Planning vs. discovery

Some trips 20 or more years ago had less preplanning, except for which destination country/countries, a basic list of cities or towns from a Let’s Go, Rick Steves, or Lonely Planet guidebook, and acquiring foreign denomination traveler’s cheques and rail passes ahead of time.

Now, older and maybe less flexible, but definitely less willing to spend a lot of time in search of lodging, most all hotels/B&B’s/gites/agriturismos/etc. are reserved before leaving home. At the very least, a place to crash the first night, and a place to stay the night before returning home are booked well ahead of time.

Except for Michelin Starred or similar destination restaurants, very few places to eat are reserved ahead of time, although some wish lists have been developed for some trips. Usually, extremely pleasant surprises have been discovered!

Intended sights are well researched to plan around days open or closed, hours, and distance from where we’re staying or from other sights, although very seldom down to the last inch of the layout of the place, and often there’s not enough time to see everything on the list in a trip. All the more reason to return on another trip! Some unexpected, but surprisingly wonderful places have been encountered on every trip - chance discoveries of sights and experiences, sometimes by spotting a sign to a place not on “the list,” or a suggestion by a local . . . the world and it’s people are out there, waiting to be discovered.

When we lived in Augsburg, Germany, prior to the internet in the late 80s, we did a lot of trips with little or no planning.

It was easier those days, since there were fewer tourists and you didn't need to book museums in advance.
We had a terrible situation once when we decided to visit Luxembourg for a long weekend. We picked a weekend when a festival was going on and all the hotels within 50 miles were booked.

We had to alter our plan and visit other places and it was not a success.

I find that when I do the research in advance, I find out exactly what we want to see and do. Also, I can book the B&Bs or small hotels in the best location for affordable prices. I save money all around and maximize our valuable time on a trip.

NO WAY would no plan ahead.

While I don't plan down to the minute, I do make all my hotel bookings in advance. I can't be bothered to waste money or time while I am on vacation to find where I am going to sleep the next night. I also spend a considerable effort before I travel to create a customized map on Google pinning all the best restaurants, cafes, attractions, etc. That way, no matter where I am I can always find a recommended place to eat nearby.

I find it surprising that you find these two ideas mutually exclusive. There is a case that planning leads to more discovery.

The beauty of travel is that no matter one’s travel style or preferences, it is a great experience.

There is a case that planning leads to more discovery.

Please explain. When I think about my recent travels, I do not find any clear example of that.

Please explain. When I think about my recent travels, I do not find
any clear example of that.

Imagine if you did no planning and showed up in a place with no ideas about the history, food culture. Wandering around would reveal some things, but you’d miss 90% of what there is to experience.

I'll give you another clear example of planning leading to more discovery. When visiting a large castle a couple years ago the highlight for us was the underground rooms, some of which were former kitchens and laundry and other interesting parts. The sign to the door leading to it was tiny and just said some thing like 'cellar' and didn't look very inviting. If we had even noticed it we probably wouldn't have gone down. But in pre trip planning someone on a forum had told me about it. If we had just showed up we would have missed it. Another was a tiny chapel at the far end of a hill town which looked like nothing from the outside. Inside was covered with gorgeous frescoes. Again, only because of pre trip planning - reading everything I could find, talking about where we were going on travel forums, etc. did I have that great experience.

I also have no idea what you mean by having a more "authentic" experience by not looking at photos ahead of time. Could you explain? I just cannot imagine how looking at photos means you have a less authentic experience. I often go places just because I have seen photos that look enticing. Places that aren't even in guidebooks. And end up with great experiences. Or I'll be going past a church or other building that looks totally boring from the street and I'm inclined to just keep going but I'd seen photos of the interior, or the back or side that cause me to investigate further.

I do agree that planning every second, where you are going to eat every meal, etc. can detract from having some great spontaneous experiences. And there have been times where I wished I had another day somewhere, or (less often) someplace disappoints and I wish I weren't booked into that hotel another night. But those are far outweighed by the benefits of having my accommodations booked in advance. And in order to do that you do have to have done some research to get an idea of about how long you want.

Marcia,
Thank you for posting about your method of travel.
I am absolutely sure that you are NOT trying to say that your method is best for everyone and it is the method that everyone on this forum and elsewhere should adopt immediately.
I am sure you are saying that it is the best method for you.
For example, I find that learning and studying about the culture and history of the place I am about to visit gives me the most pleasure. Even if you have seen a picture of something, it is much different actually being there. I have had many many "real", undetracted visits of sites that I have seen photos and videos of. David is a good example.

A lot of it depends on the particular trip. If I am traveling by myself I don’t need to plan as heavily in advance. If I’m traveling with my kids? You better believe I have everything planned in advance to avoid waiting in line, whining, and wandering around aimlessly.

Discovery is wonderful... but financing discovery for me does take some planning... If I don't care how much a hotel costs I can always find one where I want to be... the same for restaurants...Or, which train I take. So it is a balancing act. I tend to try to keep major travel days and hotel costs for excellent spots down by booking most of them ahead of time. I also do check websites for attractions to find out the days upon which they are closed (Mondays can be boring like that in much of Europe).

Hard Planning: Hotel Reservations, Skip the line sites, Reservations for long train rides, obvious car or local flights.

Soft Planning: Some Specific Restaurants, lower priority sites.

No Planning: Most meals.

I have taken many lengthy trips and planning takes hours and hours, but pays off. I have less bad experiences at hotels because of the research and usually less negative surprises along the way. I am the opposite when learning about places I will visit. I want to know a lot about them. If I suspect it might turn out to be underwhelming, I want to have a plan B close to where I am.

There is no one way to travel and travel should be tailored to the individual(s). I personally hate to waste time on a trip and for me, reserving ahead for hotels, etc. is an expense of time I would only enjoy back home researching. However, that is my style. I have found the most interesting discoveries by walking towns and villages and talking to other travelers. Hotel personnel are great at suggesting relatively unknown places of interest. They know the area better than anyone.

One last suggestion. Your comment about your Eiffel Tower experience is a good one. Many times we are so focused on getting somewhere, especially walking, we miss the little interesting things. Early on in my traveling I discovered a simple rule. Stop. Turn around and look where you have been. Some of my best photographs have been captured using this simple, but often forgotten rule. Very interesting post. Thanks.

My trips are a combination of both. I always pre-book accommodations and any transportation (trains, buses, rental cars, flights) that is less expensive if purchased ahead and/or could sell out. I will also book ahead any sights that require timed reservations. Other than that I am flexible. I don't worry about restaurant reservations because I'm not a foodie and am unlikely to visit those that require them. As for sights I always build in lots of time so I'm not too worried about standing in lines and I like to make sure I have enough time to see them thoroughly. If it turns out I don't need that much time to experience something that just gives me a bit more free time to explore and make those discoveries that I didn't know about through my research. I often don't need as much time at a museum or castle that I thought I might but I'd rather have set aside too much time than not enough. I normally only plan one major sight a day and leave the rest of the day open for exploration.

I do a lot of research in advance so I will always see lots of photos of the places I'm planning to visit. That doesn't affect the type of encounter I'll have - if it's my first time there in person I'll have an authentic 'first time' experience regardless of how many photos I've seen. And, like others have noted, seeing photos ahead of time helps me determine if it's something or someplace that I want to see.

None of this seems like planning vs discovery. It's just planning vs slightly less planning.

I also have no idea what you mean by having a more "authentic" experience by not looking at photos ahead of time. Could you explain? I just cannot imagine how looking at photos means you have a less authentic experience.

Here is a good example. Once on a road trip of coastal California, my husband and I had taken a route (after simply seeing it on the map) that wound us through two hours of forested hilly back roads with occasional villages full of broken-down trailers and then landed us suddenly in a tiny town of straight streets of multicolored, well-kept Victorian houses. We gasped in surprise and intense pleasure, partly at the contrast with the rural ambiance we had passed through (called "The Lost Coast," I believe) and partly at the aesthetics of the town itself. This was Ferndale, California. I had never heard of it, nor seen pictures of it. Had I researched that road and known that Ferndale was coming at the end, and seen photos of it in advance, that would not have ended up being one of our most precious discoveries and a treasured memory.

I do research and talk to people to determine where to go. My husband just wants to be "surprised" at what he sees. If we both took his approach how would we know what our destinations should be or have the slightest idea what there is to see and do there? I need to know enough about a place to figure out how many nights to stay in any given place, day trip options, days of the week a desired museum or whatever may be closed, etc. I do generally book lodging, cars, and longer distance trains ahead. If an advance reservation or ticket to an event is required I do that ahead. I don't plan my days to the minute, or even the hour. I have a general idea of what to see and hope we get to as much as possible, leaving the option to do something entirely different if another opportunity comes up. I figure, for me, that a tight schedule is a recipe for disappointment. Things can happen while traveling and you can't anticipate everything.

"Early on in my traveling I discovered a simple rule. Stop. Turn around and look where you have been."

Oh yes...something a great-uncle used to tell us when we were hiking because the path looks different on the way back so turn around and look from time to time!

I'm a planner. I get a huge amount of pleasure out of researching my destinations so it extends my vacation by months, lol! I don't plan meals but I do sometimes have a selection of restaurant possibilities. I'm vegan so sometimes it's useful to do some research on Happy Cow to get an idea of what's available.

I've missed out on things because I didn't research. When I first revisited Bath in 2013 (after having visited in the 1980's) I noticed they had a Jane Austen Festival beginning the week after my visit. I was crushed because I didn't know. I was newly back to International travel and didn't understand how much stuff was available online and thru forums! I went back 2 years later and timed my visit for the Festival and had so much fun. Yes, a bit cheesy but seeing people walking around the streets in costume made me feel like I was in a Regency novel. Others might choose to avoid Bath at that time, lol! I also noted in my research that there was a garden with a Regency era Palladian bridge feature and yes, I walked up to see that. I joined up with a RS Best of England tour and researched how to get to Castlerigg stone circle. Walking up there and seeing this stone circle was amazing. I got wonderful input on the walking route from RS forum members. No amount of pictures could prepare me for the open and gorgeous 360 view from up there.

The only thing that was disappointing to me from having seen pictures ahead was Civita di Bagnoreggio. It looks awesome in pictures and also from afar but the actual hilltop village was a bust for me.

I also always plan hotels. Back in the 50's and 60's we did Road Trips every summer with Mom and Dad. In those days you didn't have reservations, you drove until you were ready to stop. I can't tell you the number of times we would hit a town where they had planned to stop only to find there was a college graduation, some kind of festival (like mentioned above), or a big convention and no rooms available which resulted in driving in to the night (before Interstates). Back in the 80's I did travel some in Europe without reservations but that was when you could rock up to a Tourist Information office in any town and they had a list of available lodging. Now I want the security of having lodging planned so I don't have to waste any vacation time on working out a place to stay.

Each person needs to travel however it's comfortable for them but for me planning and research is key to enjoyment, relaxation and no stress.

None of this seems like planning vs discovery. It's just planning vs
slightly less planning.

Nick, you are probably right. I would take a guess and bet that 98% of the travelers here are planners in different degrees. I think discovery is something that is best done by car. I can speak for myself and say that renting a car and driving is one of the least desirable modes of transport in Europe. In the US, the rental car, is the choice mode of most because of the lack of rail. I have rented selectively in Europe, but never for an entire trip. I just find it too tiring and time consuming. Again, if time is of no importance exploring is a really great thing to do by car as the OP gives an example of her Ferndale discovery, but I would guess for the most of us researching and planning is our discovery. This forum is a huge place for discovery as well as the internet as a whole.

We deliberately find ways OTHER than less research to make room for discovery and appreciating the small things. We rarely stay in a town or city or country location less than 5 nights, we leave just about every afternoon free, and we do not over-schedule our mornings.

Plus, NOT researching transportation, accommodations, towns, restaurants, and things to see would make it more likely that we would have a less good experience --- an apartment that was really noisy until 3:00am, for instance, or every room in the Vatican Museum that we wanted to see being closed on the day we planned to visit (this actually did happen to us --- a preliminary check would have saved us a really unpleasant and pointless morning).

I love to do the research and it includes finding obscure little towns and other places to visit where Rick Steves has never been --- often, just trying to find these places leads us to discover lots of other things along the way.

I definitely fall into the planner category for both international and domestic travel. Now, I don’t want a schedule that looks like a military drill. ‘I will be here at exactly 1305’ has no appeal to me. Bit, it’s nice to get an idea of when museums are closed, late night hours, or a free day which means crowds.

I use YouTube and online resources to give me ideas of places I want to go. Then I start looking at the boring aspects of travel. City XYZ might intrigue me but if there’s a huge sporting event on the second night, it might be back to the drawing board to rearrange the schedule or drop it from the itinerary.

Booking flights, hotels and trains is the grunt work (unless it’s a romantic getaway so the hotel would be important). No one likes to clean the bathroom, but it’s got to be done. I don’t think anyone particularly enjoys the flight/hotel/train aspect of planning either, but it’s get to be done.

I’ve had the ‘browse and wander travel companions and they’re awful. It’s fine to know that a particular section of the city is known for funky coffee houses and indy shops and plan a couple of hours there. But walking around a tourist centre and browsing at the same tourist junk all afternoon? Or, wandering around the central business district and observing a bunch of office workers eating lunch or having a smoke?

I generally have a rough idea of what I’m doing on any given day with a backup plan if weather is likely to be a factor. My U.K. trip this year was a lot more museum heavy because I had decent rain almost every day.

I can’t imagine planning food but I’m not a foodie. Two of my European friends are so if we’re together, I’ll let them pick the restaurants.

I used to teach about stock market investing. We always said that failing to plan meant you were planning to fail. That’s basically my travel advice. How many times do we get posts on these forums where someone paid a fortune for a train from the ticket agent based on old advice from their cousin who had easily bought a ticket on board back in 1998. There’s so much outdated information in Europe through the back door that I can’t really recommend it any longer.

Anyway, just my feelings. Even with a bunch of planning, you’re still going to have amazing memories. I’d rather be having those memories than trying to find a hotel when there’s a 100,000 person convention in town or refusing to look at pictures of my hotel in advance only to discover there’s a massive nightclub next door then doesn’t close until 5 am.

On my latest trip to Italy, I pre-planned the hotels and accommodations at every stop. I requested and got rooms with views, terraces, suites, air conditioning, great breakfasts, and proximity to local sites I wanted to visit. This planning took place AFTER I had planned our departure and arrival dates, the airline(s) we would be traveling to, and the routes to and from our first and last destinations.

To put this into a more concrete plan, I first booked our departure and return dates and times, and carefully selected flights which would be convenient (arriving at 9:00 a.m. in Rome vs 10:00 p.m.) enough that our travel to Naples would insure arrival at a reasonable time. Train tickets came next, together with our first hotel/apartment. No surprises. I wanted to arrive and efficiently situate ourselves into our first night's stay. It's hard to be creative when you are jet-lagged and only want sleep.

Room amenities are important. I have stayed in some terrible places around the world and in my dotage, I prefer nice places. The most I spent for any of our accommodations was 160 Euros per night for 2 persons. Once I secured our hotels, it was time to check out the area around our hotels for dining and sightseeing. These are places I selected based upon reviews here and elsewhere, including the reviews on Google Maps. I am a big believer in reviews by locals who know the restaurant scene and offer their expertise and preferences for free. Some places are tourist destinations, others are hidden gems. I carefully consider the experience I want to have. Rather than spending an hour or so standing in line outside Pizzeria da Michele to choose between a Marinara or a Margherita pizza, I read up on the Italian pizza revolution and chose to dine at 50 Kalo, a great pizzeria owned by a young, up and coming chef, with a branch in London as well as Naples. It was an amazing experience, with more choices and a more relaxed experience. I didn't reserve, however, because that would have locked me into 50 Kalo even if I saw something more interesting. Same with Esteria Sorbillo and Tandem Ragu. I marked them on my Google Map and when I was hungry, and the restaurant was open, I had a choice of places I might want to explore.

In Rome, the Borghese Gallery and the Vatican Museums were booked weeks before I left the U.S. The Chiesa Giesu, however, was a thrilling random sight that I had marked on my map, but which I visited on a whim.

Most memorable meals were at lunch, and by arriving at 12:30 p.m., when the restaurants opened, I was always provided with a table. Arriving at opening time has its advantages. I ate well, drank well, and rested well by using a combination of planned events and impromptu and serendipitous happenings. Often, the conversation went like this, "I'm hungry--can we get some lunch?" "Well, we can grab a quick bite here, but if you can hold off for an hour, there is a really good restaurant I've read about and want to try."

It was a wonderful trip, and I managed to fit in time to climb 3 volcanos in the Bay of Naples as well.

I agree there is a difference between researching and planning. I LOVE the researching so I can plan better. Researching how far is the closest public transport from our lodging, is the area industrial or lots of restaurants we can walk to, is there coffee nearby, does the hotel serve breakfast, what days are the museums closed, what does traveling to Paris in August look like?. Once I know all the details then I can better plan. We have a budget, so flying by the seat of our pants does not make sense for us. I also book all lodging before we leave and trains, planes etc.

BUT once we get there, the discovery comes from our daily activities. We plan one thing a day, let's say a walking tour at 1PM. We are out the door at 8, in those 5 hours we take the journey there and whatever catches our eye we do, eat, rest at a cafe and people watch. After the walking tour we wonder around the area more, maybe look at my research to see what else is close by that we can check out (my research will state it's open that day and how late they stay open), maybe journey to the best Crepe place in town..whatever, the day is ours.

I think I was born to be a planner. I remember my first trip to Disneyland as a boy and I had a box of brochures and maps of the LA area that I studied everyday for
months before the trip . I even had the freeway map memorized by the time we left. For me, studying the sites I plan to visit and seeing photos enhances my anticipation. One of my bucket list items had been Carcassonne in France. Photos did not do it justice and through my research I also knew in advance that it can be a tourist nightmare during the day. As a result I made sure I stayed late after the crowds left and had the place to myself. The next morning I got up in preparation for sunrise and got some of the most spectacular photos I've ever taken.

I am nowadays in the planner/research side, not because I always want to but it is a necessity in the internet age. While it is true that traveling was much simpler prior to the internet age, seemed quite easy then 30-50 years ago, using the internet does have certain advantages.

In certain cities Berlin, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Munich, Paris, Kiel, Wien, I stay in a certain specific place, (I am picky too), and I want to be sure that I get a single room there, so the obvious step is to reserve. You reserve not just for the room itself but also to get a specific room rate if that is offered.

Other cities London, Hamburg, etc, I have a couple places to choose from, I can wing there if not time pressed.

Bottom line, I nail down a good part of the trip as to accommodations, definitely the reservations on night train rides, part and parcel of every trip, and most of the cities/towns on the itinerary but not day specific regarding day trips, such as if I am spending 4-5 nights in Munich, the day trip to Ingolstadt may be on the 2nd day or the very last day. Likewise doing a day trip to Manchester from London. Something like that I don't lock in.

Personally, I have come to the conclusion that getting most things planned and booked – "locked in" if you like – gives you more freedom. Initially it may sound like a contradiction, but I waste zero time looking for a place to sleep (a huge win) and know about good things to see and do. I am free to see and do other things, but I don't have to expend valuable time on my trip finding them. I think for most of us, time (specifically "time there") is our most limited commodity.

It depends on the trip...I really like the planning and looking up where we are going. I like to do different things, such as cooking classes, unusual museums and those take some research. I usually have the accommodations reserved and have checked out things to do. I list possibilities for each day or regions but we are always open to not doing anything on that possibilities list to a spur of the moment experience (such as festivities, open markets). I am currently setting up a trip to Japan, Viet Nam and Ankor Wat. For some reason, I am very nervous about Viet Nam. I am concerned about the language, transportation and enjoying the sites we will be visiting. For this trip, I think I am going to plan extensively and use a lot of day trips out of specific locations. It make lack the flexibility but may relieve some of my anxieties.

We compromise. We plan the first 1/3 of the trip, and do the rest on the fly 3-4 days in advance.

All I know is, I hate returning from a trip only to find out I was a couple miles from an interesting sight, and didn’t have a clue it was there. To me, some planning is great, and we always leave slack time for those instances where we do come across some unexpected sight. I dislike the type of planning where every day is planned out from sunrise to sunset. Our planning is, we’ll be in XYZ for X days, and these are the places we’d like to visit. Since we generally use a rental car, we always come across interesting places, whether it be a bridge, castle, chapel, town,, waterfall, etc., that we didn’t expect.

It sounds like most of us are somewhere in the middle in terms of planning. Like most, we plan our lodging in advance. I like to find small, family-run if possible centrally located inns (or B&Bs), and we've had some great experiences. We are big foodies; if my spouse had his way, we would reserve every dinner in advance; I usually negotiate for some dinners that we don't plan in advance, but I always have lists of good local restaurants. I will have lists of restaurants in places where we're likely to be a lunchtime, so we have some good ideas in mind.
In terms of sights and sites, we have general ideas of what we want to do and see, but try to avoid planning every day. We will buy tickets in advance for places that we have to, but other than that, decide at breakfast what we want to do that day. But it's based on tons of research that I've done before the trip, looking up things that would appeal to us. And checking closing days and times. We really like museums and art, so I make sure to check out any special exhibits and shows. And just keeping my eyes open when we arrive to a place. We saw a great Vermeer exhibit once in Rome, after seeing notices about it on the side of a bus on the day we arrived in Rome.

I do looks at pictures and videos before we go to a place; it adds to my enjoyment, and I have always found that the reality is much better than any picture.

As the recent discussions about French strikes show, "the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry"

Laura B, your comment is the perfect example of why it's beneficial to have flexibility. You never know when a situation will change and having a Plan B is always a good idea.

Like many other discussions on this thread, I research as well as find discoveries along the journey. My motto in travel as well as in life is, "expect the unexpected."

I prefer to believe that planning does not preclude either flexibility or discovery. To me a well planned trip includes lots of room for what most people call 'winging it' or 'discovery' as it's called here. There's planning and then there's rigid planning that leaves no room for the unexpected.

I plan/research like crazy to know all my options, then visit the TI when I arrive to know more options. To me knowing all my options allows me to know what I'm passing up when I choose a sight/activity.

I keep a list of potential sights (days, hrs., cost, etc.) even if they aren't on my list to visit. It allows me to know alternatives if there's an unexpected closure, or super long line. Normally, my planning includes times to visit to avoid big lines at popular sights.

I'll also sort out sights so I can either walk between them or spend less time backtracking on public transportation. I don't like tying myself to a rigid itinerary so I don't make reservations unless it's something I really don't want to miss. I'm usually more sorry I made a reservation than sorry I didn't make a reservation (including lodging).

Two examples from my most recent trip (Ireland in May). I had booked a boat to Skellig Michael because it was something I really wanted to see. Unfortunately, they hadn't completed dock work on the Island so the boat didn't run. I had a backup plan ready so no time was wasted and I visited some great sights. Immediately afterward, I went to Dingle and was hugely disappointed. Rather than spend three nights, I left after one night and used my time elsewhere.

My view is different. Being "locked in" is a trade-off in both pros and cons. Mostly I lock in the places of accommodations, ie, the hotels. Pensionen, and hostels (if I use that option ) on a trip, mainly because I am picky. I know if I weren't so picky, I would have more flexibility. The day trunk train rides, most of them, I lock in too, which of course, affects one's flexibility.

The intended day trips I leave those to on the spot decisions , ie no lock in there, and the option of "winging it." If I decide to do a day trip to Erfurt (spur of the moment) instead of the planned day trip to Cuxhaven, then Cuxhaven winds up dropped....save for next time.

I spend a huge amount of time researching each year’s trip to Europe. For me, a lot of the discovery & excitement happens before I’ve left our den at home; the day I discovered Angers, France I could hardly wait to get there! I reserve all hotels, trains and any tickets with large queues. Our TripIt app is filled with possibilities each day from my preplanning. Then we (or I) am taking the train to the next location, a quick review allows us to pick what sounds like fun and drop the rest. We usually like anything that’s a local festival, etc. so very flexible to never be forced to stick to prior expectations.

On the other end of the spectrum, we have friends that flew to Spain this year and winged absolutely everything as they wandered through Morocco, Portugal and Spain on the whim of what locals were recommending. That wouldn’t be my idea of fun, but I’m glad that we all don’t have to conform to others ideas, and all of us end up having a great time!