It's All In the Planning...

Half the fun of travel is the planning and here I stand in front of my computer doing just that. I can't seem to get enough of researching and fine-tuning the details of my future gamboling. I've researched some trips up the wa-hootie and come away completely satiated and fulfilled. Other times I've floated along on a whim and made the most amazing discoveries not only of the place I'm exploring, but also about myself. There are quite a few things I've learned and I'll share a couple of tidbits here with you.

1. Good planning (usually) = a good travel experience. There are historic sites that require timing, adventures that require a visa, amusement parks that require tickets, transportation that needs to be arranged, and dining that requires a reservation. Super important if you have an agenda. If you don't... not a problem!! A surprise along the way can be most welcome. That little cheese shop in Charleston made all the difference to two hungry travelers wandering the city.

2. Go directly to the source. I mean it - go directly to the source. Book direct for hotels, airfare, cruises, and the like. You may get a smokin' good deal on a discount travel website. But you may be sitting in the last row of the aircraft (near the stinky toilet) or on the backside of a noisy airport hotel, or even in a cruise cabin below sea level. Not a problem - if you're in it for the deal. Save money, get a deal, go for it! I'm all for saving money in so many different ways when I travel. But I need a little legroom on my airplane, and want a bit of a view from my hotel or cabin.

 

By the way... my neighbor has booked through a large travel website for a trip of a lifetime to Europe and her air itinerary has been changed three times to three different carriers... SO frustrating for her.

3. Embrace the culture, sample unique foods, check out local haunts, and experience a new you. Isn't that what travel is all about? By the way, I'll sample anything but meatloaf and the stuff that doesn't like me back (mushrooms, onions, and calamari ... damn it.)

4. Go ahead and read the reviews for hotels, restaurants, cruise ships, and public spaces. But remember that everyone has an opinion and it may not match yours. You be the judge and do what moves you. In the end you may agree with them or be glad you forged out on your own.

5. Be open to surprises and photo ops along the way.

It could be a chance cemetery that catches my eye in South Carolina,

or a great looking cow in Switzerland,

a family of sandpipers racing in the Pacific Ocean near Carmel,

 

or Mary Tyler Moore tossing her beret in downtown Minneapolis.




Relax and enjoy - whatever you choose. We do.
:) Deb