“Unstructured” travel still possible?

With all the flight reductions and cancellations this summer, flying stand by might be a risky proposition. I would assume as a non rev, you would be way down the stand by list.

Additionally, if sightseeing any big attractions is in the plan, you could run into issues there. A fair amount have gone to advance, timed-entry reservations, and those can fill up quickly during high season.

We lived in Germany from 1987-91 and we would just hop in the car for a long weekend somewhere.
One weekend, we ran into a huge problem. The place we had planned to stay was having a local festival and everything in sight was fully booked. We have to drive for two more hours to find a hotel room, it pretty much ruined our weekend.

Today, with so many key sites that require booking in advance, It is just not a good idea.

This doesn't mean that you can't change what you want to do in a place, but it means that there is nothing better than good planning to make a solid vacation.

For many years, I have planned our trips out every day, lodging, tours, getting from point A to B and C, etc. It really is best.

Also, when you do the research, you know more about what there is to see and the history of what you are planning to see.

Hi Bridget, I recently had to reserve a hotel in Italy for the next night because of a train strike. My first choice was Florence, but everything that day near the train station was outrageous prices - 3x what I was paying for my other locations, reserved months ahead. I tried Rome next and was able to find one at a more reasonable price. So, you will be paying more but probably can do it. If your trains are the regional vs. the faster trains with reserved seating, you’re probably fine. Either way, it will be an adventure!

A friend of mine is a Delta employee. At the beginning of June she and her daughter had a trip to Italy planned. She was following certain flights a week or so before she planned to leave.On the day of, they could not get on the flight to Italy and went to Paris instead. They had a nice 2-3 day stay in Paris and then took a train or combination of trains to Venice. I know in Venice she stayed in a Airbnb type place. I am not sure what airport she flew back from.

They had a very nice time. I know they did get in to the Louvre and Orsay.

You have 4 instead of 2, so it makes it a bit harder to get standby seats. Amsterdam can be difficult to find accommodations but maybe look at surrounding towns. High speed trains in France are expensive last minute, FYI.

With the exception of Switzerland, I've never bought a train pass, but maybe in your situation, a rail pass makes sense? Since you can't book the trains in advance. That said, the train ticket Salzburg to Munich is inexpensive, especially families, with the Bayern ticket. A ticket between Vienna and Salzburg is inexpensive on Westbahn.

What I would do, is a little research/prep on your cities so you can look for last minute accommodations. Maybe a week or so before use booking.com to scope out options.

I am a person that extensively plans our itinerary and books accommodations in advance. But, if I had the opportunity to fly last minute, I'd likely go. My opinion--If you are flexible with your cities and accommodations and if you are "go with the flow" people, you could make it work.

I'd say yes and no! Traveling with teenagers could add to your stress is a room wasn't available or the attractions you wanted to see weren't doable. Having said that, my wife and I went from France to Croatia last year on the train with Eurorail and never had a problem getting on a train. We did book our rooms in advance. I'd always have a plan "B" & even "C" if the attraction is booked or there is a strike. Have a great trip.

Don't go to Amsterdam without some place reserved in advance. Unstructured travel to Europe would be better in September for 4 people in party to get space together than now. I used to fly standby (the only times in 1st class and business class )as an airline employee. There is so much pent up demand and once the US government stopped the mandatory COVID test to fly back...

I was thinking Haarlem for Amsterdam, we want to see Corrie ten Boom house.

Yes if you are flexible. one issue you will have is that rooms for 4 are few and far between, and finding 2 rooms in the same hotel last minute is obviously harder than 1.

Get very familiar with online booking sights. Airbnb, where it operates, is a great option. Very likely to have availability for 4. When you land or arrive by train, immediately get on every sight you can and search for rooms or apartments for 4. If you can’t find anything, figure out nearby towns on the train line and look there. Be flexible in that you might find something for 2 nights then need to move within the city if you wanted to stay 4.

There’s likely to be SOMETHING open, and a smart use of online sights will let you find it much easier than calling or walking around.

Well, here’s some (bummer) food for thought. There’s a rail guy on Twitter who literally last week did an analysis on how “spontaneous” one could be this summer with the Nightjet (the overnight trains that the Austrian rail company OBB is running — they are about the only night train game in town).

In order to get an idea of what would be possible for someone trying to reserve a train within the next 30 days, he looked at every NightJet route for a 30-day period forward from the day he pulled the data.

In terms of having ANY seats available — whether in seated wagons or somewhere in the sleeping berths — the Amsterdam-Vienna route (NightJet 40421) was one of the VERY WORST for availability within the next 30 days. He found zero days that this route had any regular seats available, and only two days out of the thirty where there was any availability in any sleeping berth (and heck, that may have meant he found literally one on each day . . . ).

So the odds don’t look good for being able to buy a night train ticket on the spur of the moment (or even a week or two ahead!) for Amsterdam - Vienna, I’m sorry to say.

(The reason I remembered this and that I had noticed it in the first place was that in late May/early June, I had been trying to find a NightJet train to get me to Hamburg, and they were already sold out for late July - and I looked a few days either side. At first I found ONE berth in a sleeper for 210 euros . . . But it was gone before I figured out what I wanted to do. So I bookmarked this guy’s Twitter thread and just now looked back at it, given your question.)

If anyone else is interested in looking at his analysis (in German, but Google translate will get you through it just fine, and lots of it is in graphic form), look for @TrainTracksEU Twitter thread from June 25.

my wife and I went from France to Croatia last year on the train with Eurorail and never had a problem getting on a train.

Sorry to say that I don’t think travel in Europe in summer of 2021 is going to in any way be comparable to travel in Europe this summer. (I.e. don’t assume that because it was easy then, it will be easy now.)

Demand has absolutely skyrocketed. And residents in Europe ourselves are becoming more and more wary of flights this summer, putting additional pressure on rail capacity.

Long ago I traveled with a College Art Student group and we stayed in a lot of Student College housing that was available for visitors. I notice that these still exist; comfort and quality can vary, but your kids might love it.
You and Hubby can always stay in the B&B down the street for peace and quiet! If you use an Affiliation with a University, you can be preapproved for access. Some Family Style Campgrounds have Cabins available. Hostels are a good idea but the well-known may be booked up. The rooms we stayed near Amsterdam were on a short commuter train, caught near the airport, were modern. The rooms in Vienna were in the top floor Dormer with beds for 4 and a giant bathtub! I fell asleep in a bubble bath and had my picture taken! Bon Voyage!

Haarlem is an adorable town. The last time I was in Amsterdam, I vowed that I was going to stay in Haarlem instead of Amsterdam next time. It's a super easy train connection between the two. I can't speak to their accomodations availability, but you won't be sacrificing anything to stay there instead of in Amsterdam.

You could always look at Air Bnb for a last minute booking, or look now and see if any have flexible cancellation policies in case your plans don't work out like you hope. They do exist! We're staying in one next week in Canada that will refund us 100% up to two days before check in.

Can you structure the middle of your trip and just leave the beginning and end unstructured?

I would only recommend if your not fussy about where you sleep. All the good hotels are booked up the summer and you'll probably end up outside the city somewhere. Plus the trains in Europe usually are like airlines, the closer to the date, the higher the prices.

If I had time, money and wasn't a planner I might try it if I was by myself. With a family, it sounds like Dante's 5 layer of hell.

Unstructured travel works best for a very independent solo traveler who can make itinerary changes on the spot without worrying about anyone else. When you travel with others you really have to book more if not all accommodations in advance. I did the Eurail thing in my youth (in shoulder season in the early 1980s), and it was glorious and very freeing, the only hotel booked in advance was for my arrival day, but I think even for a solo traveler that kind of unstructured plan is much harder to do anymore. Heavy tourism and overcrowding in Europe are the norms these days as the world has gotten much smaller with more people traveling than ever before, and they all have the same bucket lists, it seems.

I agree with Gail's excellent suggestion. You need to keep the beginning of your trip unstructured, but there is no reason why you can't plan the middle/end of your trip. I'd look for inns that would allow you to cancel a day or two before the stay.

In 2001, on my second trip to Germany in the RS era, I decided to try winging it for a few days as far as accommodations were concerned. It was in March, pretty much off-season for tourism in Baden-Württemberg.

My first attempt at finding accommodations on the fly was on what was going to be a two day trip from Sigmaringen to Freudenstadt. I planned on stopping in the dorf called Bickelsberg, a town of about 500 people in the Schäbisch Jura, just east of the Neckar River. My genealogical research had indicated that my G. Grandfather was probably born there and I wanted to try to get his birth records. I had no reservations for Bickelsberg, only for the two nights following in Freudenstadt.

Well, Bickelsberg is not exactly a hot spot of tourism. There wasn't a tourist information office, not even a hotel or a stube. I couldn't go into the church because they were having a funeral. Finally I left with out the birth records on the next bus and made my way to Freudenstadt - a day early, but the let me have the room I had reserved. Judging from breakfast, I was one of only two people staying in the hotel in Freudenstadt at that time of year.

Next stop, Lahr (Schwarzwald), a town of about 50,000 on the Rhein across from Strasbourg, France. Another G.Grandfather was born in little town outside Lahr. I went to the TI office and they had a place a few blocks away, in the center of town. It was nice; judging from the places at breakfast, I was the only one who spent the night there.

Last stop, Bad Herrenalb, a spa town in the Black Forest. I had a reservation for the next night, and I could have arrived a day early, but, again, I wanted to test the idea of winging it. The TI put me in a place that was certainly acceptable, but more expensive farther from the station than the place I had reserved for the second night.

Loved the Corrie Ten Boom house!

I think you can do this as long as you are willing to be flexible and pay what it takes to get last minute lodging.

I have no idea why you would want to do this. With teens, things can get annoying.

We have traveled with our children. Having our locations mapped out made things very easy.

How to do it:
1) Select your city, with dates for stays
2) Use booking.com, vrbo.com, airbnb.com - select rooms
3) Arrange rooms
4) Print out all room information, put into emails, put on phones
5) Relax and enjoy your travels

We are a couple going to Italy Sept 13-Oct 4. We have all rooms set. We have a clear idea of how to get from Point A to B. All will be well.

Unstructured travel does not mean finding a room in Amsterdam with 2 cranky teens and a cranky husband at 2 AM. It means planning ahead.

Unstructured travel works best if you are traveling to less popular destinations

And, I would add, if you are traveling solo, or with one other person. Finding seats on trains as well as accommodation for four people on the fly is going to be tough this summer, is my guess.

I really am sorry to keep sharing pessimistic views, but I think they are realistic.

I really am sorry to keep sharing pessimistic views, but I think they are realistic.

I have to disagree with "pessimistic". I prefer "realistic".

We have traveled, wife and I, making reservations for the next night in France. But that is for 2. For 4, it's a little more difficult.

It does depend on budget. If you don't care how much you spend on rooms, you can probably always get something. Wife and I are too cheap for that.

I returned to the U.K. last night after a holiday in various parts of France. Everywhere we stayed was far busier than our previous trips and we kept on hearing that this year, far more people are travelling as it’s been 2-3 years since they have been away.

Any savings you make on the airline tickets could get obliterated by having to pay for expensive last minute accommodation for four of you. The accommodation that’s going to be available is likely to be that which is either expensive or poorer quality.

Make life easier and stick to Paris plus one base if you have 12 days on the ground.

Have you travelled on night trains? I can’t get any sleep on them, so the following day is wasted through tiredness.

We went with five (three kids 8-16) with a booked flight, reservation for a leased car and lodging reservations in A'dam and Rome. The itinerary was essentially A'dam, Cologne, Rhein (Bacharach and St. Goar), Romantic Road, Neuschwanstein, Munich, Salzburg, Verona, Venice, Moderno, Cinque Terra, Florence, Rome plus a few other stops. Not really off the beaten path. We started the second week of September and flew home on the first of November. I much prefer traveling without too many reservations up front - just a list of places (I prepared during trip planning) to call the day before I get there. In about 95 percent of my attempts, I was able to book my first choice. The rest were one of my top three choices.

We did change on the fly. For example, we dropped Heidelburg because a military friend had to fly short notice to Pakistan.

To find lodging, I'd typically call and ask what they have for my party, let them offer their recommendation, then ask the price. If it's a decent price, I book it and let them know when I plan to arrive. I'd call again if we were running late. In different locations, we booked apartments, two hotel rooms, single suites or whatever worked.

Since then I've done a similar trip for two to Spain for the month of April. As well as four solo trips to France (Fall 2016, Spring 2017, Fall 2017 and Spring 2018) plus a trip to Ireland (North and South), with a hop on Ryan Air to Leeds, and back, in 2019.

It's harder in summer because more people are traveling. Popular places can be difficult. My worst to date was opening day of Oktoberfest in Munich. It was frantic but I ended up at a decent pension for a normal price. I'm pretty sure you'll never go homeless, but you might need to be ready with a longer list when you call ahead. If you tell them you are planning to stay several days, rather than just overnight, they seem to try much harder to accommodate you. Sometimes we weren't happy with a particular lodging, for a variety of reasons, or had just seen what we wanted at a destination and left earlier than planned. Other times we asked if we could plan another night. You aren't completely locked in if you book for a few nights at each destination.

Travel Boss was any of that travel during the pandemic? Travel this year is certainly a very different scenario with so many people travelling.

Yes, it is still possible. A good portion of my travel is usually unbooked when I hit the ground. I think there are several keys, one is to not confuse something like not booking a hotel with not planning. You have an idea of where you are going, know what you want to see, know of a half dozen hotels that are possibilities, then look to see where there may be issues without booking ahead, try some trial bookings for about the time you will be there, see what availability is. Consider nearby towns, like you mentioned, Haarlem may be easier than Amsterdam to find a room.

Booking.com is a great resource for me, we book rooms a few days to a few hours ahead, usually always at reasonable rates. Booking also has a nice mix of hostels, hotels, B&Bs. and apartments.

For trains, there will always be intercity and regional trains available, fast trains may fill up, and get more expensive, but not terrible (you pay full price, not a escalated last minute price) The night train to Vienna might be an issue, those tend to fill up, or at least the beds. Having train apps loaded on your phone makes things much easier to plan on the fly. You can look at schedules, buy and manage tickets, and balance options.

A group of four is a bit more work, but not really. If you are flexible, do not have specific seating or sleeping requirements, then it is much easier. Likely finding an apartment would be best, or two doubles. On a train, you do not need to sit together if on a fast train, but the same car might be nice.

In your case, almost opposite of what I might do, leaving your beginning and ending open, and planning a middle segment a little more may work, since it is your arrival location in question.

Of course you can book a hotel the day before and of course you can hop a train (will cost a tad more for the train tickets). If you have any doubt go to a site like Hotels.com and try and book a room for tonight ... you will get a hundred choices. Then go to the national rail site and try the same with a train. I would be very surprised if you hit on a full train.

KB, No. My last international trip was sailing the British Virgin Islands in Feb 2020, right before everything closed down.

I'm getting ready for a trip late summer to Scandinavia where I'll use a similar approach: reservations for flight, car and lodging at the start and end of my trip.

I find myself not worried about finding lodging outside of the high summer months. I'd expect COVID related restrictions to reduce the overall number of travelers but I might not be correct.

Scandinavua's an expensive area in which to roll the dice. If you're using public transportation, you may struggle to find anything last-minute in the fjord area.

On my recent trip Brussels-Passau (Bavaria), leaving May 20, return May 27, connecting in Frankfurt, trains were cracking full. For the return trip, DB did a rescheduling with an additional connection in Nuernberg, forcing me to leave Passau a few hours earlier than originally planned because the Passau-Nuernberg leg was fully booked on several trains. And I was a solo traveller, in first class with reserved seats! Passau itself was overflowing with tourists and accommodation was difficult to find.
With a group of 4 there could be real problems.

Acraven, I'll book some in advance. I usually start with anything that isn't flexible, starting with flights over and back. When I arrive, I'd rather not have to worry about a place to sleep - so my first lodging is always reserved. Since we'll stay in Stockholm at least five nights, that's five nights reserved out of 21. We'll fly home out of Copenhagen. Same thing there, I'm tied to a flight so I might as well book ahead - another five nights reserved out of 21. It's the other eleven nights working across Sweden that we'll play be ear and reserve as we go. I don't think we could hit some of our planned stops using only train so we will have a rental car.

It's the other eleven nights working across Sweden that we'll play be ear and reserve as we go

Late summer? The Swedes vacation then, and they book up everything in sight. At least do some recon on availability for your trip dates to see if you face any room shortages.

I'd expect COVID related restrictions to reduce the overall number of travelers but I might not be correct.

Indeed, not correct.

There aren't really restrictions any more, and people are back in full force (except for the groups from China).

There were reduced numbers of travelers last summer and fall, and early this spring -- but those days are over.

I'm in Sweden right now, and I'm having problems booking 10 or so days ahead of time. I'm a budget traveler; perhaps there's more availability at the top end, but I'm not interested in $250-$350/night rooms.

I thought I would reply with how it went. We decided not to do long distances and kept it close to one area. We chose Munich because of flight availability, prioritized Salzburg and had no problems with flights. Found a place to stay (dorm during school year that runs as hostel in summer) in Salzburg day of arrival and right on river walking distance to old town. We went to Hallstatt for an overnight, splurged on a hotel right on the lake. Went to Munich and stayed near train station for convenience (no car). Much more difficult to find a place close to old town but could have if willing to take local train to outlying areas. Train from Munich to Salzburg was PACKED standing room only, the other trains were fine. The 9 Euro ticket Germany had made slow trains cheap but busy. Go to Fraulein Maria's bicycle tour in Salzburg! Loved it 20 years ago and this year.

Thanks for reporting back ! It sounds like you had an enjoyable trip.