Do you find exceptional experiences or do they find you?

The latter. I’ll make lists following research but I also meander. Love “exceptional” surprises.

Examples:
From London visits.

Eel pie island artists Christmas sale. Found out about it from a flyer on a church bulletin board.
York House Gardens while getting to Eel Pie Island.

Local artists Christmas cards for sale in a the lobby of St James Piccadilly a Christopher Wren designed church.

Boundary Gardens at Arnold Circus on a walk from Columbia Flower Market.

A Santa Run in Victoria Park

A fabulous open air family run small restaurant up some steep stairs in the Istanbul Grand Bazaar.

Mournes seafood next to Kelly Cellars pub in Belfast.

Wrens Nest Coffee House meandering about Dingle.

Tamp Coffee on Devonshire Road in Chiswick UK

Orange Pekoe a few block from Barnes Bridge in Barnes UK

Hurlingham Bookstore near Putney Bridge Tube Station UK

Ranelagh Gardens UK

To name a few.

EDIT:

On trip to London in the early 90’s with my better half.

For those who have never been to London I like taking the tube to Westminster and exiting out on to the Thames and then asking whomever is with me, “please turn to your right and look up.” Looks on people’s faces when they see Big Ben...priceless
I had just done this....My addition is the serendipity following this late afternoon moment is that we then we’re walking by Westminster Abbey and from a side door a man motioned as he walked toward us
“ are you here for the ceremony.?” No clue what ceremony but I said “ yes.” He said “follow me” and in we went . Just us and maybe 8 other people, 6 boy choir and it was Evensong. Something I knew nothing about as very much pre Mr Steve’s talking about it. Bill was excited about being inside the famous Westminster Abbey and over the moon having gotten in for free!!!

It's not binary? For us it's both. We've gone to places we've researched and planned and had our socks blown off. The best example for us was the Kenrokuen garden in Japan.

But we've also inadvertantly stopped off to see something on the spur if the moment that has lasted long in our memories. Like the time we stopped in a little village in Germany to stretch our legs and have a coffee and found a street festival going on. We had to drag ourselves away several hours later.

That's why I like to leave wiggle room in our daily itineraries. Plan for what you want to do, but leave room for serendipity.

A much as I am also a planner, I an getting the sneaking suspicion that it takes away a lot of the chances of wow moments, because of the YouTube, knowledge, expectation, prepartion and all, that by the time we arrive to it, it is already familiar. We may still enjoy it. It might well measure up, but there is much less room for surprise. I am not so well traveled that I can be blasé about it, but when I find I am not as thrilled when faced with the momentous, beautiful or anticipated; I am starting to wonder if I am overdoing the research.

Hmm. I used to research and plan more, but lately, I find the amount of info in a RS guidebook is just enough for me. "Exceptional" for me comes from the unexpected. I knew what to expect of the major sights in the Louvre, for example, but the (unexpected) Persian mosaic floor in the deserted basement was the most memorable part of the experience.

Hi,
I agree with CJean that it is both. For example, although I had researched both Venice and Cinque Terre before going, nothing could have prepared me for just how breathtakingly beautiful they both were until I actually experienced them first hand.

On the other hand, one of my best experiences came years ago when I attended a wedding in the Azores. I purchased a one way ticket there, and a one way ticket home twelve days later from Barcelona. My intent was to spend the intervening time in Madrid and Spain. I had zero interest in, or desire to see, Lisbon. But several people at the wedding had flown into the Azores through Lisbon and strongly suggested I give it a try. Which I did. I had no map and had done zero research whatsoever, but I had an absolute blast and loved that City. I had a similar experience when I met a local woman in Tours, France who suggested I should go to Chinon to check out the vineyards and wine caves there. And also when I decided on a whim to travel to Ghent, Belgium from Brugges.
Ultimately, I think it might all depend on how much time one has to travel: if it's just a few days, or a week, I suspect it makes sense to research as much as you can so that your time can be spent wisely and efficiently. The more time you have, the more time you have to wander off the beaten path and give things a whirl and to take chances.

"Fortune favors the prepared mind"
--Louis Pasteur

https://alden-mills.com/2020/09/luck-favors-the-prepared/

“I'm a greater believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it”
--- Samuel Goldwyn (also spuriously attributed to Thomas Jefferson)

"audentes Fortuna adiuvat"
--The Aeneid (and several other Latin sources) Fortune favors the bold

On the other hand, some great experiences that I just fell into include a piano recital inside the presidential palace in Rome and a choral performance at the end of Easter in Barcelona -- both just happened to be starting while I was passing by, but in both cases I was not the only tourist in that situation, and having an openness to take advantage of an unexpected event is more likely if you've done some internal preparation already. IMHO.

For me, exceptional experiences tend to come from planning gone awry in some way and leading to pleasant surprises.

My all time favorite so far happened in Lisbon. My perpetually slow husband caused us to arrive at the National Tile Museum only about an hour before closing.

When we arrived, the woman who greeted us told us to be sure to go to the chapel there by closing time for a special program including special kids.

The museum was almost empty, but when we got to the chapel, it was standing room only. The place was packed with people of all ages.

Up front was a stage-like setting featuring King Neptune. In the area behind the chapel there was a large group of kids dressed in national costumes from a variety of world countries ... and from outer space. The kids included those with special needs, the special kids the woman was talking about.

Each group of kids came from the back and went up the aisle to see King Neptune, accompanied by music, singing and dancing appropriate to the locations they represented. That packed audience were their families and friends.

The most clapped for and cheered on group represented Mexico. Living about 40 miles from the border between Arizona and Sonora, we got a big kick out of that.

We stayed for the whole event and fortunately, the bus was still running when it was over. 😊

I, too, am a planner. I try very hard not to over plan, I know, it is difficult. I have to admit I only read RS guidebooks because I believe there is a sufficient amount of information to help with our trips. I also search the internet, using In Your Pocket, Visit a City, and the city/town’s local website. We stop in at the local TI at some point to see what’s happening, and the hotel/B&B lobbies usually have information on local happenings. That said, have we had unplanned wow moments, yes. Once were walking around Copenhagen and saw a bus full of Santas. The banner said, international Santa convention. They disembarked and we had a fun, spur of the moment wow moment. Were there others, a few, but not enough. Going forward with my planning I am going to try very hard not to over research and learn how to just observe.

I suspect that most people here are planners to at least some degree. I usually plan a few activities for each day leaving time for the unexpected. Like being in London when the Tour of Britain professional cycling race criterium occurred. We had no idea (we were visiting friends in Oxford) until we stepped out of Paddington to find London practically devoid of cars. Then walking up to the barriers by Westminster and seeing (briefly) the likes of Mark Cavendish. Our plans to take the Tube were scuttled in favor of walking through a beautiful carless London.

Both. I am a planner to the max and I have a lot of wow moments because of that planning - Ceremony of the Keys at the Tower of London, Harry Potter Studios, evensong at Wells Cathedral. Sometimes though, something that I think we'll see if we have time and we do turns out to be much better than I ever thought. The Swiss Alps comes to mind as a wow I didn't quite expect. Or Avebury Stone Circle, man that is HUGE! Both I think work well.

This subject reminds me of J.R.R. Tolkien. "Not all those who wander are lost." Travel is an adventure. Yes, planning & sightseeing are great, but our favorite experiences were taking random routes that make for the most serendipitous discoveries. It's all about getting out there "to look, listen and touch your destination." I recall heading to St Mark's Square in the early morning and heard a gondolier singing O, Sole Mio. People came out on their balconies. It was a wonderful introduction to Venice. When we were in Amsterdam in 2019, we came upon an open market in our neighborhood. It was a pleasant surprise. Sometimes it's just finding joy without planning.

I would generally say that our exceptional experiences have come from research & planning. The reason I say that is because my wall of canvas travel photos in my den are all from special places I found during research. The photos are of: Isola Bella gardens at Stresa, Italy; tiny Eguisheim, France; the Angers Fortress in France; tiny Frigiliana, Spain; the Italian portion of Menton, France; a cooking class at Lucca, Italy; a painting of Venice. All of these were “wow” - so exciting to be in the midst of something I had happened upon in research.

Other highlights were definitely planned: attending the Jousting Festival in Arezzo, Italy; attending the Stresa Music Festival; the MITO music festival in Torino, Italy, bike tours, cooking classes, etc.

I thoroughly research ahead of time and have several options for each location, Then when we’re on the train going to the next town, we quickly scan the options and pick what sounds fun. Our spontaneity is leisurely walking around enjoying the center of town and also with our meals. We happen upon an outdoor restaurant or ask our B&B host for recommendations - usually memorable and excellent!

We did happen to be in Grosseto, Italy when they had their local night festival which was fun to join.

We do plan and have great experiences as a result. Planning seems more and more necessary as more people travelled. However we have had great experiences by chance as well. We have stopped in towns on our way to a place and found a great restaurant or market. I agree with a previous person who leaves time in the day to explore, because for every famous church or site there are equally fabulous churches that are unknown to most guide books.

So do plan, but leave time to explore.

We plan our trips but accept exceptional interactions with people along the journey. On tours this happens when you have free time away from the guided group activities. Traveling independently it can happen anywhere. A older man who didn’t speak English came up to us in Trier while were studying a map to find our convent. We still smile remembering him pointing to it across the street. We had walked all over the nearby streets. Getting massages all over the world feels great and is always different. In India I got a steam bath in a homemade sauna box and a motor cycle ride back to the hotel. We remember the interactions with local people the most, just as RS always says.

I totally agree with Bob and some others-plan, but leave flexibility and open spaces in your itinerary to explore when the opportunity is presented. One of the things that I plan carefully is navigating large cities like Paris or Rome. There's nothing more frustrating than spending a couple of wasted hours lost in the Metro system because you didn't do your homework.

In 2011, we went to York for a few days and had 2 fabulous and unexpected experiences .On arrival we took a several hour walk, orienting ourselves to York. We walked by the York Theater Royal and saw they were presenting The Crucible by Arthur Miller. Since we live less than an hour from Salem Mass, the place the witch trials happened, we stopped, found that tickets were available and went that night. One of the most interesting experiences. Since, I suspect, many of the patrons did not know the horrifying story of what happened in Salem, the audience response was quite unlike what it would have been in the states .. laughter in surprising places, confusion in others. But at the end, there was a planned audience conversation which included a facilitator and the cast. It was such an interesting experience to talk about what we knew and what the play meant to us with people for whom it had been an entirely different experience. Just such an opportunity to get to know, in an entirely new way, how a group of people who were strangers saw and understood the world.

The next day we went to York Minster, which was really the impetus for the visit to York. Gorgeous, fascinating, beautiful and not crowded. We must have seemed interested to the man in his 70s who approached us and introduced himself. I think I recall he was a verger, he might have been a guide at the Minster. He spent several hours talking with us and sharing his love of the place and his enormous knowledge. (He did mention his wife had died a year earlier and that he was a little lonely ) At the end of our visit, he invited us to join him for evensong, which we did. He met us outside, led us to the the Quire, introduced us to a few people and then we all just enjoyed a beautiful end to an amazing day, full of history and stained glass and a new friend and music.

These experiences definitely found us. We could never ever have planned them

A much as I am also a planner, I an getting the sneaking suspicion
that it takes away a lot of the chances of wow moments, because of the
YouTube, knowledge, expectation, prepartion and all, that by the time
we arrive to it, it is already familiar. We may still enjoy it. It
might well measure up, but there is much less room for surprise.

I sometimes wonder that too. But on the other hand, as an example, the Cotswolds were a disappointment because for some reason I did minimal planning for that leg of a trip. After we got back we watch the RS episode about the Cotswolds and he talked about the sheep market and showed a 600 year old market structure as well as an alleyway that sheep would have been herded though. I remember seeing those, but they didn't register at the time because I was looking without knowing what I was looking at. That bit of preplanned research would have enhanced the trip.

@Allan, I think there is no guarantee that we will be 100% happy with all travel experiences...and that perhaps a mix of prep with time for serendipity may be a good aspiration. Because the Cotswold didn't measure up doesn't mean your next low research place won't. Time and an open mind/heart to grasp chances may be a benefit but time is often what many travelers don't have much of.
Another reason to gain that retirement.

On one of our trips to Italy, we had an experience that stands out as exceptional. We were staying in Massa Marittima, a town near the Tuscan coast, in which the “old” town is medieval and the “new” is Renaissance. The owner of our hotel, upon hearing that we were headed to the new town, insisted that we must visit the Museum of Antique Organs. Btw, the hotel owner offered to drive us up to the new town, which was a long, quite steep trek from our digs at the edge of the old. He opined that we would be able to manage the descent, but added that we should call him if we couldn’t.
The director/curator was a delightful, friendly gentleman, who spoke no English. However, with our rudimentary French and German, and enough Spanish to grasp some of his Italian, we understood virtually all he had to tell us, which was an amazing amount.
He showed us his laboratory, where he repaired the organs, all the while denouncing priests who sell off the instruments to raise funds for their churches. He bemoaned the fact that, recently, collectors had entered the market, so that while in the past he could rescue organs, now the prices were climbing beyond his meager budget.
In addition to organs, there were several other types of keyboard instruments. He explained their operation and their history leading to the development of the modern piano. The icing on the cake was his performance on several representative instruments.
I wouldn’t have imagined it, but we wound up spending 2 hours at that tiny jewel of a museum, enjoying the friendly erudition of that Italian gentleman.
So to return to the original question, we planned the visit to Massa Marittima, based on our guidebook information, which listed the museum. It was the chance conversation with the hotel owner, however, that led us to make the museum visit a priority. In that sense, the experience found us.

Another great, thoughtful topic: thank you Alan!

I do lots of researching, planning and bookmarking, and sometimes don't stick to exact plans every day unless we have bought tickets for a site in advance.

Some wow things I have experienced:
Getting on a city bus in Copenhagen and realizing it was all heavily decorated inside with Christmas baubles, tinsel, stars and lights.
Apparently local schools do this in December.
I just wanted to ride around all day!

Hearing a choir practice for that night's Concert, also in Copenhagen in an amazing church.

Having the bus from Pisa Airport to Lucca stop for an accident, and watching all the local people come along to "help":
Nonna with her groceries giving advice; man on a bike stopping to weigh in; firefighters arriving; woman passenger who was not injured and wasn't treated by emergency personnel, screaming the place down; and one very dapper firefighter waiting for the little automatic step to come out the side at the door of the appliance, so he could step down gracefully to the street, about 15 inches below.
We all sat on the grass verge waiting. Then the bus wouldn't start! People shared their snacks while waiting.

Same trip: my friend tripped in the street in Monterosso, and instantly people rushed to help.
Two "hunks" lifted her up, while a lady rushed out of a shop with a chair for her, another man dabbed at her dusty arms and legs with a wet cloth, and people offered to get water to drink.
Such kindness!

I’m with Cjean - we do both .

We make our trips long enough ( 3-5 weeks minimum) so we allow enough time to wander , and we try to build in flexibility ( we never book non refundable hotels etc )

One time after several weeks of travel through Europe we arrived in the small town of Tossa de Mar Spain , we immediately just loved it , and right away cancelled a night on our next stop and added it to our Tossa de Mar stay ,being flexible is great .

However to get some of the great deals on inter Europeon flights and trains we do book ahead .

Honestly I also think the research i put into every trip has made a huge difference-
In decades of travel to many countries I can honestly say we’ve never been disappointed by a stay or accommodation.

That doesn’t mean we over plan - we don’t do itineraries when stopped ( obviously we have one for travel from country to country ) - I just have a list of places we want to visit in each place - and we fit in what we can depending on weather and how we feel .

I always tell myself I’m going to do a bunch of research but I’m the worst procrastinator and next thing I know, I’m on the plane to my destination. I have a habit of spending half of my first day figuring out what to see and do. Since travel and much of my life has been on pause, I’ve been spending a ton of time researching, dreaming of future vacations, and realizing just how more enriched my travels could be by researching the local sights, culture, and history before visiting.

That being said, some of my fondest memories from travel come from completely serendipitous moments. And I think there was a better element of surprise and awe going to these places knowing little to nothing about them. I went into both Prague, Budapest, and Vienna completely blind, not even having seen a photo of either city, and my jaw literally dropped when I saw the architecture. There is some magic to seeing things for the first time in person.

This is my first post on this forum. I have been reading it for a few months and have been tempted to post before. But this topic pushed me over the edge and I registered.

I am a planner. I am not truly happy unless I'm planning a trip or a party. My husband had a job for a number of years which entailed international travel. Sometimes we planned vacations around his trips.

Typically I do extensive research. These days I make a possible itinerary and we try not to change locations very often. I make a list of things we "must" do and things we "might do". We try to leave time for what I call "serendipitizing". We have had some fantastic experiences serendipitizing.

In October 2019 we were walking across the Marienplatz in Munich on our way to the English Garden when we happened upon the Munich Marathon as it passed through the Marienplatz. We never made it to the English Garden that day. We stood at a barricade and watched the runners come through for four hours. Had great conversation with others also watching.
Other serendipitous experiences:
Went to Mt. Saleve outside of Geneva to do a little hiking. Happened upon a large group from a local paragliding club all dressed in various costumes (for example, one was Mother Goose) who glided off the mountain onto a field below.
In Zurich went to a Fasching parade and later that night a large party at our hotel celebrating the same. We were invited as hotel guests "because it was going to get noisy".
In Toulouse I saw a flyer for an afternoon organ concert at a church. I attended and enjoyed beautiful music in a beautiful, nearly empty church. A peaceful experience.
In Lenk, Switzerland took a bus up a mountain (a hair raising ride). Had a nice lunch while enjoying the surrounding mountains and the valley below.
Discovering a garden full of gnomes (I dare say 100s of them) in Zweisimmen, Switzerland.
Stumbling upon the Alteshaus in Bacharach, Germany where we enjoyed a lovely late lunch. Had the place to ourselves.
After chatting with a small shop owner in a small town on Lake Brienz in Switzerland, the owner offered my husband and I the use of her garden house which overlooked the lake to have a picnic. An unexpected kind gesture which we thoroughly enjoyed.
While changing trains at a small train station in Bavaria south of Munich we saw a flyer for a flea market to be held that coming Saturday. We made our way back to that town for the flea market. Had a wonderful time shopping. I purchased a beautiful red work embroidered piece which I still have.
And finally, we have enjoyed so many not necessarily exceptional, but enjoyable experiences using a Swiss Pass. The pass has given us so much freedom to change plans on a whim. For example, take a train to somewhere, return to base and then decide to take a boat to somewhere.
Looking forward to more serendipitizing when we can safely travel again.

I wonder if the unplanned moments stick out in our minds more simply because they weren’t anticipated. As others have mentioned, those of us on this forum are definitely researchers. Overall, this makes my trips so much more enjoyable and reduces so much stress. I think that might open me up to those surprise moments more.

Most of my wow moments are from fun and surprising interactions with people on the way- Italy seemed to have a lot of those - in Rome, especially, we had so many great encounters with fun locals that stick out in my memory. My son got a Roma soccer jersey there and people fussed over him like crazy. He felt like a celebrity.

I remember trying to order cheese at a French farmers market and the seller was not friendly, (I was trying to speak French but terribly). An older French woman understood and through hand gestures and smiles helped place an order for me - she helped me buy the same cheese she had just purchased. I saw her later and the tapped her cheese. Her little kindness is one of my favorite memories of that trip.

We were in NYC & DC for Christmas and New Years last year and got to witness a proposal in Central Park and were part of a huge crowd cheering the couple on Christmas morning.

Usually, I’m not surprised by tourist attractions because I’ve researched things but in DC, we didn’t think we’d like the Portrait Gallery very much and it turned out to be one of our favorite places.

I have always made only loose plans for my trips. I pick no more than three "must do" things, and keep a few others on a short list of options, but I like to be able to stop and partake of things that may (and do) come up that no amount of research could have prepared me for.

A few examples:

1995 I was taking 20 days vacation at the end of a business trip in Europe. I went to Prague and while wandering around the castle (which much more accessible then than it is now) found an unadvertised exhibition of Arms of the East. I was the only person in the area and the curator came and spent over an hour with me talking over the various displays, most of which had not been seen in public since before 1914. It was a fantastic opportunity to see and talk over a shared interest with an expert and I truly doubt I'll ever have such an opportunity again. (Some of these pieces were on display in a different area in 2011, but nowhere near the extent of that collection.)

In 2011 I was again on a three week visit, traveling by car with no particular destination, when I decided to visit Regensburg simply because I saw the sign while on the Autobahn. It had been years since I last spent any time in that city, and I stopped at a gasthaus (no longer open) for a meal. It had a patio that looked out over the river, and I could see activity in the distance. Asking my waiter what the occasion was it turned out a local fest was starting that evening. I reserved a room and had a fantastic time for the last three days of my trip with the city to explore and a celebration within walking distance every night.

In 2013 I was driving from Ohio to Seattle by way of Flagstaff and L.A. (family visits) when I decided to stop in Tucumcari, NM because they have one of the best paleontology museums nobody knows about. Again it was just me in the entire building, and I ended up spending 4+ hours talking to the head curator and one of the geologists who led me into the preparation room and stacks to show me a recently received collection of plants and other fossils from a location now buried under a modern city and inaccessible. The geologist said, at the time, there was enough new material in this collection to get 3-4 doctorates out of. (And as an off shoot of this visit, I got one of my brothers a chance to join a dig where they worked on the recovery of a major crocodilian a couple years later. )

Every trip has had something special, most of which is unplanned, and exceeds my expectations. I've held antiques that should be in museums, talked to artists who have world wide reputations, met a number of famous people in unexpected places, and seen things in nature I'll never be able to duplicate. I truly believe that this type of travel is why I don't do tour groups. Too rigid a schedule doesn't allow spontaneous discovery.

This is my first post on this forum. I have been reading it for a few
months and have been tempted to post before. But this topic pushed me
over the edge and I registered.

Welcome to the forum Travelgirl. I was like you but followed regularly for about a year before I made my first comment. Looking forward to your future comments.

“I'm a greater believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more
I have of it”
--- Samuel Goldwyn (also spuriously attributed to Thomas Jefferson)

Good quote Avirosemail. My wife is only 5' tall and so sometimes an experience can be ruined for her because a location is wall to wall people, meaning she's wall to wall in armpits. So planning has become essential:

• Dubrovnik. To beat the tourist crowds we got to the walls at 8am and were the first people on them. 2 hours later it was wall to wall people back at the main gate. We had no idea because we saw very few people until we were back at the beginning.
• Carcassonne. I knew it could be a tourist trap by day, and so made a plan to get up before sunrise. Some of the best photos I've ever taken were of the east walls glowing orange as the sun rose, and I have a mitt full of photos with not a person in site.

Clearly there is no right answer to my original question. I appreciate the examples of unexpected surprises and can think of a few as well, but even the blockbuster tourist sites can be exceptional experiences when planned properly.

We plan & make reservations & all, but you never know. Madrid, maybe 2010, we were flying home the next morning & staying in the airport's nearest (nondescript) town, Barajas?, in a small modern hotel. Its restaurant menu didn't thrill, & the receptionist said there was a local place down a couple of blocks. So we walked, into a festival! It was January 5th, Epiphany Eve, which now we know is The Big Deal in Spain. The town's tiny plaza was full of people - families with toddlers, roving teens, seniors with canes - & then the floats arrived! Completely homegrown, & over in ten minutes, but joyous & boisterous & what luck of timing. In the standing-room-only little bar-restaurant, we ate unremarkable somethings, but boy, I remember the joking grandmas in Santa hats & the friendly guy who took our photo for us.

And then we went home, turned on the TV, & there was the live footage of the crowds at Madrid's Plaza Mayor, awaiting Los Tres Reyes, the Three Kings enroute to Bethlehem. They arrive via helicopter, honest, the mayor presents them with the keys to the city, & they give a press conference. I'm taking photos of the TV screen & rolling with laughter. Si, excepcional!

Just from a dining angle, it’s happened both after careful planning, and with serendipity. Making reservations to Michelin starred restaurants, an exceptional meal and experience are assured, and have always been realized. The planning part includes identifying a restaurant, making reservations, ensuring that we will be at the appointed place at the determined time, and managing finances to be able to afford going.

The chef stopping by our table is a nice touch. Sometimes, though, the expectations have been surpassed, like the lunch on a gray, rainy day at Restaurant Martin Beresategui, outside San Sebastián (aka Donostia) in Spain. There was just one other table of people that October afternoon, so we were well attended by the staff, and as we prepared to leave after a phenomenal meal, Señor Beresategui saw us off at the door, while presenting us with plates with personalized, signed messages. Totally unexpected, and something else to have to carefully pack in our luggage, but now cherished reminders of eating at the place of a genius.

Then, on our trip to London last year, just before the Pandemic was identified, it was another rainy time. We just wanted dinner, and to get out of the rain as quickly as possible. We ducked into a small place that promised Spanish tapas. It turned out to be the husband in the kitchen and the wife waiting tables. They were closing the place at the end of the week, and moving back to Spain. The dinner was incredibly good. And it was the last week that anyone in London could have had the same experience.

Plan for things to go exceptionally well, and often they will. And also enjoy it when things go right when you aren’t quite demanding it. Good things sometimes happen to good people.