DISQUS

Stevo · 1 year ago

The act of planning does lead to wonderful anticipatory sensations. You have an idea about the place, but let's not forget all the wonderful little things you discover "on the ground." The things that never make it to a guidebook.

When I traveled to Guilin (China) I met a local university student that took me through the backstreets (without the backstreet boys, thank God). I had a massage, given by a man she referred to as "The Master". He will never be in a guidebook but was a highlight of the trip.

Good luck on your next leg.

Stevos last blog post..happy guoqingjie

Eva · 1 year ago

Oh man, I couldn't agree more! When I was living in the UK and trotting around every weekend to cathedrals or whatever else, I passed my spare time reading guidebooks about - you guessed it - other places! As soon as I know I'm going somewhere for sure, I move on to the next dreaming/planning phase.

Right now I've got a big question mark on the radar, because I'm applying for a four-month internship in NYC (starting in January) but have no idea whether I'll get it. So I bounce back and forth between some serious New York fantasizing and a whole host of other ideas - most of which, as you said, may never actually happen. I'm itching to get back to Europe (Italy, England, Scotland, for a start...) and have also had Thailand and Vietnam on my mind of late. Not to mention Canada's north which has been calling me for years!

I always find it funny when hardcore 'traveler not tourist' types claim they don't do any planning... To me it really is half (well, maybe three-eighths) of the fun!

Evas last blog post..James Brown - Night Train

Gillian · 1 year ago

Absolutely!! I've said that we will get three years worth of enjoyment out of our one year RTW trip...one year planning...one year traveling...and one year organizing all the pics and stories - and then beyond that is the lifetime of memories! The planning phase is so much fun - for all the reasons you say - because the trip will be just like what you planned, or not at all like what you planned, but maybe a better story for it!!

wandermom · 1 year ago

I couldn't agree more.
And I've found, since my kids started school, that it pays to relish the planning part of travel because our travel times are usually within school vacation times. Lots of dreaming and planning, less actual traveling.

In answer to your question about what are we planning, well, we're going to ditch the school-limits come June 2010 and head off on our own RTW. Check out my blog post (the offical 'trip launch') here.

wandermoms last blog post..i love legoland

Kyle · 1 year ago

Let me know when you're in Chile! I'd love to show you around, or you could even crash on my futon if you're not scared of strangers. :P

Kyles last blog post..Group Blogging Topic

Susan F. · 1 year ago

This was such a great reminder.

I am planning to go to El Salvador to visit a friend in December. I planned it so far ahead partly because I am one of your "will never quit their job" readers and need the advance notice. But mostly because I wanted to catch up on my Spanish and give myself a refresher course on what I learned at my Jesuit University about the civil war down there so that I can really garner an appreciation for where the country is today.

Since I am getting there via Guatemala (because it is cheaper to fly there) I recently made plans to stay an extra day here to get a look at Antigua. I can't wait to keep planning over the next few months!

Susan F.s last blog post..gearing up for my girlfriend getaway

jamie · 1 year ago

I agree there can be pleasure in the planning, but also a lot of pressure. I've planned dozens of trips for our family (and trust me, we've got a LOT of requirements for destinations and accommodations).

I really knocked myself out on our recent 4-week trip to England and Spain, and was totally burned out when it came time to put together a trip to Costa Rica in March.

So I outsourced.

I thought I would feel like a sell-out because, after all, this is what I DO. You know what? I felt great. Of course, it's too soon to tell if the trip will succeed or fail, but we all face the same planning odds, right?

Sometimes it's nice to take a break, and just go along for the ride.

jamies last blog post..Friday Finds: Disney at the Great Wall, Stress, and Vegas (Baby)

Julie · 1 year ago

Christine-
I really loved your description of the market--the difference between others' descriptions and your own experience, and the fact you weren't disappointed-- happens to me all the time.
At present, I'm planning (unexpectedly) to leave Mexico a week earlier than expected to return to South Carolina for my grandmother's funeral. Then it's back to NYC, where I hope to meet you and Eva in person, and then to Guantanamo Bay for three days. Am reading up on that now.

Julies last blog post..The We Pay Your Rent Contest!

Meg · 1 year ago

Maybe I am a little crazy, but travel is my favorite part of travel.

Shawn · 1 year ago

I am in my Eleventh month of travel. In the last year I travel Egypt—five months, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, I am currently traveling Turkey.

I have a tentative plan and route for my 5 to 7 year travel epoch, although life is about the moment. A plan can change slightly once that moment arrives, which happened. I ending up house sitting in Beirut for two months over the hot summer, which I would have never had thought of doing until the provision was provided which took place in the moment.

I did actively do research for a year in a half before I departed America, although I am sticking to my tentative plan, because my route is based on my interested in history.

Lily · 1 year ago

I completely agree. Planning is so exciting!! It's the time that starts right after you make that decision to go. Looking around, comparing, it's very exciting. I never thought I'd be one of your "quit your job" types, but never say never!! I loved the planning I did for my upcoming extended stay in Jamaica. And I can't wait to start planning my 6 month sabbatical for next year. I'm debating South America also, so I'll be reading your posts very closely! :-)

Theresa · 1 year ago

In my planning process, I also try to read non-guidebook books about the place---fiction, history, etc. I find it balances all the facts of the guidebooks and gives me more of a "feel" for a place. And I just love to read.

Theresas last blog post..Adios Amigos

Fida · 1 year ago

I couldn’t agree more! I constantly ‘plan’ trips, even if I never implement them. I started to read travel literature long before I made my first trip. Now when I travel I often don’t even recognize places or things described by others. And sometimes the story in a book was far more interesting and colourful than the real thing. 25 years ago when I read Ella Maillard’s book “Forbidden Journey” and Peter Fleming’s “One’s Company” I realized for the first time how different traveler perceive and describe the same thing. Both traveled together at the same time from Peking to Kashmir and the descriptions couldn’t be more different at times – it’s almost as if they went on a separate journey. But isn’t that the case with everything we experience? If you ask two people about the same thing they experienced, you get most often very different answers. What I took away from their books was: “I have to go see for myself.” – but, of course, I still didn’t find the time to do it, and then, you can’t really experience nor even see the same thing what others did and saw over 60 years ago. So I keep dreaming and keep that exciting feeling a little longer awake...

Fidas last blog post..My Heart Soars, too!

Nomadic Matt · 1 year ago

My whole life is one failed travel plan. I was supposed to be in Europe still. where am I now? Thailand? I was going to go to NZ this winter? Am I? Nope.

I am constantly making travel plans then breaking them....then making them again. but it's so much fun. The anticipation is half the joy.

NewWrldYankee · 1 year ago

I do do some planning, and that does build excitement for the trip, but more so, I like to leave some things unplanned. It allows for spontaneity, and meeting up with people I meet, and locals as well. It makes life more exciting. Though of course I do plan out necessities - like places to stay and what not.

Sonia · 1 year ago

Amen, sister! Planning is at least half the fun!

And, well, sometimes it's *all* the fun, as has been the case with my RTW trip that I've been planning for the past two years but can't quite get off the ground. (&$*!@ housing market/credit crunch/economic debacle!) I have decided to plan a small trip in November, though, rather than waiting around for some mythical fairy godmother to change things for me. Because I've been researching and planning to travel *somewhere* for quite some time now, it's that much easier for me to hit the road, without having to start from scratch. I'm just pulling the Thailand & Malaysia chapters out of my big geeky travel binder, and off we go!

I totally agree with NewWrldYankee that planning allows for flexibility. In my case, I have a short list of "must-see" stuff, to make sure I don't miss anything crucial. I leave the order and a lot of the details up to the delicious random chance that happens when you travel with an open mind and heart.

Sonias last blog post..How Well Do You Know Your World?

Fly Girl · 1 year ago

I'm a bit fanatatical when it comes to travel planning. I always seem to overdo it with books, websites, local newspapers, travel discussion boards and guides to the point that I almost get tired of the place before I go! The funny thing is that I almost never have the experiences that I so carefully plan. For me, that really is the fun of it.

Manzanillo Blogger · 1 year ago

Planning is one of the greatest parts of traveling. I love the anticipation, the research, the learning about a place before I go. I read a book not too long ago called The Art of Travel by Aldous Huxley I think. He went on at some length about the act of planning a trip. The anticipation, envisioning what you will do, who you will meet, what experiences you will have, all add to the excitement of actual travel. Sometimes it's the planning stage that's actually more fun than the traveling stage! (I said it. Some trips honestly can be very disappointing if you don't have the right mindset)

Thanks for the post. It's so true, everything we are doing as bloggers is based around people planning to travel, and yet we so rarely get to talk about it.

mich · 1 year ago

Yes, planning is half the fun. Also, reading one's experience can be as good as if you were there. If they have photos to prove it, then it amps up the need to go and be there yourself.

michs last blog post..Books I Must Read Before I Die

Gillian · 1 year ago

I worry though, that I will overplan...over anticipate...over expect - and then I will be disappointed by the real experience. I actually am purposefully trying not to look at too many pictures of where we plan to go b/c I want to experience MY experience. It's trying to balance between planning enough to know what I want to do, where I want to go - but not overplanning so that I can't enjoy the actual experience.

mark_hayward · 1 year ago

Planning travel is truly one of life's great little pleasures...heck you can do it even if you never intend to set foot on a plane! I just returned from Nicaragua and thoroughly enjoyed the pre-trip planning, almost as much as the experience itself.

mark_haywards last blog post..Train for Humanity Week Three Update

Christine · 1 year ago

Overplanning-- that's a great blog topic. I think overplanning your specific schedule is the worst way to travel. But I don't think you can overplan as far as research, reading about the area, learning as much as you can. Then throw out your guidebook and just wing it!

Great feedback everyone!

Donna · 1 year ago

Great post, as usual! I liked your example about the Art History course. That's one of my favorite things about visiting Europe a few years ago. It was right after I took an Art History class in college and then I visited the British Museum, the Louvre, and Rome (which is pretty much like an open-air museum anyway). I have so many dorky pictures of myself posing with various statues and frescoes and who-knows-what in the British Museum because I was so excited to see that stuff in person.

I do agree that over-planning can be a problem. But when it comes to dreaming and living vicariously (especially now that so many of us can't afford to travel), there's no such thing as too much. :)

Justin Schmidt · 1 year ago

I want to first off saying that this website is great especially for folks whose passion is traveling. Those who get to do never, sometimes, and all the time but no matter what never stop dreaming about it. Personally, I have been fortunate that I have been traveling since I was little but always 2,3 or 4 week stints. My story is similar to yours, Christine, that I got a great job out of college instead of traveling, then started a company which has been going for the past 5 years but next November is when I have slated to take a year off to just travel. FINALLY!!!

I am starting to begin the planning piece of this adventure. My big question I have for you or anyone that reads this is the opinion of picking several “home base” spots and travel from there or do more of the “back packer” mentality and just go?

Thanks a lot and again…GREAT SITE!

[F]oxymoron · 1 year ago

Oh yes, planning for travel is great. It is a peculiar combination of imagination and creativity that, for me at least, translates the "Can I?" into the "When I!"

[F]oxymorons last blog post..Are You A Wedge-Walker?

Mark H · 1 year ago

I think the idea that you spend what seems longer in a place by doing some research captures the essence of planning - not strict timetables but building a good apprecaition of the place(s) that you are visiting. A really fine post.

Mark Hs last blog post..Exploring the Incan Wonderland - Part One (Machu Picchu, Peru)

Jenny · 1 year ago

Planning is the fun part! Sometimes though, things that doesn't go the way you planned it works, too.

Jennys last blog post..Australia Driving Directions from Alice Springs to Sydney

nicoleantoinette · 1 year ago

I think that maybe, this website has saved my life (or at least my future happiness and mental sanity).

Too much to explain in a blog comment? definitely.

More to come in an email to you (someday) I'm sure.

For now, thanks for writing all of this.

nicoleantoinettes last blog post..the universal question