Passion or obsession?

I am convinced that there is a planning gene and some of us get it and some us don't. Then there is the travel planning gene mutation which intensifies the urge to plan. All the resources available today enable those of us who are part of this mutant group. ; ) I think back to my first trip when i was a student in Germany for six months. There were some who brought train schedules, books with all the hostels, maps of all the countries and even a few who had planned out most of the weekends. I had vaguely planned the break between terms. I was going to Greece and meeting my friends who were studying in England. Then we were going to Italy. Well, we definitely under planned as we confused dates, locations and so didn't even meet up until half way through the three week trip and that was simply luck! So, now I work for planning part of my trip, but having at least part of the trip be open and ready for whatever I discover that I want to do. Pam

Gail...Would you believe some would call me "passionately obsessed"?!!!

Gail, I completely agree with you. As I'm planning our two week trip in September, my husband would call me a bit obsessive. Look what the internet has done to us!!!! I'll join your support group. But even with the planning and research there is still the unknown that comes with the travel experiences. I think back to my first trip to Europe 30 years ago, a small group of 13 people touring central Europe on a bus, and I don't even think I knew which countries we'd be visiting, much less had a book or map. I always say planning is half the fun, and the trip is the other half.

I didn't use to be a planner, Then in 1987 I got married and things changed. In our family I do all the initial planning airlines, train travel hotel accomodations, and tourist attractions. Then my wife will fine tune things (I think it's because she's an accountant).

If there's an OCD related to travel planning, I def have it! But I do feel that there's a real practical side to heavy pre-planning. In my experience, it just makes the actual trip itself smoother, more efficient and, perhaps most importantly, more meanigful. I'm often quite suprised when I speak w/ people who have been to same place as me, that I seem to recall it better, remember more of the details, etc. More often than not, it'll be someone who took a guided tour (so they really didn't have to do much planning), or planned trip at last minute, etc. Perhaps those are just my experiences, but I'm convinced that my strong recall is due to all of the up-front planning, reading about the places I'll be, etc. I guess it boils down to the fact that some people are planners, and some aren't (not that 1 is "better" than the other), and I think many of the contributors here on RS.com certainly fall into the planners coalition! But that's prob the way they are in most aspects of their lives ("guilty" here of that, too). I think that for those who truly love travel, the pre-planning is PART of the love/obsession. In my humble opinion, not a bad thing to be obsessed with! I def agree w/ Laura above; it's PART of the whole experience (and a part that I really love!)

Gail, travel has become both "a passion and and delightlful obsession". I love the planning and being in Europe has made little old Delaware a very boring place to be. This forum is a great place to meet kindred spirits. Keep traveling
Tony

In 1976 my (almost) husband and I packed 2 backpacks and had Fromer's Europe on $5 a Day in our hands. We went with no plans. Had a Condor airline ticket for our return, and a 6 week Eurail pass. We had the BEST time of our lives. That being said, in 1976, one could go to Europe with no plans. We waited outside youth hostels at 3PM, hoping for a bed, and never were turned away. We paid up to $3 for the night, and that included breakfast (bread, coffee, and fruit) We ate bread, cheese, maybe some meat for lunches, always in a park. McDonalds in Munich was an amazing thing, they served beer. We've been back to Europe 8-10x since (well, I've been more times than my hubby now) When we travel now, it's by bike, and most of that is planned out in advance, but the last few days are always off the bike, and based in one city, with no particular plans except to go explore the region by train or bus. Back then there was no internet. We didnt' even call home, because it was to expensive, and not in our budget. Now I travel with my iphone, and can't be away from the internet, having to check my email, or with my kids (I still don't call home, now we email, or text message) There is something "freeing" about not having a ton of plans, and just going with the flow of the day. We kind of wake up in the morning and say "What do you want to do today?" The joy of travel is still with us! I do have my "bucket list". I've checked off several things from it, might never go to see them all (political unrest and personal security in mind) but I'm working towards getting to as many as I can, and what ever else I can see along the way!

This is a good topic. I am not the travel planner in my family - it's my wife Kathy. I would put her obsession up against anyone without hesitation. Since our first European trip in 1983, and just about every year since, she has literally obsessed over every detail of every trip. This included our two week cruise/land trip in 2008 to Greece and Turkey, which took place right in the middle of her going through chemo therapy for breast cancer. Wearing a scarf on her head in the Blue Mosque was no biggie when she was wearing a scarf most of the time anyway. She has gotten the system down so well, we are very comfortable with our trips so much more now then we used to be. She started a travel blog about events on our trips and has a quirky and funny take on things, even though I am often the butt of her stories. People should check it out: http://www.traveltalesbykmalson.blogspot.com/

I don't think that planning takes the wonder out of a trip, but strict adherence to a plan does. If you've thought about details and have things planned out, you have given yourself the flexibility to make smart choices. You have a good idea of what you want to see and what it will take to see it. That way you can prioritize your top choices and drop lower items if time runs short or if you see something better to do. You can also drop entire days and decide to do something completely different, knowing what you give up and what you gain in the exchange. I've had many trips where my wife and I had planned to do something and decided last minute to do something else.

I used to think my trip planning was a passion, but we are unable to travel internationally this year for the first time in years (aaah, the joys of having a fragile kitty in her twilight years) and yet I still frequently read this board and other travel sites. So now I think it's just an obsession.

"I don't think that planning takes the wonder out of a trip, but strict adherence to a plan does." I couldn't have put it better myself. I do enjoy planning, but only have a rough plan that allows for alterations. I almost feel my holiday starts when I begin the planning! It does sort of depend on your circumstances too. My cousin is one of those people who just randomly picks a place and takes off with no idea what he is going to do or where he is going to stay. He always mocks me for making sure I at least have a place to stay lined up. But, he is a tall well-built guy and I'm a petite girly. He has been to some dodgy areas. I am pretty sure it I had followed his example I would be putting myself in danger and would also probably be blamed for being stupid. For me planning and reading endless travel guides is part of the whole experience.

Lawence - There must be something to what you say, because my wife seems to have perfect recall for the tiniest minutae of our trips, including the pronunciations. I can always count on her to remember the details if I don't and that has to come from the planning she does. BTW, other then here, we have never, and I mean NEVER, encountered anyone else who does this much travel detail work, so there is something to be said about RS aficionado 's, or at least for people likely to be. It must attract like-minded people.

i'm right there with ya girls! we're going to the med on oceania cruise lines in 4 weeks and i've planned until i'm blue in the face. hope the trip lives up to my planning :-).

@ John; agree re: the RS community. Full of people w/ very strong passion for independent, Rick-style travel......and all of the planning that goes along with it! If you never saw it, on "60 Minutes" (actually, it was on the deceased "60 Minutes II," short-lived attempt to broaden the Sun pm institution), they profiled Rick. You can find online, prob on cbs.com. It's prob from around 5/6ish yrs ago. Was a great interview and in it, they refer to his dedicated fans as "Rick-nicks!" I'M def 1 of them, as I think it's safe to say, most people on this section of the site! It's def a unique form of traveling, more independent, do-it-yourself, PLANNING ORIENTED, more "middle class," if you will, etc. He def broadened the idea of travel to the "masses" and presented it as something most people can do, if they skip the high-end hotels, expensive restautrants, look for value, etc. Check it out!

Hi Gail, My wife and I are avid travelers, especially to Europe, and the only planning we do are for the flights going and returning and first and last night hotel stays. We are in our early 60's and love winging it. Spontaneity has served us well; we have had some charming, delightful and wonderful experiences by just stumbling upon people and places. I could share hilarious stories of trips on the Italian train system, getting lost on the way to Turin, meeting two young cookie salespeople in Provence, the hotel clerk in Burgos who told us about their "local hero" or the panini maker in Assisi, and so forth but they are all stories you would only truly appreciate by having been there. These and dozens of other experiences happened to us because we had NO Itinerary, we just took the road less traveled. Ciao!

Jerry - We plan excessively and believe me, hilarious travel stories do not happen because you do not. They happen because you are there in the first place. Meeting people and finding out odd facts and enjoying the local citizens happen more often if you are organized about the basics so you have more time to enjoy the more complicated aspects of travel once the tourist sites have been taken care of. People are still the same regardless whether you planned to be in a certain spot or just liked the sound of the name of the place and dropped over for a look.

I definitely have planning OCD to the point where I have been documenting my obsession in a travel planning blog:
http://engineeringatravelplan.blogspot.com/

One of things I love about our old transit van is that we can throw a mattress in the back, pack the primus stove and the mobile fridge (and the dog) and set off without a map. If a place pleases us we stay on, if not we drive further. I love the freedom of having no itinery. It's easily done within Europe as we do not have so far to travel and of course it makes touring here cheaper from the outset. However I would consider hiring a camper van in America the next time we visit. Our last visit was a mad rush from one recommended site to the next with little time for just digesting the experience of being in America. We saw a lot, but at the expense of our sanity. We will return but at a more leisurely pace and hopefully come back with some real memories, and not just a list of places that we've been to.

It depends on the destination. For my most recent trip to Paris, I did almost zero planning. I had a list of museum hours, a list of sights I wanted to revisit or finally get to and a hotel reservation (a place I had stayed before). Almost every day was spontaneousI had a terrific time. But for most places in Europe, I do a lot of planning. Decide in advance what sights to see, how much time to spend in each location. Booking rooms in advance, I get better prices and better accommodations. Reading about the sights helps me choose what most interests me. Spending the time in planning means getting the most out of my trips. I even have detailed packing lists, so that I don't have to waste time shopping in a foreign language for bandaids or shampoo. When I lived in California, I would go to AAA, get a map and a book, mark the highly rated sights (95% of the time AAA is spot-on), and get in the car. The only lodging reservations I made were at some of the national parks. I would stop whenever I saw a sight that sounded interesting, look for a motel when the light started to fade (or later). I took 3 or 4 trips a year, anywhere from 7 to 23 days, through almost every western state, Alberta and BC. And when I'm not planning, I'm here, remembering my trips and dreaming about the next one. . .

Yep, I live on the internet and am the obsessive trip planner - organizing fabulous trips for family and friends. I love the process.

I plan so I know my options. I like to know all the possible sites so I can choose the ones I want to see. I don't want to repeat my experience in Okinawa (as an example). We let our friends choose what to do and later found out there are castle ruins from the Shogun age we completely missed. Our trips are fast paced but not planned to the minute, however. When I'm on the ground, I stay flexible. If we're not in the mood for another church or museum, we'll skip it today. If it's a great day, a park or beach might be the best option. As long as we know our options, we know the trade offs for one choice over another. I do the same with reservations for lodging. I prefer to travel outside of high season sans hotel reservations. I have a list of places I'd like to stay and call ahead when I'm on the road for a particular destination. If I want to stay an extra day (or am ready to move on a day early), I don't want to be a slave to my reservations.

Thanks for all your great replies! I am glad to know that I am not alone in my "passion/obsession"( even went to to the "shrine" in January for our Spain reunion and won a set of Rick's DVDs for traveling the farthest).We do have a plan when we go overseas but I am not tied to it completely( Hubby is always there to keep me from getting to ansy about staying on schedule though his quest to find all of the 50 great works in the Prado bordered on obsessive- could only find 49 because they had moved a piece and no one knew where it was!) I have tried to cut back a little on the research for our upcoming(June) London and Paris trip but have already tabbed ( colored coded of course) the London, Paris and France RS books (not too tech savy so no labtop, Iphone etc. for me) and I still get my daily "fix" from this and other websites. Thanks again for the thoughtful insights and "keep on traveling"!

confession: I use a white board for part of the planning cycle..

My husband loves to spend time on the Internet looking up things for trips. If only we could take all the trips he plans. Last year, we spent five weeks in France. We had reservations for the first night away from Paris and then for the last four nights in Paris. On our second day, we watched the Meteo and then decided where we would go next. It was raining in Provence so we went to the Dordogne area instead. Sure, we had two or three travel books with us but we didn't have a day by day schedule. We had a great trip!

Ah! My people! Hello, my name is Jessica, and I am a plan-aholic travel junkie. I think the thrill of finding something exciting to do on your trip, and looking forward to it is addictive. I also want to avoid wasting precious time looking for info. We should have a group hug now...