Planning ahead

Capt Lightning

Capt Lightning

Well-known Member
Location
Historic Buchan, Scotland
Do you plan your holidays (vacations) in advance or are you like me, a bit impulsive.
I frequently read posts on UK caravan forums from people who have booked their vacations up to a year in advance. I trust they have a cancellation policy in case they change their minds, or can't go for some reason.

I don't even know what I'm doing tomorrow!

I fully appreciate that many people have work commitments or children at school and have to plan to some degree, but even then, if I knew roughly when I was taking a break, I rarely knew more than a week or two in advance, where I would be taking it.

So, what do you do? Plan things well in advance and down to the last detail, or just go and see what happens?
 

With the place Iā€™m at right now in my life (travel nursing) travel tends to be a combination of planning and serendipity.

I know my destination but I like picking alternate routes (avoiding interstates if possible) to take in the local scenery.

unique dining choices are a priority; something for which that area is famous. Some music that fits the drive is good too!
 
I wish I could be more impulsive but my husband is an ultra planner and we have to do it his way or he has a slight meltdown. šŸ˜‚
 

I haven't been on a vacation since I believe it was 1997! lol..long time ago..it was my brother's wedding in CA. Anyways, if I were to go on a vacation or holiday as they say I would surely plan somewhat in advance. It depends, though, on how soon I'd want to go and all the other things to consider. Oh, I just remembered I was in CA again in 1999 at my brother's house.
 
I must plan. I stay at our timeshare a lot. Sometimes through the exchange club that offers ridiculously deep discounts which must be booked in advance. Sometimes I book directly with the resort. If it's anywhere near peak season, I will have had to book at least a month or two in advance. Either way, I like to know when I'm going, what I'll be wearing, etc. The most impromptu trip I made was January of this year, 3 weeks after my husband died. The stress of what was going on during his illness up until after his burial got to me and my honorary son told me I could come and stay with him and his GF in Florida whenever I wanted. I booked Amtrak the day he invited me and played by air which day to return. Wound up staying two days more than I thought. He and his GF showed me a very good time. Also had a great time going and coming back with my seat mates.
 
I usually plan in advance. One reason is that I often rely on my exchange club Getaways which are deeply discounted. One week in a studio at my home resort in Atlantic City was $118 last time I used a Getaway. Every now and then I'll take an impromptu trip to the timeshare if I see the weather will be nice for a few days. Two weeks after my husband passed I took an impromptu trip to Florida at the invitation of my honorary son. I seriously needed that vacation.
 
We spent several years out traveling the country for 4-5 months at a time. If I had my way, we would have been "winging it". But, the Spousal Equivalent MUST have everything planned down to the last detail, and I mean the last detail.

He'd have a spread sheet that would rival the plans for invading a major nation....LOL.

That was his comfort zone and I could adapt to it.
 
I'm a completely impulsive person and will make my mind up to go tomorrow without too much thought involved now that I'm retired and don't have to make arrangements for time off, well in advance, but if o/h is coming along we have to plan because he works full time, and has again to make arrangements around his job..

We usually plan about 3 months in advance, that usually gets us air tickets cheaper than they would be closer to the day... We never stay in popular holiday resorts and hotels ( we have our own home abroad, as well as daughters' home,, and failing that if we're in any other country we almost always rent an Air BNB or equivalent , but I can see that those who do like overcrowded hotel resorts might have to make their reservations for these places a year in advance to get the best deals or the better rooms
 
Capt Lightning said:
So, what do you do? Plan things well in advance and down to the last detail, or just go and see what happens?
Click to expand...
We prefer just going
Part of the fun, the mystery
Toss the watch
Just head down the road

Been with those that plan....damn near gagged to death from the stifled regimen
 
I'm just in the planning stage of a trip next month to Vienna and Bratislava. (they are the two closest capital cities in Europe). We would normally fly Easyjet from Edinburgh, but the timings were very inconvenient, so we're flying from our local airport (Aberdeen) via Amsterdam with KLM. When you add everything up, the cost is about the same.

At Easter, our daughter is off to San Francisco again to talk at an international conference.
She's travelling via Dublin which has a US "border point" at the airport. You can therefore go through immigration at Dublin and arrive as an 'internal' flight in the US.
 
If it were just me, I'd be more impulsive. But Spouse is more a "comfy in his rut" type, so I plan extensively. We basically travel to dine out, in a rough route that circles coastal Northern CA - travel every 2-3 months or so, 3-6 days at a time on driving trips.

Either way, I'm a reservation fanatic. Even if I traveled on impulse I'd be looking up restaurants and emailing/calling for reservations whenever possible. Especially in our geographic locale, dining out is one of the major pastimes of everybody - and I mean, everybody. People in the San Francisco Bay Area dine out more than any other area in the U.S. - on average 4.6x/weekly!

And I loathe waiting in line, so I reserve a table whenever possible. It has to be a really tempting place before I'll risk standing outside, putting my name down on a waitlist. Ugh!

Planning ahead on a driving trip is helpful as traffic can be a bear in cities. Any cities, doesn't matter which. Planning helps avoid the worst tie-ups and slowest freeways. Also, it allows me to search for unusual activities that we would enjoy. We've done stuff in cities that many locals haven't gotten around to yet!
 

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