I have all kinds of trips planned in anticipation ahead of time - mostly just by pinning stuff to google maps. If we decide to go ahead with the trip, I have some work already done. I was able to plan a two week Iceland road trip only 3 weeks in advance because I already knew I wanted to go there

Anonymous wrote:I’m a procrastinator and tend to book and plan our trips about 1-2 weeks prior to leaving. Works out just fine. I like to plan only 1 main sightseeing event per day, and include downtime days to relax. Our vacations are a nice mix of adventure and relaxation, which we love. I planned one trip where all we did was eat at the same restaurants every day and go to the beach and pool, basically staying at the resort. My teen said that was one of his favorite vacations. Go figure!

Do you travel in the off season?

Planning takes months. Over time, I look up places to see. (Reddit, Rick Steves, friends…) Research accommodations. Figure out how much time we will need in a particular area. Contact friends in the area to see when they will be in town. Mull it over. Re research and new interesting tidbits. See when any major events or festivals are happening and if we want to be there or avoid. Figure out car rentals. Figure out plane possibilities.

Once we have a generalized plan, we figure out what dates work.

Execution takes a day.

I just booked our summer vacation in about 2 hours. The hardest part is getting everyone to decide on a place and date. Once that’s decided it’s very quick. But I’m a very decisive person.

Really depends on the trip. Going to my beach house requires very little planning but I do need to arrange things like someone to check our DC house, forward mail, etc.

Multi city trips with flights, hotels, restaurant reservations, activity plans takes much longer.

Most ski trips are very straightforward - basically flight, ground transportation and hotel. But if we are going somewhere we haven’t been, or adding a stop on the way, it’s more complicated.

I am seriously considering some group trips, like Backroads or a college alumni trip, to take out some of the planning for multi city trips.

I’m a procrastinator and tend to book and plan our trips about 1-2 weeks prior to leaving. Works out just fine. I like to plan only 1 main sightseeing event per day, and include downtime days to relax. Our vacations are a nice mix of adventure and relaxation, which we love. I planned one trip where all we did was eat at the same restaurants every day and go to the beach and pool, basically staying at the resort. My teen said that was one of his favorite vacations. Go figure!

I also like to think about the next few trips and often change my mind, but I don’t plan out trips until closer to the actual vacation after I had to completely cancel several trips after planning out every detail….not fun.

Some trips require almost no planning (camping for a week soo mostly packing) while others require a significant amount of time and effort, such as trips abroad. I plan less when it is just me or for a girls trip. More planning is required for trips with my kids

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love to plan to travel, so I’m always generating ideas for the next 3-4 trips in my head. Often I change my mind so I research a trip we decided not to take. But it’s fun for me so I don’t mind. Once I decide for sure where we are going, it doesn’t take that long to book.

My husband and kids give some input on likes and preferences but usually I say “I was thinking X for spring break” and they all just say it sounds good to them.

Similar for me, including having weekend trips I’ve researched in mind for “sometime.” But it also depends a lot on the trip. Some are simple and others have lots of moving parts.

PP here and I agree it depends on the trip. A beach resort for spring break takes A LOT less time to plan than our multi-city trip to Europe this summer. As much as I love travel planning, even I’m getting tired of dealing with the plans for that one. But it’s not as familiar to me so I feel like I have to research more than usual and also book certain activities ahead.

Anonymous wrote:I love to plan to travel, so I’m always generating ideas for the next 3-4 trips in my head. Often I change my mind so I research a trip we decided not to take. But it’s fun for me so I don’t mind. Once I decide for sure where we are going, it doesn’t take that long to book.

My husband and kids give some input on likes and preferences but usually I say “I was thinking X for spring break” and they all just say it sounds good to them.

Similar for me, including having weekend trips I’ve researched in mind for “sometime.” But it also depends a lot on the trip. Some are simple and others have lots of moving parts.

What do you mean exactly?

A one week vacation?

Multiple trips throughout the summer?

Domestic? International?

Driving? Flying?

Just your family? Others?

It takes a lot longer to plan a two week multi city trip to Europe than a week at a domestic beach.

I love to plan to travel, so I’m always generating ideas for the next 3-4 trips in my head. Often I change my mind so I research a trip we decided not to take. But it’s fun for me so I don’t mind. Once I decide for sure where we are going, it doesn’t take that long to book.

My husband and kids give some input on likes and preferences but usually I say “I was thinking X for spring break” and they all just say it sounds good to them.

The most difficult part is getting people you're traveling with to agree on reservations. Family brought it up on May last year and it was way too late for us to shift work and camp plans. We started asking them about it in...October. Discussion of rentals has taken 3 months so far and nobody's booked. (Other family members have MUCH richer tastes and bigger families than we do, and I'm facing a potential RIF, so we'll pay our share but I'm not willing to book and wait months to be paid back right now.)

Other than that? Google the week before.

I do a bit at a time over several months.

People who enjoy the anticipation of the trip, the details, aren't thinking about a time table.

It's ok if you don't enjoy it. Some of us won't relate to you, but it's ok. I would highly suggest you let your spouse handle the details or generally, the family will end up not traveling much. Which is ok too.

This seems to take a week for me including a weekend. It feels way too long. How long does it take you?