Getting down to the daily plan

We have a plan for a morning and an afternoon " must do" for each day. These may or may not be on someone's top 10 attractions list, but they are things we REALLY want to see or do. Then there is a secondary list if things we'd like to see if we have time. We try to keep things flexible enough so if we have an "outdoor day", we can flip it for another day if the weather isn't cooperating.

We rarely stay in a museum for the short time Rick recommends in his books. I usually just double his estimates, since we like to take our time and not just skip over the high points. If we have free time on our hands, then we hit one of the places on our secondary list. I don't think that secondary list has ever been completed. Still have gobs if places to see in Paris after half a dozen visits. That's why Rick recommends travelling by assuming you will come back another time.

Don't follow guide book suggestions to a T.

Only if I need tickets for something that I am determined to see do I plan daily activities. Otherwise I just make sight seeing decisions on the go based on knowledge from reading guides during the planning weeks before I get somewhere. I don't write anything down.

After so many trips I go in knowing and accepting that I will not do everything that I thought I would, and I either go back or forget about it.

I get on Wikipedia and read about where we are going. And I will make a list of places I want to visit. But every time I make a daily schedule, it is never followed.
We just roll with the flow day by day. We never know how we feel and how motivated we are on any given travel day. Some days we sleep late. Some days we are out at daybreak.

Have your "to-do" list but don't be rigid about it. Check to see which days things are open. Gauge your energy level if possible. There is no fun in dragging yourself around just to complete your wish list. I usually schedule only one main thing/activity/museum/walk each day. The rest of the day is open for sitting in a café or bar, napping, strolling around, being whimsical about doing things just because they look interesting or fun. I do best when I do my main thing in the morning while I have the most energy.

New place or a return visit?

New place - fairly detailed daily itinerary BUT I don't feel like I have to stick to it. If something is requiring more time than I figured, I'll spend the time....conversely if something isn't grabbing me I move on. I travel solo and it helps me to know where I am headed each day.

Return visit (Paris or London) - I'll pencil in any special exhibitions I want to see and do a rough daily itinerary particularly if there are some new museums I want to see, keeping in mind closing days.

In general I research way more things I want to see than I have time for, just in case one thing sounds better than another on a certain day or if I have to adjust for weather (rain or heat or...). I also often do walking tours - London Walks and Paris Walks - and these are really great for opening up possibilities I hadn't considered. I'm good with sticking in something new, too. I sometimes do advance purchase for special exhibits - or in some cases, actually plan a trip around a certain exhibition. Already planning for London 2019 and a Leonardo da Vinci exhibition!

I've noticed when I go back and look at old trip notes that my actual
time spent on the days never matches my "possible" list of activities.

Note, this is not a sign of failure! Not if you had a good trip.

After a certain point, my own plans transition from a set of steps to a set of options, which inform the choices that turn the options back into steps.

I mean, if I know I want to go to Giverney in the morning, that's the morning. The only question is when will i get back and what will I feel like doing then. (OK, and where will I eat).

Probably have a good answer to that, but also I have a plan B in case my mood or the weather changes. The plan B is probably part of tomorrow's plan A, which is then suitably modified as needed.

But the research and thought I have put in makes it possible for me to make these decisions on the ground.

I am an extremely organized person. I completely over-plan before the trip, researching each site, festivals, possible concerts, etc. When we’re three months from the trip, I sit down with my husband and share all of the possibilities. If there are events or museums that need reservations, we decide which day to select, and I purchase those ahead of time. We talk about anything that’s a “must do”.

I create a small set of papers stapled together for each location. When we’re on the train heading to the next location, we review this list of ideas, usually including a few pages from the RS book, and decide what sounds like fun for the first day. I usually have tentatively planned certain days for museums, etc. for days they’re open. I mentioned I’m extremely organized, but the thought of a tightly planned schedule where everything was determined would not be my idea of a fun vacation. We like to decide one activity per day while we’re on the train (possibly a second one for evening), and be spontaneous with the rest of the day. Since I’ve over-planned months before, I have those ideas, ready if we need ideas for the rest of the day. We typically stay in small towns 2-3 days and cities 3-5 days.

The best I ever seem to do is to have a list of sights to see, walking tours, and any special activities, including days and times. I try to put them in 3 categories: must-see, wanna-see, if-there's-time-left. In a large town or city, I also try to group by location. Then I kind of wing it, sometimes the weather dictates, sometimes I just follow my nose. On my first visit to Barcelona I tried to put together a 3-day schedule for city sights. I managed to see about 1/2 of what was on each day, haven't even tried scheduling since then.

I have a fairly long list of things I "want to see", but a much shorter list of things I "must see". I set it up so that I have 1-2 must sees per day and nothing else. The rest of the time gets filled in with want to see places on the fly. That way there is a structure and I am unlikely to run out of time for a priority, but I'm not down-to-the-minute planned.

So on a recent trip to Rome I had a Colosseum and Forum tour in the morning planned ahead of time. That was my must-see for the daytime. When I was done with the tour, I had plenty of time to see a few churches and the top of the Victor Emmanuel monument (want to sees). But if I had wanted much more time at the Colosseum then I would have been OK missing some of the other things.

A key is having a handle on the geography. After finishing the Colosseum, I knew what things were nearby so did them instead of crossing town for something else. I use an electronic map with places of interest marked.

Like others, I have list of must see/do, would like to see/do and 'if there is time left"

For the must see and do, I usually try and plan either around a specific day of our trip or when we are in a certain geographical area. I then buy tickets ahead of time if I know that it will save us time and possibly save us $

I then have a list of restaurants or other interesting things to see in the area.

I usually have all of this written in a planner for every day of our trip

I do build in a lot of non planned time as well... we love just walking around, going to markets, or taking some suggestions from locals.

This seems to work well for us.

Like others, I have list of must see/do, would like to see/do and 'if there is time left"

For the must see and do, I usually try and plan either around a specific day of our trip or when we are in a certain geographical area. I then buy tickets ahead of time if I know that it will save us time and possibly save us $

I then have a list of restaurants or other interesting things to see in the area.

I usually have all of this written in a planner for every day of our trip

I do build in a lot of non planned time as well... we love just walking around, going to markets, or taking some suggestions from locals.

This seems to work well for us.

There's an old military saying that "no plan survives first contact with the enemy". In this case, the enemy is weather, unexpected obstacles, crowds, closures, transportation difficulties, and other things you can't see until you get there. I like Swan's approach - know what things there are to do and see, know what would be your priorities, have alternates, and then decide what you're going to do when you're on the ground. It makes no sense to me to commit to a certain restaurant on a certain day, for example, when it means crossing the city at rush hour to get there from where you are. Weather rainy today - do some of the indoor things on your list.

In most popular cities there are certain sights that benefit from buying tickets ahead of time. Some are reservation only (you just can’t go if you didn’t book ahead), and some just have huge lines for buying tickets. Lines you can bypass by purchasing tickets ahead of time. For those you may be best served locking in a particular day. But other things can be done on the fly. Rick Steves books do a good job laying this out, and offering other ways to bypass lines. For example sometimes there is a joint ticket between a popular sight and a less popular one. Buy the ticket at the less popular one with no line, skip the line at the popular one.

For restaurants only book ahead things you really want, special dinners or the like. Otherwise planning every meal ahead locks you into a location that may not work. If your lunch is at 1 but you finish the nearby sight at 12 you are stuck in that area with not much time to do anything but a long time to wait.

Thank you for the tips and suggestions. As simple as it is, I think part of what's missing in my current process is I'm listing everything I want to do ... and not picking a short enough list of must sees! I do agree with the "assume you'll come back" philosophy. I'm going to revisit the upcoming trip with these tips in mind, and also the tip above that perhaps part of the challenge is the disconnect between "recommended time" at sites vs. my "actual time spent", which seems to be more like double in a lot of cases.

I generally have a list, with a few must do's and some - if we have time to do's. When we get to the city then I mostly go by the weather. Last year, we went to Amsterdam and I had a few must see's - one being Keukenhof Gardens. So I kept an eye on the weather app as we obviously didn't want to go on a rainy day. (We actually lucked out as we had one slightly rainy afternoon out of 5 days). Otherwise, we just woke up in the morning and said - let's do X today.

But then again, sometimes the laissez-faire attitude backfires. After leaving A'dam, we went to Dordrecht - on Easter weekend. We knew we wanted to go to Kinderdijk and decided one day to go to Gouda - and of course, I wasn't paying attention to the fact that it was Easter Sunday the day we went to Gouda - 99% of the town was closed (we did do a nice walking tour after picking up a book from the weighing house)...and of course, there was rail work going on, so we had to do a combo of bus and trains, which added a few hours to our trip. Had I planned those days better and paid attention to the fact that there was going to be rail work, things would have gone smoother. So you def have to take holidays into account.

And of course, as others say - some things you do want to book ahead - some museums, sites, maybe a walking or private tour.

So for me - some advance planning for busy museums/sights that getting a ticket ahead will help avoid long lines, then just go by the weather and my mood that day.

denisek, don't discount the "waiting in line" time that sometimes you don't account for. Flexibility and spontaneity are good things to have.

And this is part of the reason I do love revisiting cities along with some new ones when we travel - we've been to London and Paris and Venice enough times that we've seen the 'big' stuff - so now we can go to so-called lesser sights (for us) and it's a nice break from being in a new city, trying to figure out the public transport and rushing around trying to see everything. London is almost a vacation from our vacation now! (we fly in and out of London, so we go every trip for a few nights).

denisek, don't discount the "waiting in line" time that sometimes you don't account for. Flexibility and spontaneity are good things to have.

When you said that you want to get more definitive about how to spend each day, is it because you're disappointed that you didn't see more? Be sure to allow yourself an out to "enjoy the moment". The first time we were in Paris for 5 days as part of our France trip, I remember feeling like we let our Museum Pass and other activities lead up into such full days, that we didn't really sit down at a corner café and "enjoy the moment". When I went to Paris the next time, I started my first full day at a corner café, forced myself to not hurry and savor the Parisian setting. If you find yourself enjoying being in a museum for twice the amount of the initial "planned time", then stay & enjoy those moments in the museum. (I actually enjoyed that Parisian breakfast "moment" so much that I took a photo of my croissant & coffee, and it was my calendar photo - great memory of a wonderful trip!)

I love (some types of) museums and spend a lot of time therein. The fact is, though, that you don't know you're in Paris while you're inside one of its magnificent museums. For me it's really, really important to spend time outdoors, just looking around at the historic buildings, the signs in a language that is not mine, etc. And that can be done in any number of places; it doesn't have to happen in a high-cost city like Paris.

I thought of something else while responding to Jill's question about organizing stuff.

If I am in Paris and get the Museum Pass, the days are used consecutively so I work to coordinate pass days/sights/closure days.

I do understand not wanting to spend time inside when Paris is outside but I love visiting museums! None locally so it's a real treat for me.

I have a list of things to see and do but no schedule unless of course I have made a reservation. I love being able to skip lines with a reservation and will give up flexibility for not standing in line if it's something I know I want to see. Otherwise everything is decided on the fly. I also like museum or city passes even if I know they won't financially pay off. Time management (not waiting in ticket lines) is worth a lot to me so I consider that in my pass decisions.

When you fail to plan, you plan to fail!

I create an excel spread sheet for the trip in weekly calendar form. Visually, it's easy for us to read because Sunday is on the left and Saturday is on the right. Each day lists: the day of the week and the date (weird, but I need that calendar look), the town, any travel arrangements (such as a train, flight, or bus), including the type of ticket (e-ticket, printed) and reservation #'s, name of hotel with phone number and address (if we're checking in that day), and the activities for the day.

Since we don't want a hurried or stressful day, we tend to choose one major sight or activity in the morning and one in the afternoon, and fill in the extra time as we feel like it. In the planning phase, I'll put down ALL the choices on the spreadsheet and weed out before we leave. For example, I have the Anne Frank House on three days of my current sheet because I don't have tickets yet. Once I can buy them online I'll take it off the other two days. With other museums or activities, we may not nail down the date or time just because we like the flexibility, and to allow for "oops" to happen (such as the weather or a strike).

Planning this way gives me a sense of purpose, a piece of mind, and keeps me organized (instead of post-its or notes all over a page). I send a copy to my husband so he has it, I print a copy for each of us, and a copy is in the cloud in case other two options fail. It also helps me organize the days because a tour or museum may be closed on some days or have limited hours (I'd rather pay full price and show up first thing in the morning than be at a museum on a free day). It also helps me plan for ease of movement, without wasting travel time.

Having said all this-I know we'll miss something cool because there is NO way to see everything. But, at least we've planned for our "must-do's."