Spontaneous Travel

Spontaneous travel can work if you just hop in the car and go.
However, planning to fly to Europe or overseas, it is not a great idea.

1) If you want to visit key sites, these days you have to book them in advance. Why go to Rome if you can't see the Sistine Chapel, or other key sites?
2) Airline tickets are generally more expensive if you buy at the last minute.
3) Lodging can be tough to find at the last minute. Even if you can find something, if may not be the best or very affordable.

This might not count, since we live in London… but we pretty recently just said, “Hey! Let’s go to Dublin!” and we did.

I made the arrangements about a week ahead, with basically no research. There were surprises with the flight because we took RyanAir and DANG do they hit you with bizarre restrictions and odd fees… but we made it. :-)

Booked a hotel based on price/rating and was pleasantly surprised to find it was excellent and in a perfect location, right on the river and near public transport. Comfy room, and there was a bar downstairs.

Discovered some historic sites by almost literally stumbling across them - again, we did no research. (Example: I went to mail a postcard and realized that I was in THE FAMOUS POST OFFICE from the 1916 Rising! OMG!)

We snagged tickets to the Guinness Brewery at the last minute, and it was great!

We stumbled into Temple Bar without knowing where we were going, and yes, it is touristy, but DANG the Guinness is mind-blowingly good.

TL; dr - it was basically a perfect trip, at a week’s notice, and with zero research. So yes - it can be done!

Let us know what you choose, and how it goes!

I have a few times. And even during travels I've been known to change major plans on the fly. Sometimes the same day.

As an example, a few months ago I had scheduled a 5 1/2 hour bus ride. When I woke up that morning, I was not in the mood for a 5.5 hour bus ride. So I got online and found out I could fly between the two cities in 50 minutes. Even arriving two hours ahead of time wouldn't be bad. Three hours later I was on a plane.

It really depends on your comfort level and your confidence level.

How comfortable are you going to be arriving somewhere with just hotel reservations and then winging it? (I like to have hotel reservations so I don't have to start searching for a hotel. Others don't mind.)

I'm not known to do a lot of research. I may have a trip planned out only by hotels and then add transportation between the cities. Quite often I arrive knowing very little about the area. Sometimes it's fun to explore and discover, and other times I miss out because the thing I wanted to see was sold out and I couldn't get tickets.

You might want to do a test trip to somewhere in the USA. Pick a place you've never been and go.

While I wouldn't regard myself as a super spontaneous person, now that are kids have grown up and moved out to university, work etc we are enjoying a lot more flexibility.

We spent last weekend in Chiang Mai, Thailand, having booked a couple of weeks prior and with no set plans beyond visiting some friends.

We were recently in Vienna and took a side trip to Bratislava, having decided to go the evening before.

We're frequently in London and normally take a UK side trip for the weekend, often booking a few days before. Just booked one today actually for a trip next week.

A recent trip to Indonesia was booked a few days prior, ditto hotel.

I think it may depend where you live - here in Singapore it's common for people to take a long weekend overseas (Japan, Korea, Thailand etc are popular) having booked a week or even a few days prior. Flights are cheap and people travel frequently for work anyway.

In terms of the downsides of this approached raised by geovagriffith, if I was traveling somewhere with limited hotels, I would be more likely to plan on advance, but big cities have so much availability you're not going to be caught out. Airfares - yes, this can be an issue, but budget airlines have changed the game.somewhat - I can fly from Singapore to Australia for as little as SGD300 if I take a budget airline. And finally, the whole prebooking thing for key sites I think is a bit overblown - I was in London in September and decided the day prior that I wanted to view the Buckingham Palace state rooms - tickets were available for the next day.

I agree with veteran traveler. Most here do not do that. Organization is the key to most. Extreme organization with multiple spreadsheets and endless posts about itineraries. Questioning themselves even after they have spent time and effort to create an itinerary. Which to me only reinforces your angst about where to go and what to do. Of course, most are slotted into timeframes that are dictated by their vacation time. I understand that.
Spontaneity can be fearsome. We all like to have a plan. But it is more than that if it is spur of the moment because the plan has to be imminent. First you may need to truncate whatever life you have already planned in the timeframe you suddenly decide to go. What about the dog, how about my tennis lessons, and Barb’s birthday?
If one gets over that then one can go. Just go. Sure, maybe a couple hotels booked in the first place you arrive. Otherwise it is very easy to wing it between the dates of this quick trip. Sure, maybe hotel costs are more, or you can’t get into the sight you wanted because there are no tickets. But when speaking like that you re only giving reasons to back out of spontaneously going. You are not committed.
It could be a good thing to try a spontaneous trip. You have to entertain that idea. OP has done that simply by thinking about it. For others it would be inconceivable. Insofar as it would not even become a thought in their mind. So the primary step is to wonder about a trip on the spur of the moment. The longest journey begins with a single step. A well worn phrase, but in essence, accurate, and that single step is imagination.

We thought we would do this when we retired 4 years ago but it hasn’t happened yet. With a very large family it just seems there is always something going on - weddings, Christenings, Communions etc. and my dad is still living (102 and counting). We don’t worry about birthdays any longer.

But, if we ever get to that point, we would probably go someplace we’ve been before and most likely a large city. My reasoning being in larger cities there is always something going on which was missed, even with research. Also walking tour companies, such as London Walks, has such a variety chances are there would be space on a few walks. Lastly, you can visit those obscure places or museums you never got to on the first, or second trip, I’m thinking Highgate Cemetery for us.

It is easier said then done.

We’ve changed plans on the fly significantly while already on a trip.

In 2021, first trip back after pandemic shutdowns, we were in Italy and we significantly altered our itinerary when a section in Dorset, England was not working out as hoped. We knew there were problems (long story!) before we left the continent so we assessed quickly where we might enjoy an impromptu week. We were in the Dolomites already and planned to go to Torino and Paris before taking the EuroStar to England. I found an apartment in Merano for 3 nights and Venice for 4. We’d never been to Merano although it had been on the list and Venice is a favorite. We then resumed our trip in Paris heading to Salisbury and a final week in London. Apartment availability was very good in 2021 so easy to find and my other reservations were changeable or cancellable, luckily.

In 2023 we did a mid-trip change of direction when co-travelers we were meeting had to cancel last minute. We were in Wales, two days from meeting them in Dublin. As one of our co-travelers was the driver, we felt we could not successfully do the Ireland portion of our itinerary as we have never driven right-hand side. Where to go? We love Switzerland and have never been there in the spring, so I found an apartment for 11 nights and off we went from Wales to Wengen with an overnight in Paris. It was ridiculously expensive but changing our airline tickets to go home early cost at least as much as the 11 nights in the apartment in Wengen. We had wonderful weather and enjoyed so many places we had not previously been and hikes we had not taken in the Greater Jungfrau Region.

Let me say it was a LOT of work to adjust the logistics in both cases. Cancellations, new reservations, figuring out transport, all took some effort even though we were “on the fly.”

Happy to say the Ireland trip is on again in 2025.

We normally plan our trips. However, a number of years ago we spontaneously decided to go someplace and the least expensive airfare was to Quito, Ecuador, so we went there for a week.

We sort of did a spontaneous trip in October 2021. I was desperate for a getaway. We were watching covid numbers, and airfares, to a few places. We had the time booked off regardless. We ended up booking a flight about two weeks out and we spent eight nights in Nice. I say it was sort of spontaneous because we knew the time frame we had off and we were considering a handful of places. So not entirely spontaneous, but only decided with two weeks to go (after the flight pricewent up, of course!).

Did it work out? Certainly did. Kept me sane in the dark days of 2021. And since the following year we ended up cancelling a RS tour when DH was diagnosed with cancer we were so thankful we had taken the risk in 2021.

I've been a planner for my entire life. In my working years I was basically a project manager which meant a lot of planning work. However, one day years ago I called my Mom and asked her if she would like to go to England in a couple of weeks. She agreed and I sketched out a tentative itinerary. Since my Mom was an English teacher the trip turned out to be mainly a literary tour of the York area and the Lake District. We had so much fun. I had rented a car, so each night we'd sit down in a pub and talk about where to go the next day. I'll never forget that trip, no only because I was in my favorite place with my darling Mum, but because I proved to myself I could be 'slightly' spontaneous. The funny thing was in every postcard Mom wrote (and there were always many) she mainly talked about what a good job I was doing driving on the 'wrong' side of the road. That also became her major memory of the trip.

When I have a friend joining me for part of a trip, the hotels are pre-booked and we at least know our transportation options. No sights are pre-booked, though we would buy advance tickets to places that sell out. When I'm on my own, I leave the US with only my first hotel booked. I book as I go, usually 24 to 96 hours in advance, and 96 hours ahead is rare. In major cities (the capitals, for example) I usually book less time than I suspect I'll need, planning to extend once I have a better idea of how quickly I'm getting through my long sightseeing list. I've been known to extend my stay twice in a city.

I wouldn't make a spur-of-the-minute decision to travel unless my destination was a place I'd visited fairly recently and loved. It takes me too much time to gather my sightseeing information to do that, even though I don't pre-plan my sightseeing beyond traveling with a self-prepared list of what's available in each town and the hours each place is open and plotting locations on a Google MyMap.

Not to Europe, but many years ago we did something similar during a spring break. The weather was lousy just about everywhere. We watched the weather channel, found an area that wasn't having rain and storms, and took off for there. Had a marvelous time!

Last summer wildfires meant that our original destination (North Cascades National Park) was closed. We quickly switched gears and went to Rocky Mountain National Park instead. It worked out, but we were lucky to find entrance pass times and good lodging at the last minute. I don't know that you can always count on last minute availability.

For me planning is a huge part of my enjoyment of a trip. That is probably why I am usually planning 4-5 trips at one time, even up to two years in advance. I really enjoy the research and the anticipation. I am willing to add or change plans if a great opportunity comes up (hence why I am suddenly going to South Africa in January), but I do enjoy planning in advance.

I haven’t, but my dental hygienist whom I saw last week, is just back last week from such a trip.
They had never been to Europe, booked a flight three days before, rented a car in Frankfurt and drove all around Germany visiting towns where ancestors came from.
She said they only booked the first night’s accommodation in advance, and the rest was booked every day for the next night.
Seemed to work out well!

I’m too cautious!

You could set up a fare notification (or several) on Google Flights for places you're thinking of going. I haven't done this, so I might be misstating how GF works. This could be a good way to "prompt" your spontaneity.

Yes, we have done spur of the moment trips, and generally they work out just as well as a long planned one.

It is easier if you consider the following:

• Luckily deals seem to pop up outside of the main season (whatever that is anymore), meaning that rooms will be easier to find. You may find your self heading outside of a major destination if things are crazy busy, but that is part of the fun.
• Heading to someplace you have been before, for at least part of the trip makes it easier. You are not so overwhelmed, and do not feel like you are walking into the unknown. There are probably a dozen or more cities in Europe you could drop me in, and I could make a week of it without thinking.
• Of course your personal situation matters. I like to think we can travel at the drop of a hat. We are retired, have the funds, no firm commitments, but at the moment we have some responsibilities to tend to at a property we own, Wife's parents are needing more and more help, Daughter recently came down with a medical issue...so life tends to present spontaneous issues to conflict with spontaneous travel. (Recently had to pass on ultra cheap reward tickets to Milan for example)

Being newly retired, we talk about it but if we actually do it is another question. It's one thing to make an impromptu weekend trip, but another for 2-3 weeks. One thing we find out that we miss out on when we don't plan in advance is a lack of understanding of what we're seeing. Part of our planning is not only what we are going to see but a deep dive of the history of what we're seeing so when we get there we have a basic knowledge.

I won't describe the few times I did this totally spontaneous but it was a last minute decision after I saw the airfare as the main incentive to undertake the short trips. I've done this 3 times. The first time in Oct. 2017 just going to London plus a couple of excursions/day trips in England.

The 2 other times were in Sept last year and this year , just going back to France only. No problems at all, am glad I did these short trips, except that October in London was colder than expected. I view the weather factor as one of the main reasons to go or not to.

If it's going to be a "spur of the moment" short trip, ie not more 8 nights, I won't go later than the first week in Oct. Going to eastern and North Germany will most likely be colder than what I'm willing to accept.

Bottom line: If you do have the time plus the finances, then do this spontaneous trip. I would check out the weather first. Most definitely, if the air fare is acceptable to you, then go.

Yes. First week of August 2023 I decided to go to Paris for 8 nights over the Labor Day weekend. I used points for my flights, so only had to cover the taxes. I can never get enough of Paris.

First time it was forced on us (me). It was December of 2021. Plan was to see paris with all the lights on. Just coming out of the pandemic. We flew to London to catch up with jet lag & the plan was to travel onto paris. Until France closed the border to England holiday makers the day before our train. So we had to make up some stuff for a couple weeks. The Premier Inn hotel we were at was not full so that allowed us to grab a couple extra days to plan. we decided to go to Bath, the Cotswalds & Edinburgh. There were some challenges & mistakes made. But we had some incredible times. Christmas Eve in Bath was a moment I will never forget. We came out of the rooftop pool after dark & came out to the church bells ringing, the church bathed in light & parishoners filing out under a lighted ball inside the church. It was magnificent.

Since then we love travelling without a plan. Last year a tour guide posted on Wednesday night that they had a cancellation. i thought about it overnight & my wife was down with going. Booked tickets on Thursday, Flight out on Saturday & arrived Sunday. It was fun.
Just got back from Tuscany & had very little booked or planned for 5 weeks. we had a general idea & a couple hotels booked. Well over 2/3 of trip was open.

I went to Spain for a month February 2023 with about 10 days notice. Worked out fine. Found a decent round-trip business class fare to Málaga and spent time predominantly on the coast, with trips inland to Madrid, Granada and Córdoba. Had a rental car for only the day trip to Córdoba; otherwise used trains. Rooming was in AirBnBs except for two nights in a Granada apartment hotel.

I will say that normally, like Carol, planning the next trip is one of the great joys of travel for me. We're already planning for next summer.

Hi Marty, most people here know me as one of those “obsessive planners”, but all of the hours of research for obscure places are a big factor of fun for me as Carol mentioned. And they are more expensive trips, so we didn’t want to waste precious vacation time during the trip deciding where to go, finding a hotel, etc.

On the other hand, for our domestic short trips, I could be the opposite….almost unrecognizable- LOL! For those, a relative or neighbor would keep our dog, and we could be spontaneous when something inexpensive popped up.

Probably the most flexible I’ve been in Europe is the attitude that if there’s a major train strike, then pick a different place and go enjoy it. I did that in 2022. There was a train strike when I was supposed to head from Pisa to Spello. So, I headed to Rome last-minute, reserved the cheapest acceptable room, and purposely explored one of the neighborhoods I had never seen previously. It probably wasn’t as fun as the day I had planned, but I still had a wonderful day.

Interesting question, the first time I ever planned a trip in advance was to Berlin for Easter 2019. I had discovered there were major sites we wanted to see, like the Reichtstag & Museum Island (with a wonderful guide), that were best booked ahead. Some of you will find this hard to imagine, as I love travel planning since meeting all of you! HA.

I think if you're 1) Flexible on your flights 2) Willing to skip major sites like the Vatican museum for example and 3) Check that there are no national holidays unless you plan ahead for those bits, sure why not? 4) I would want to book the first night's accommodation & likely wouldn't do this for any of the major cities like London, Paris, Rome and certainly not over holidays or in the summer.

Thanks for all the great replies.

I think 2 weeks would be plenty of time to thoroughly plan a trip just for one European city: book a hotel, get a decent airfare, figure out where to go and what to see, etc. It might even be do-able with just one week, but the airfare would be more expensive.

A completely unplanned and spontaneous trip with just a day or two of notice is do-able, and a very romantic idea, but it would have to be to a city I've been to before, where I had already seen the major sights and wouldn't feel like I was missing something. One advantage would be that I could look at the weather forecast and go when there was going to be good weather.

The wife and I are both retired bean-counters. Our trips are always planned months in advance. It's really overkill. Don't people ever just hop on a plane and go?

"Grab your passport and pack your bag, sweetheart, we're going to Paris tomorrow. I have a hotel room reserved for a week."

"What are we going to do?"

"We'll figure it out when we get there."

Is that a total fantasy?

Woof?
(Times three -a complicating factor.)

Like many here, I enjoy the planning, but there is no reason to not do what you are proposing. Once you know how to book a hotel, plan public transport, that kind of thing (not a universal skill!), etc., what else do you really need to know?
I have not exactly done uber-spontaneous (not retired), but I have planned trips on very short notice and they were some of the best trips.
I once had a trip fall apart due to airline incompetence, and I had an alternate plan for a different country put together within hours (that one fell through too, but I saw how possible it was).

Yes, we have done it twice (tho many years ago):

1) took a NationalGeographic expedition to Antarctica with something like 10-days' notice when we cleared a waitlist. My spouse had finished his busy year end work, so we said "yes" and got into prep action quickly. I was like a Navy Seal saying things like "this isn't mission critical" as I packed us (carry-on only...so we did not have to worry about critical attire getting lost in checked luggage). We were so proud of ourselves, until we met a guy on board who did it with only 7-days notice, and he had to get his passport renewed (traveled to Seattle to do that first). We congratulated him :)

2) Same finishing up year-end business allowed me to temp my spouse by saying: "Honey, look Seabourn has an opening for New Zealand and Australia. Wanna do it?" We didn't have much more notice than a week or two notice, but off we went.

Granted both of these trips were "packaged" trips, and the providers took care of finding last-minute flights for us -- that DOES make a big difference. We took what seats we could get, but were delighted when New Zealand air upgraded us for the long flight (my spouse had just finished cancer chemo treatment and was still had his port in place). Nonetheless, we dashed quickly to make it from our arrival gate to our departure gate with just minutes to spare in (I think it was) the L.A. airport. Some young scientists who were making the same connection (but not on our trip) followed me as I dashed. That was the same flight when I asked the flight attendant if I could announce for anyone not making a tight connection to please remain seated (she told me to "go for it.") Luckily I was traveling in a fitted (tho fleece) jacket and scarf that sort of made me "maybe" pass as an airline employee as I made the announcement from my seat (with a professional alto tone, locking eyes with a nice facial expression but authoritive tone)....and, of course, I had to do it three times as people in seats in front of us got up............it worked and saved us critical minutes. I turned and said "thank you," as we exited.................... Do not know if that would ever be allowed again......so thankful to those flight attendants. Oh, and I just remembered that when we changed concourses and saw the really long security line, I went into action again: Politely but being heard said: "We have an extremely tight connection with minutes to spare, if you all do not mind us going thru quickly." It was like the parting of the seas, everyone motioned for us to go. Thanked all. The kindness of fellow humans made it possible and we have since always paid it forward...we would have anyway, always helping other travelers..

I do have to admit, though, that I was quite surprised (since I had not done my typical advance homework) when I learned just how rough seas can be at the tip of New Zealand. We had 44-foot waves one night, and very rough seas. Gale-force winds, kept the ship from being able to visit Milford Sound (bummer as it was going to be a highlight of the trip for us).

Both were absolutely fabulous trips!!

Oh, Paris for a week! Well, that’s a definite “yes” for a spontaneous trip. : )

You mentioned returning to a city that you’ve been, previously. That simplifies everything. Go for it, and come back & tell us how you enjoyed it!

The way I see it there's the spontaneity of time and the spontaneity of planning and one is not attached to the other.

When I was young, dumb, broke and working part-time in fast food, it was very easy to be extremely spontaneous and on a whim I could throw some gear in the back of the truck and road trip across Virginia without any idea of where I was going.

Decades later, working where I am now our scheduling is a month or more out. I cannot drop everything on a whim and head off, but my accumulation of leave is incredible. On the otherhand while I plan transportation and consider how I get from point A to B to C, I do not plan itineraries down to the fraction of a second. But then again everyone has a level of spontaneity and planning they are comfortable with and there's no virtue in one over the othere. Another example of hike your own hike.

Having the financial means to do a spontaneous trip in Europe goes a long way as regards to flexibility.

For example, you could leave for Paris within 3 days, ie, more of less spur of the moment, after the decision to do this impromptu trip, book the ticket, regardless if that's $600 or $1200 (this is where the luxury of having the $ means comes in) flying from the east coast, spend a day or two taking care of necessary chores at home prior to departure and packing, etc. Then fly out the following day. I prefer the overnight flight, arriving the following morning preferably prior to 11 AM, when it's 2 AM on the west coast.

Save the detailed planning, sorting out the sight priorities upon arrival in the hotel room. I could easily do this type of trip flying non-stop Frankfurt or Munich, Vienna from LAX, Paris, etc.

Twent five years ago my boss said: “Wil, we are in between projects, so there is not so much to do for the moment. Do you want to go on vacation the coming weeks?”

“I have planned nothing yet, will look tomorrow if I can book something this week and let you know asap.”

It was still the time, so before internet newspapers had a few pages with last-minute deals and there was one name that struck me: Paphos! Humm...where on earth is that? Ooh, Cyprus….well that sounds interesting!

So booked the flight (no hotels as everything went so fast, had no time for that) the same week and called my boss: “Fred, I am going to Cyprus and will be back within two weeks!” “Well that sounds great Wil, enjoy your holiday!”

The first Saturday I was flying to Paphos and arrived late in the evening. But still had to look for a hotel. So the first thing I did, before picking up my baggage was looking for a TI or an agent for booking a room. Luckely the only office was still open and there was a room free in the old center of Paphos. What I remember well is that the airport was very basic at the time, the terminal more a big shed with a hole in the wall for the luggage conveyor belt. Through that hole you could see the ground staff putting luggage on the conveyor belt and inside taken off by their colleagues, while talking with eachother through that hole.

The next day hanged around there, but felt a bit lost between all those tourists. Too touristy and not really what I was looking for, so decided to travel around the island with the bus. This was my first solo trip and because feeling alone I was open to meet other people, made it all so adventurous and soon had the time of my life. Even it was just for a week it’s still one of my most memorable trips so far. And an inspiration for my other travels.

I am a minimalist planner when it comes to trips. I have a growing aversion to the intensive planning I see on this forum, people trying to book flights a year in advance, the kind of planning and commitment necessary for going on tours, the obsessive itiinerary tweaking, etc.

We got back from a trip to Europe (that we "planned" and booked 2 months prior) early last week, and with absolutely no forethought, at the end of the week at home, I had booked us a trip to Paris for XMAS. If that meets the definition of spontaneous, so be it.

I am constantly checking google flights, tracking prices. I also have a list of basic "ideas" for trips - not really a bucket list, just a handful of destinations I want to visit sooner rather than later, including places I like to revisit (e.g., Paris).

To each his own, right? I am not critical of what I see from the majority of posters here when it comes trip planning, I just have my own style and tolerance levels.

Good luck to all...

I've looked at all the responses and the reality is--everyone's comfort level is different.

We all need to travel, and plan travel, in a way that makes us happy.

But sometimes in life, it's good to push past your comfort level. To challenge yourself.

But only if you want to.

I always thought we would travel spontaneously when we retired, but it turned out that life was just as complicated in retirement. We're looking at an early January trip to Hawaii, and for us that's spontaneous. One critical factor that I think would make a difference, is living near east coast gateway airports, when sudden airfare deals pop up. I know people who live near cruise ports (like Miami, San Diego, San Juan) that routinely get last minute discount deals for cruises, for example.

We don't do the hyper-planning some people do. I research enough to have a vague idea of what options will be, but spur-of-the moment restaurants and choices of sights are more fun. Even on RS tours, the free time doesnt need to be filled out in advance. Sometimes other group members have suggestions, or options will present themselves.

In 2018 & 2019, my husband and I took a hiatus from full-time work and spent quite a bit of time traveling. At the time, we lived near a major airport, so we could score good prices without booking far in advance. Almost all of our trips to Europe were booked within a month or less of travel. This left of us plenty of time for planning. However, that might come down to our travel style. Outside of transportation and hotels, we book very few things in advance. Instead, we keep a doc that lists details on the places we're interested in visiting, including DIY day trips. During the trip, we plan out the next day each night.

The pandemic shifted the way we work, and we're now fully remote. This still leaves lots of travel flexibility. (We did move, and our current airport doesn't hold a candle to the previous one. This does limit some of our destination options.) Within the past couple years, we've still managed to book a couple European trips only a couple of weeks out.

All the time! Sometimes, particularly for bigger trips, we have a rough idea. For example, when we went to Kyrgyzstan, we booked lodging for our planned stops, transport from the airport to our first hotel, made sure to hit the festival that had been part of our trip inspiration, and nothing else. Transportation? Take the local bus (definitely an adventure). Excursions? Booked at the local tour office or through our lodging. We had limited internet the whole time, just via phones.

AMAZING trip.

When we went to Italy and Croatia once and booked as we went--let's head to Florence in two days. We should look at lodging.

We usually spend an hour or so on Google Maps and look at the highlights (not on street view, but just looking at what pops up as a museum or site) or maybe look at a TripAdvisor top 10 or do a quick google search of the location name or "travel to _______". If it's a place we know little about we might look up national foods or something to see if there is a must try.

We are big fans of somewhat off the cuff experiences and with just a little looking find we generally hit everything we want to see and then some--without the stress of a detailed itinerary.