How soon do you start planning your next trip?

We’re usually planning our next trip as we get on the plane to fly home from our most recent trip. - if not earlier. That’s usually been a year away. But sudden sale flight prices have prompted trips 3 months or less prior to leaving. A sudden, almost unbelievable British Airways Valentine’s Weekend deal to London - hotel included - prompted a trip with just 2 weeks’ notice, about 20 years ago. If you can pack your bag in a half hour, and don’t mind not having a year to plan every sight you’re going to see and every restaurant where you want a memorable experience, then time’s a-wastin’. Travel while you can, and figure it out as you go, if the price is a big-enough motivator!

P.S. I’m crazy in a lot of other ways - LOL 🤪

After a big trip it takes me a month or two to get restless enough to plan another. I usually have one impending, one blocked out for a few months later, and one on the radar for less than a year out. These include road trips and cruises as well as Europe. I should be planning something in Europe for next fall but, like many others, I'm worried about what the coronavirus will do to travel and my travel budget. Maybe a US road trip instead.

Haven’t had this year’s trip yet (May) and already have been thinking about and doing a rough itinerary for next year. That being said, I don't start booking plane tix and accoms until about 3-5 mos out. About 5 mos for the plane then around 3-4 mos start looking at/booking accoms.

I started planning 2021 trip a couple months after getting home in May. I concentrated on my trip report and downloading and labeling photos then printing a few while memories were fresh (I have yet to make my physical scrapbook). I now have 3 alternative trips tentative planned. Which one depends on who wants to travel with me, SIL or horsey person, or if I tour solo.

I usually have ideas in mind that I'm working on, gathering information. The planning ramps up when I start searching airfare, then gets serious when I buy (or know I'm going to buy tickets).

This year it started with a toss up between Northern Italy and Northeast France. When I started searching flight options, France won out. I'm now thinking France in September and Italy next spring.

Twelve to Fourteen months generally. My life is not flexible and I am a planner, anyways. I need to give a lot of notice at work to take off more than a few days at once. I am going to Paris in September; I decided this before my trip to Turkey last September. I am also planning to take the GAS tour May, 2021 with my son. I have a list written in pencil that includes trips for the next 5-8 years. Of course those will change and I haven't tried to book hotels for them, but don't put it past me.

On the plane going home from one trip ... so we have something to look forward to. And interesting spots get added to the "travel possibilities" list as we hear of them.
But we also have done trips only 3 months apart when a great airfare shows up (probably to Paris.)

On the other hand, when we are using miles I book the flight 11 months in advance when the calendar opens up.
I have reserved hotels for a month-long trip in one marathon session with booking.com.

We are always thinking about when to take a trip, and where we might go. So at any given time, I have a couple travel books checked out from the library. This allows us to choose among various places based on convenience and ticket prices. Once we have tickets, we start planning in earnest. So right now I'm mostly planned for April, and we are thinking about September tickets.

4-6 months for a location like London where I know I'm not going to have to scramble too much for a plane seat or hotel room, but it can be 10-12 months when I know I'm looking at a destination where such things can be scarce. Our Big Trip this summer is California National Parks and if you want to book the Yosemite Valley Lodge (aka the only hotel option in Yosemite Valley proper where you get your very own flush toilet for less than $500 a night plus tax) you want to be booking 12 months out the exact day and hour when reservations go online.

That trip is late July-early August. I'm actually trying to talk the Spousal Unit into a week in Berlin or Paris or something in June if I can find a good air+hotel deal with Delta Vacations because that can be a productive way to burn some Skymiles under the right circumstances.

I have discovered that if I come home from a trip and I don’t have another planned ( a horrible state I call tripless) then I become quite depressed and impossible to deal with. Therefore, I try never to let this happen! My family thanks me for this.

So at any given time, I have a couple travel books checked out from
the library.

That's me too. If we're not planning a trip already booked, then we're planning the next one. Sometimes at the same time.

Internationally I try to use my frequent flyer miles, so I begin getting a flight 11 months before the trip. If a cruise is the primary focus, then as early as 18 months

I agree with diveloonie aka Tammy, I love when I'm headed home from one trip knowing I already have another one to look forward to.

It’s something I’m always thinking about. I generally take a couple weeks to a month away from the travel forums after I get back from an international trip, except to write a few TA reviews.

This year has been a bit of a head scratcher because of virus paranoia for international travel and a surprise trip to New Orleans. May just do another domestic trip this year and punt international travel for 2021 if the virus paranoia doesn’t die down. I’m not scared of it, but don’t want to get trapped or deal with extra hassle

Well I work at a library, so have access to scores of travel books every day I come into work! I generally plan well ahead, partially because I work so need to consider booking time off, also because sometimes my plans include a cruise which are generally cheapest when first released for booking.

I enjoy trip planning as a bit of a hobby. For instance, if I see something interesting on TV, or someone tells me about a place they've been, I might look into it further just for fun.

I have several itineraries roughed out that probably will never be done, although my trip in September 2018 was one that I had planned many years ago (Strasbourg, Colmar, Murren, Milan, Monterosso, Florence).

All this said, no matter how far ahead I plan, I seem to leave some of the less exciting nitty gritty details to the very end and wind up running around like a crazy person on the day we leave.

Right now I'm planning my trip for this November/December. My sister and BIL are coming and I'm driving them a bit nuts discussing details already.

I enjoy trip planning as a bit of a hobby. For instance, if I see
something interesting on TV, or someone tells me about a place they've
been, I might look into it further just for fun.

I'm constantly doing this. It was an episode of The Amazing Race a few years ago that put Carcassonne on my radar and convinced me to take the RS Loire to the South of France tour. My current interest is medieval England during the Saxon Dane Wars. I've read the entire Last Kingdom Series by Bernard Cornwell and have a renewed interest after watching the series on Netflix. It's been dominating my planning for my trip to London and York next Fall.

I've been encouraging my mom to think of some other place she'd like to see next year after going to the Amalfi Coast (last time we did that area with her, we also took her to Rome and Venice). I'm like - we could fly pretty much anywhere else in Europe from Naples or Rome - she replies - I've never really thought about anywhere else because I never thought I'd have the opportunity. I told her she has a year to figure it out. We were having lunch today and she mentioned watching a show about the chateaus in France, so I brought her home after and showed her the RS episode about the Chateaus. And also showed her one about Florence - I'm thinking we will either do Florence or fly to Paris - unless she comes up with somewhere else.

Maybe I need to lend her my RS DVD's. But the chateaus are def on my visit list, so I'll be looking into that!

Nicole; We did the RS Loire Valley to the South of France tour last May. The chateaus in the Loire are spectacular.

I figure we will spend about 7-8 nights on the AC then have another 4-5 nights for somewhere else. That sounds about perfect to spend a night in Paris then head for Loire area. Or head to Florence and see some of Tuscany - but I will leave it up to my mom. None of us are getting any younger (she'll be 73 this year) and this most likely will be the only other time we will be able to take her with us. I wish we could've gone this year, but with what is going on right now in Italy, I guess it's better that we do that next year. (Hopefully!)

Did you have any fav chateau? I think Chambord and Chenonceau for sure, Villandry and off the top of my head we'd prob stay in Amboise and see the one there. But I think we'd have to limit to one a day.

Always a year or so in advance. Half the fun of a trip is leaning the history, language, land, and culture of the people and places.

Planning is among the most enjoyable parts of a trip, imo.

We usually have a rough idea of where we want to go in the next few years. We're taking a year off from Europe at the Hot Wife's insistence. Scotland 2021 and after that, oddly, it's a mystery. Maybe back to Bavaria.

My next trip is in under six weeks and I’m already planning my second European trip of 2020 which will take place in September.

Did you have any fav chateau?

Villandry was my favourite because of the gardens and then Chenonceau. Truthfully seeing the chateau's from the outside was considerably more impressive than the insides. We didn't spend much time indoors at any of them.

What we usually do is start looking for airfare deals 4-5 months before a trip and then purchase 3ish months in advance. Once we book the tickets we start the planning. On the other hand, we've also had to plan day-by-day as we go after arriving at our destination and experiencing surprise transportation strikes that scrap parts of our original plan. I prefer advance planning but planning on the fly is no big deal and lead to fulfilling experiences you don't expect.

I only travel overseas once a year for now so I’m always planning several years in advance!

I love to plan in advance, and I have a rough priority list and draft itineraries for several years of international trips (at the top of the list are an upcoming trip to the Dordogne and Berner Oberland, and future trips to Japan, Greece, southern Spain, and Costa Rica.) We are now retired/semi-retired and hoping to make one European and one other international trip a year. I make a final decision and start booking flights to Europe 6-10 months in advance. I also book accommodations in places I think might be crowded 6-8 months in advance. I fill in the rest of the accommodations, car rental, etc about 3-4 months before the trip. For most trips to the East Coast I plan 3 to 6 months ahead. As others have noted, some of the major national parks such as Yosemite, Yellowstone, and Glacier require plenty of lead time to find accommodations.

One of these days I hope I will have the flexibility to grab a flight deal to a major city such as London or Amsterdam on relatively short notice and just go!

I'm so glad that this year I got an early start (January) on a fall trip. I'm hopeful that I can take my trip/tour in May, but if it is cancelled, it's nice to have another trip to still look forward to and hope for.