One year countdown to Italy.....thanks for your help!

Wow! And I thought I was nuts for planning this for 6 months. I am also having a ball reading these forums and planning every detail. We like yourself are traveling from Sorrento up into Switzerland for 3 weeks. We leave in September. I have learned so much from these boards and look forward to planning my next vacation. Never again will I use a travel agent. It has been an experience to plan your own vacation and do exactly what you would like to do. Enjoy every moment! Thanks to all the contributors! They have been invaluable!

Diane

Beth, you are not alone here, many people get as much pleasure planning a trip as they do taking it, have fun (on your trip, too!):

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/11/travel/what-a-great-trip-and-im-not-even-there-yet.html

Well again I thought I was crazy for taking a year in planning. This will be our 7th time to Europe- we stay on the average 26 days and have done and seen a lot. This forum is invaluable (Thank you Rick). I purchase his books as a guideline and must say he has been on the mark. We have deviated some on nearly every trip but manage to include an eatery he has recommended but being food aholics we venture to find an out of the way place to add to our experience. When entering a museum at RS recommended hours has been euphoric - We happened on our first night in Florence last year to stroll by the Academia Museum and the David around 5PM and absolutely no one was there - It had to be the highlight of Florence for us.
Every where I go and people ask me how I plan these trips I always say "Have you heard of Rick Steves"? If not I give them the web site and travel through others experiences.
I don't know whether Laura at RS office will see this but I want to let the whole operation know that you are very much appreciated.
Our next trip may be a combination Ireland then to Prague- river cruise and Budapest. if I can plan it in the 26 days if not I have no objections to making another trip.

Beth,

I can relate to the fact that you've been planning this trip for four years, as I spent about five years planning one of my earlier trips. I wasn't able to travel at that time for a variety of reasons, so all I could do to keep the dream alive was spend time on planning. It all worked out well, and the trip went precisely as planned. Later trips have been much easier and quicker to plan.

I'm glad I'm in good company. I've been planning our trip to Barcelona and Southern France since Christmas for our trip next May or June, 2016. I figure I'll book our award flights within the next 4 weeks. You will absolutely love Sorrento!

Beth, I am certain you are only one of a large community of Rick Steves forum readers and contributors who enjoy planning their trips (and reading about the plans of others) long in advance. My husband and I visit Europe every two or three years, and I am always the one reading up, learning languages, lurking on the travel forum, etc. long in advance. I find it very enjoyable, and we both profit from all that planning once we get to Europe. Things may not always go as planned once we are there, but we feel much more confident knowing how things work in a general way and having a baseline familiarity with our surroundings. We are now less than three months distant from our own month-long trip to Italy, but, rather than spending time in large cities, this time we have a much looser agenda focused on smaller places. And if things don't work out as planned, hey, we will still be in Italy, and that guarantees we are never far from a glass of good wine, some good food and a gelato or other dolce for dessert. Buon viaggio!

What surprises me on this forum is not those with wanderlust dreaming and planning way ahead, yet those who have a 10 day trip starting next week and want to still have all the options available in the middle of summer. Good luck to them I say.