Voyagner

There are a few reasons I don’t really plan my travels, I like the freedom of going where I want, when I want. When I learn of something or somewhere that sparks an interest I don’t want to have to note it down for next time, if I can alter my plans on the fly I would prefer to do that. I like a general itinerary of places to go and things to do but if I don’t allow for flexibility, for me it can make the experience feel more rushed.

To me there are two ways to prepare for a trip, Planning and Research.

Research I like to do a fair bit of research on where I am going. I want to know about interesting places and things to do. I want to know about the history, a little language and what to expect. I’ll book my flights and maybe accommodation for the first night or two. With research I just try to fill my head with knowledge about a place that will make my time there more involved. No I’m not trying to “live” like a local or looking for an “authentic” travel experience, I just want to give myself a solid starting point to explore a country

Planning starts with the same research but takes it to the step of deciding on routes, dates, booking accommodation, tours, etc which will make that spontaneity that I enjoy just that much more difficult. Planning doesn’t preclude spontaneity so it’s not like I’m some sort of anti-planning Nazi. No amount of research to put together a good plan will ever uncover those things you only discover when you arrive, if planning is your thing I would suggest allowing an appropriate amount of time for doing things your research doesn’t uncover.

Of course I can’t always travel like this, there are many countries and trip types that will just require that you do some actual planning. And planned trips are ok, I just prefer to make the decisions about what I do on the fly. There is a lot to be said for planning though, I have fallen into the trap of underplanning before but with travel I’ve never regretted anything I’ve done. They say you only regret the things you d0n’t do, not the things you did, which throws up a bit of a connundrum for travelers. If you don’t do something do you regret it when you spend the time you would have been doing it doing something else that you also enjoyed? (What a confusing sentence!) It’s a bit of a balancing act with research and planning. While I’ve underplanned before I’m not overy bothered by it, I fell though that if I were to overplan a trip I would feel as if I had skipped through a country and missed finding those little gems that a flexible approach allows you to find.