Where to go?

I usually start out with an idea in mind of someplace I really want to go. I usually go for two weeks, so figure I will be happy with three to four places to stay during that time. Once I have my main stop, I look to find some other places I want to see with reasonable train connections. Then I use several travel guides and the internet to find out what I want to do at each stop, day trips, etc., and how much time I think I will need. Often through this research, I end up throwing out one or two of my original planned destinations and come up with other places, so that the final trip might look little like I had originally planned. All of this is a fun part of the travel process for me!

Great question. I'm really interested in hearing the different approaches people take. Speaking for myself, I have a substantial number of key places on my wish list and I constantly play with scenarios about visiting them during the times I can't travel, so when the time comes I have plans to work from. I even cut and paste many of the suggestions from these boards into computer files for each country that I keep in a "future travel" folder. I choose one key location and build around it geographically based on ease of transportation, desire to see neighboring places, and to some degree on themes. I rarely worry about seeing all of one country and instead focus on the region and what can be fit into the two or three weeks I usually am able to take as vacation. So right now, I'm focused on a small village in central Germany where my great grandfather was born. Keeping with the family tree theme, I'm including Hamburg and its emigration museum. But from there? I consider all sorts of options. I might tack on Holland and maybe Belgium. Or maybe southern Germany or venture into Alsace/Lorraine. Everything is fluid until a time when I am finally able to go and only then will I start paring down the options based on all my hypothetical voyages.

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The other factors are time, money, and particularly opportunity. I have family in Amsterdam right now: should I go there before they leave? Should I go to the Balkans while costs are still lower than Western Europe, or do I choose somewhere higher on my wish list? If I can manage to get two weeks off to see Turkey the way I want to see it, can I swing a third week of vacation and add a little bit of Greece, too? I have about 5 key locations that I am building around in my mind, plus 2 outside Europe. Since I only get to Europe every 3 or 4 years, planning for trips fills my need for travel during the off times. It's why I'm on these boards every day and hopefully when opportunity next arises, I'll be ready! Matt

How much time do you have? What areas interest you? Start from there. In planning I create a Folder (with sub-folders for countyries, Train/Bus Info, Sites to See, Hotels/Hostels, etc.,) in Favorites and the same in Documents. Then start entering web sites, copy and paste info, etc. We typically stay in one place no less than 2 days, preferrably 3-4 days depending on our interest. Our next trip we plan to fly open-jaw...fly into Rome and out of Munich. The planning and research is half the fun. I enjoy it so much. Getting the logistics down is important in order not to back track and jumping all over the place. Once you have a tentative itinerary it is then necessary to determine IF you need a Rail Pass or if Point-to-Point tickets are cheaper. Experienced travelers on this board will be more than willing to assist you. Feel free to ask as many questions as you wish. Make as many Folders and sub-folders that is needed. That is how I stay organized. Then when finalizing my info I copy and paste info in Documents for easy reference later. Have fun planning and research.

Like many people on this forum, I read about travel A LOT, so I have a long wish list. There are a number of factors I use to decide where to go each year: 1) what I am in the mood for. This is usually something different than what I did the previous year. 2) the weather. I hate hot weather and prefer the temperature to be between 50 and 75. So no Italy in the summer. 3) flight options. Non-stops are much preferred, and the cheaper the better. 4) costs on the ground. This is a good tie breaker, but rarely the deciding factor.
4) where I like the food. I'm not a foodie and I dont spend a lot on food, but it can really enhance a trip if you enjoy the food. Or wine or beer!

I read a lot. Often a National Geographic, Nat Geo Traveler, Smithsonian, or Archaeology magazine article sparks an interest. Research on line. Rick's site if it's in Europe. Lonely Planet, Boots n All, forums. Then my favorite way to learn about locales, read blogs. Two weeks is the optimum time to stay. Often travel off season. Certain spots have always been on the "I have to go" list, Ireland, Africa, Machu Picchu, the Nazca Lines, Patagonia, Iceland to see the Northern Lights, New Zealand, etc. Literally alot two paychecks for my trip funding. Plan early. Travel solo most often but have taken RS 7 day tours of Florence and Istanbul.

Like Claudia and Carroll, I read a lot about travel and I keep a mental "wish list" of places I would like to go. I spent a semester in college living in Salzburg, Austria, which was my first introduction to travel outside the US. My first trip to Ireland was kind of on a whim, sparked by a really great deal that came along (and a lifelong interest due to family history). I started visiting Spain because of a friend I met online. We talked for years about me visiting there, and the right time, coupled with the money to do it, finally came along. On my most recent trip to Spain, I met people from the UK and elsewhere that will now factor into future travel plans, so that I can go back and visit them. Since I travel solo a lot, it helps to have a local connection.

Getting to some of your other questions... I like to start with Rick Steves but also look at other guide books as well as the Internet. Once I have a place in mind, I start taking notes on places I would like to see and rank them A, B & C. Then I figure how much time I would need to see the As and Bs with a little down time thrown in. Then I search for other places in the same area that are easy to get to. I don't like to spend a lot of time or money on transportation (I only have two weeks or so). I make a list of sights for each place. Invariably, I have more places and attractions than I have time to see. Narrowing down the list is challenging, but I do it by ease of travel and by trying to get a variety of sights. I won't choose two cities where the main attraction is a gothic cathedral, for example. I think it's good to mix it up.

My initial trips to Europe were to big hitter destinations – I wanted to see and experience all of the things I had always dreamed about, and I wanted to squeeze in as much geography as humanly possible in two weeks. Subsequent trips included destinations I had never considered before but then did because of other factors: friends in Iceland or a super cheap airfare to Spain (and actually Spain has turned out to be about my favorite destination in Europe). I just returned from the Netherlands last week. I never really considered visiting there before, but it seemed like a good option for a quick trip (limited time). There's a lot to see and do there in a week, and limited geography makes travel times very short. I've traveled outside of Europe as well and am now more pumped about Asian destinations. I still like Europe a lot, but it feels a little stale to me compared to, say, Seoul (that's just my feeling at present...I hope it's temporary, because I do like Europe quite a bit). Anyway, I guess my point is that visiting anyplace in Europe was more predictable for me initially, but after many visits, I'm now more inclined to go somewhere interesting based on reading or research I've done and how much time I have. And I don't try to fit so much into a short amount of time – I prefer destinations that allow for limited travel once I'm there – daytrips from a home base work quite well for me now. I just don't want to blitz around like I used to. BTW, I've spent alot of time in your town over the last year. I personally think it's one of the greatest cities anywhere on the planet!

I watch Rick Steves! My DVR has picked up dozens of episodes. I'm also active on Flickr, so I can see where everyone else has been. That gives me a lot of ideas. I read Afar magazine. I'm an art buff, so I go where I can see particular museums or monumental art. To be honest, I never have a lack of places to go, just a lack of time. Every trip involves cutting my itinerary down to something that's manageable. I usually try to put together a combination of places I've been before and add at least one new country per trip. It can be difficult to decide sometimes... right now I'm trying to decide on how to spend 9 days in December. It would take about 30 days to go everywhere I want.

Looking back, I'd say our trips have been chosen based on 1)interests, such as ancient civilizations 2)where it's inexpensive and 3)proximity...the 'well, if we're going to be here, we might as well go there' tactic. For example, one year my husband wanted to go to a trombone conference in Holland and I wanted to go to Syria, so we also went to Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey because they were nearby. This summer we're taking the kids overseas for the first time. We wanted to go to Seoul for a couple of weeks because we lived in S.Korea a long time ago, so I thought let's go to China because it's close. Plus, if we fly with Finnair we can stop in Finland on the way back for no extra cost, and then Estonia and Sweden are right there too. This trip will be done independently, based on Rick's suggestions (except for the Asia part).

I have a really hard time with this, actually. When I first got here it was easy to go to the big-name places I'd been dreaming of visiting for years, but now I'm branching out, and my decisions are somewhat haphazard. I picked my current big trip of the Balkans because my original beach trip was pushed back to October, so I figured we'd go somewhere really different with amazing scenery that was also really cheap. I got cheap airfare into Bucharest and out of Zadar, Croatia, so now i'm trying to figure out how to get around Eastern Europe - yikes! But it will be an adventure. :)

For me, as in many other things in my life, it starts with a haphazard idea. Last year around this time, I was planning a trip to Italy and of course using the helpline a lot and I kept reading threads about Christmas markets in Europe, which I had never thought about before. So now I'm planning that trip for December. I'm also planning a trip to Andalusia. Thinking back, I realize that the seed was planted when I saw a temporary exhibition of the Alhambra at the NY Metropolitan Museum, about 20 years ago. But the desire to visit the Alhambra has been in the back of my mind ever since. Last year I went to Thailand and Cambodia. My travel agent got me a 3-day layover in Bangkok on a trip to Australia and New Zealand. In Bangkok, people kept telling me that the rest of the country is even better, so I just "had" to return. In doing the research, I learned about the ancient temples in Angkor, so I added a side trip to Siem Reap. Often, it's hearing about trips my friends have taken. Almost everyone I know travels a lot. Last summer, I went to Germany because I have a friend who is working in Berlin.