Do you have a set itinerary when you travel?

[Anonymous]

I like to keep it open so i and my family can do what we feel like doing the day of. Especially with jet lag, I don’t want to be tied to a dinner reservation if it will feel like an off time to eat a meal. In the past, I have booked tours and meals and dreaded the times.

When I travel with friends, there is always a set itinerary with back to back plans. I especially hate these meal reservations where we need to get dressed up and travel. I often want to just eat casual at hotel. I’m going to Asia with some girlfriends and they have every minute planned out and it is making me tired looking at the itinerary.

[Anonymous]

Our family rents a beach house. So there is no itinerary. Other than the women cook, clean and watch the kids. The men sit and drink. Just like at home.

[Anonymous]

We like to wing it, although we will plan ahead of time if we want to go to a popular museum, attraction, or restaurant at a busy travel time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I like to keep it open so i and my family can do what we feel like doing the day of. Especially with jet lag, I don’t want to be tied to a dinner reservation if it will feel like an off time to eat a meal. In the past, I have booked tours and meals and dreaded the times.

When I travel with friends, there is always a set itinerary with back to back plans. I especially hate these meal reservations where we need to get dressed up and travel. I often want to just eat casual at hotel. I’m going to Asia with some girlfriends and they have every minute planned out and it is making me tired looking at the itinerary.

Have you noticed all these "critique my Italy/Paris/London" itineraries in here? They're exhausting.

I think you should warn your girlfriends in advance that you're going to opt out of some activities so you can wander by yourself.

[Anonymous]

Yes, I make a detailed itinerary. We have very few vacations, so we make them count. I do extensive research before each trip, and include activities that each person likes so no one feels left out. It's not go-go-go all the time, OP: planning doesn't have to mean packed schedule! A lot of our desired activities usually require reservations, tickets, bookings, so they need to be scheduled in advance, and the distance of travel to and from our hotel or rental needs to be calculated, to avoid having to stress at the last minute that we didn't plan enough time.

Over the years, I've found that this meticulous planning helps me have a relaxing but interesting vacation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We like to wing it, although we will plan ahead of time if we want to go to a popular museum, attraction, or restaurant at a busy travel time.

And just adding that, on occasion, our failure to plan ahead has forced us to figure out a Plan B. More often than not, Plan B will end up being a pleasant surprise that we might have otherwise missed. That's how we ended up at the Victoria & Albert Museum, which turned out to be one of my favorite museum visits ever.

[Anonymous]

Without kids I plan 80% of the time otherwise we won't get to sights etc. with kids I plan 1 activity a day and book that. We didn't do meal bookings this spring break and I regretted it as we floundered a little and didn't enjoy what we ended up eating chosen when hungry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We like to wing it, although we will plan ahead of time if we want to go to a popular museum, attraction, or restaurant at a busy travel time.

And just adding that, on occasion, our failure to plan ahead has forced us to figure out a Plan B. More often than not, Plan B will end up being a pleasant surprise that we might have otherwise missed. That's how we ended up at the Victoria & Albert Museum, which turned out to be one of my favorite museum visits ever.

Sur. But V&A is plan A for many people anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We like to wing it, although we will plan ahead of time if we want to go to a popular museum, attraction, or restaurant at a busy travel time.

And just adding that, on occasion, our failure to plan ahead has forced us to figure out a Plan B. More often than not, Plan B will end up being a pleasant surprise that we might have otherwise missed. That's how we ended up at the Victoria & Albert Museum, which turned out to be one of my favorite museum visits ever.

Sur. But V&A is plan A for many people anyway.

It was a short trip for us, so we had to narrow things down considerably.

[Anonymous]

It very much depends on what you want to do. If you want to just wander around sure. If you want to see something that books up like a show, a popular restaurant or museum, you have to book it in advance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Yes, I make a detailed itinerary. We have very few vacations, so we make them count. I do extensive research before each trip, and include activities that each person likes so no one feels left out. It's not go-go-go all the time, OP: planning doesn't have to mean packed schedule! A lot of our desired activities usually require reservations, tickets, bookings, so they need to be scheduled in advance, and the distance of travel to and from our hotel or rental needs to be calculated, to avoid having to stress at the last minute that we didn't plan enough time.

Over the years, I've found that this meticulous planning helps me have a relaxing but interesting vacation.

Case in point. Do you schedule pee breaks as well?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Yes, I make a detailed itinerary. We have very few vacations, so we make them count. I do extensive research before each trip, and include activities that each person likes so no one feels left out. It's not go-go-go all the time, OP: planning doesn't have to mean packed schedule! A lot of our desired activities usually require reservations, tickets, bookings, so they need to be scheduled in advance, and the distance of travel to and from our hotel or rental needs to be calculated, to avoid having to stress at the last minute that we didn't plan enough time.

Over the years, I've found that this meticulous planning helps me have a relaxing but interesting vacation.

Are you in the infamous Paris Planner?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It very much depends on what you want to do. If you want to just wander around sure. If you want to see something that books up like a show, a popular restaurant or museum, you have to book it in advance.

+1. There's not really one answer that works here, it depends on what you want to do. I just got back from a trip to London with a kid who wanted to see the most popular sights. That meant scheduling everything in advance because if you just turn up at the British Museum or the Tower of London the week before Easter, you might not get in, and it's a lot nicer to show up early before things get too crowded. If we were at the beach, it would have been different.

I don't schedule meals, because I don't care where we eat, but if I did care I would have scheduled ahead of time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Yes, I make a detailed itinerary. We have very few vacations, so we make them count. I do extensive research before each trip, and include activities that each person likes so no one feels left out. It's not go-go-go all the time, OP: planning doesn't have to mean packed schedule! A lot of our desired activities usually require reservations, tickets, bookings, so they need to be scheduled in advance, and the distance of travel to and from our hotel or rental needs to be calculated, to avoid having to stress at the last minute that we didn't plan enough time.

Over the years, I've found that this meticulous planning helps me have a relaxing but interesting vacation.

We travel a lot, maybe 10x per year. Not everyone goes on every trip. Some may just be a weekend to nyc or to a drivable beach.

We just returned from spring break to an international destination. We traveled with friends and they had every hour planned. Their kids were miserable. I bought tickets to some popular attractions in advance.

I also do research. Of course. I just don’t want to have dinner reservations or lunch when I may want to be sleeping because it would be midnight at home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Without kids I plan 80% of the time otherwise we won't get to sights etc. with kids I plan 1 activity a day and book that. We didn't do meal bookings this spring break and I regretted it as we floundered a little and didn't enjoy what we ended up eating chosen when hungry.

Same with kids - planned one activity a day, some of which required a ticket anyway. Also feel like meals were wasted due to lack of planning.