised to a power.
We had to be in Vienna for the days I had scheduled to visit relatives.
On the other hand had I tried to reserve ahead a bit more, I would have found out that we were a bit ahead of the season and that the Hexenkeller in Castelroto, Italy had not opened for the season along with a number of other places.
Bottom line is that there are times when you need to have a plan lest you lose track of time and miss out on something the you really wanted to include in the trip.
Sometimes one is forced into planning. For the past 5 years I have gone to Spain to participate in an English-only immersion program. Then I travel throughout Spain afterwards. This year I had to travel beforehand due to Holy Week. Why that keeps moving around is beyond me. I could not get reservations at my favorite places or much of anything at all. I had to reschedule flights, hostals, and transportation in Spain. Travel is a huge expense of time and money. To not plan is wasting a lot of both.
I live in Prague and travel a lot in central and eastern Europe. I always know how long I will stay in a city and what I want to do. I do not have a schedule of when I will do what unless I have gotten advance reservations for a specific event.
seems that you can over plan your vacation?this could lead to less flexibity. i only plan the destinations and leave the specifics to chance.