How do you like to travel?

[lucybelle]

How do you like to travel? Do you like to plan everything out? Do you like to go with the flow? Or a little bit of both?

I'm going on a trip next week and one of my relatives I'm staying with wrote and said "I'm sure you have concrete plans now..." Concrete plans? Don't make me laugh! The only thing concrete I know when I travel is the day I'm flying in and the day I'm flying out. Everything else in between is up in the air. I usually know a few places I would like to go to, but that's about it. When I try to plan out my trip, things never go the way I planed (meet someone and go with them, transit strikes, road blocks, sold out buses... etc). So I stopped planning.

[lyonsgirl]

When I go on vacation/to a new city, I always find a couple of things to do before I leave, so I know I'll have something to do while I am there. I definitely don't actually plan out my days, but I'll figure out a couple places I definitely want to see while I'm visiting where ever it is I may be. So I guess a little bit of both? But it's more "go with the flow" unless I find a guided tour/show I want to go to/see.

[Kiyama]

I guess l like something in between planning and being spontaneous. I definitely check out the place before I leave and look for interesting stuff I want to see. I roughly plan the days but I can easily adapt to sudden changes and I like to have relax time, in which I can just hang out, stroll around, have a coffee, go shopping or whatever I feel like. So yes, a combination of both

[TwoThree]

I recognized myself in Kiyama's answer. There are things that I would panick if I didn't plan ahead (hotel rooms, train tickets if I'm moving around), also I like having an idea of the places I could see/things I could do, but I don't schedule anything. Everything is decided the day before or the very same day.

[mllebamako]

I am pretty big into planning. I love first making lists of the things I want to do/see and restaurants I might want to try. And then I kind of fit those things in as I go along. Although, a lot of the things on my to do list are usually neighborhoods I want to explore. I am not big on going to all the main tourist attractions, just a few will do. And then I usually like to spend the day walking around certain neighborhoods of the city, exploring, checking out shops, having a coffee, or discovering a restaurant.

[Haley53]

My grandfather is the sort of person who plans everything ahead of time. When travelling with him when we were younger, we'd literally fly/drive in with a yellow pad in his hand containing all the information we would need on various days. There was one trip it was so bad, he had everything blocked by time and we followed it by the minute (in successive holidays, he did not block by time, though pretty darn close). He still has no element of spontaneity in his travels, and I can't say he appreciates that I do!

I'm more the sort of person who might Google what things seem interesting, who might ask for opinions and suggestions, but in the end, that doesn't matter, because nothing ends up going to plan anyway! In the best possible way, of course, but I find it much easier if I'm aware of what's around but simply want to go explore. I like to stumble across restaurants hidden in nooks and crannies, get lost in places where the tourists don't go, at the same time as coming back to where every tourist under the sun is looking at x or engaging in y, so though I educate myself on the surroundings, I wouldn't say I necessarily plan them out or figure out what I want to do until I get there. I do, however, like to book certain things in advance: plane fare, hotel if necessary, my wax, etc.

[Dziubka]

I tell my boyfriend what places or sights I want to see.

He then makes a list of everything, checks means and prices for transportation, distances etc. and makes plans for each day.
It's like having your own personal travel agency and it's perfect. All the trips we went on so far have been everything I had hoped for and more.

I'm crap and planning and I don't have the patience to look at everything on google maps, compare with a guide book and check out transportation. But I still like to have everything planned because usually there's so much I want to see and without a plan, I'd probably miss out on half of it and go home regretting that I didn't make it to some places. I'm also lazy and doubly so on holidays, so I need someone to kick me out of bed and motivate me with a cool plan for the day.

[kirbycat]

I definitely lean more towards the spontaneous end - I love just landing down in a new place and seeing where my feet take me! But there's also been times when I've left a place having missed out on some really interesting location/experience, because I never knew it was there (like the Shakespeare & Co. bookstore in Paris - I spent days wandering around that area and somehow completely missed it, and only learned it existed after I was back in the US. Why.....)

So, I generally like to do a good amount of research about the place I'm going to visit, so I know what to expect, and at least have a few places in mind that I'd like to visit. I rarely do much actual planning ahead, though, unless it's something that requires reservations to be made well in advance. Otherwise I'll just make my schedule one day at a time, and take any changes and opportunities as they come.

[Sora1101]

I like to plan the major things like hotels, tickets, rides, what to pack, how much money I should bring but once I get to the actual destination I just like to go with the flow. Oh scuba diving looks fun, lets try that, oh and then maybe some horse back riding that'd be cool. Stuff like that.