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For me, the advanced planning is part of the fun of a vacation. I'm going to Europe in May, and my planning started months ago. I don't do spontaneous. Too much anxiety for me.
I'd rather pre-plan from the comfort of my sofa and have everything reserved rather than wait in a four hour line.
For me, the advanced planning is part of the fun of a vacation. I'm going to Europe in May, and my planning started months ago. I don't do spontaneous. Too much anxiety for me.
I'd rather pre-plan from the comfort of my sofa and have everything reserved rather than wait in a four hour line.
I'm the exact same way. I LOVE travel planning. I have been working on our vacation plans for summer 2020 the last couple of months, and expect to have airfare booked by January.
When the kids were growing up we had a family meeting in January to decide where to vacation in the summer. The kids got into it and as a result they enjoyed the vacation. We saw 35 states together as well as a lot of Canada. We even did a trip to Italy when they graduated high school/college. A typical vacation was 3-4 weeks long involving driving and flying. So yea a little planning was involved to make it all work!
1.4 billion tourist arrivals per year & growing at 6% over previous year! (I'm old enough to remember when that was half the population of the entire planet.)
This is why I have a ban now on in-season travel to well-known tourist meccas. The places I haven't been, or passed through too quickly, I'll visit in the off-season: late autumn through early spring for northern hemisphere cooler spots. Or try to "discover" locations not dead center in the typical tourist's bulls-eye: Slovenia or Alentejo for example, or the coastlines of Montenegro & Albania.
Almost 9 years ago on a family visit to Italy we skipped the Colosseum & the Sistine Chapel due to the huge lines, the Uffizi Gallery suggestion on a stroll required an advance online reservation to enter, no openings until after we left. 4 years ago a relative in Ireland suggested a visit to Newgrange & on our late a.m. arrival we were told we could buy a ticket for an entrance 5 hours later. And so on.
The sound of central city Europe to me now in summer is the sound of unceasing rollaboard luggage wheels going up & down streets.
I agree with the other posters, planning is a big part of the fun for me although I understand that others may feel differently.
But once again that is a horrendous clickbait title for what is an otherwise worthy read. Boohoo, you went to Amsterdam on a whim and couldn’t see the Anne Frank House? You still got to see 19 of 20 attractions including the quintessential boat tour which actually gave you the idea to visit that house. How is spontaneous travel ‘killed’? In the meantime over 90% of museums and attractions around the world are essentially empty, including in Amsterdam.
Overtourism is a big environmental issue and its main effects beyond the CO2 footprint are the destruction of the sites and the degradation of the tourist experience, both because of the huge crowds. I would argue that requiring advance tickets is the best way to mitigate those negative effects and is a much more democratic method than the alternative market solution used in spectator sports or music shows, where ticket prices are increased until only relatively wealthy people can actually access the product.
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Overtourism is a big environmental issue and its main effects beyond the CO2 footprint are the destruction of the sites and the degradation of the tourist experience, both because of the huge crowds. ....
I wonder if some of the more famous & over-touristed cities that are concerned about this, say Barcelona for example, if they wouldn't start charging exorbitant taxes on hotel & BnB stays or something else that simultaneously reduces demand & raises revenue?
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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We still do, and enjoy spontaneous travel nearly everyday.
Our 1 yr, RTW had a OW ticket and a 3 day stay, the rest we 'winged'.
When with kids and living overseas, they planned a lot of it the week before as homeschool projects. They did all the reservations and currency exchanges. We traveled nearly every week. Tough to perpetually plan in advance.
The treasures (usually people and relationships) we find by spontaneous trips are delightful, and are not in tourist brochures / web sites.
Advanced planning is for your convenience and comfort. Don't like it? Just have passport, buy ticket, take your money and go.
You can plan your next step as you go. Very spontaneous. Have done that many times.
I don't do groups, guided tours, touristy hotels or food. I plan my own trip, do what I want and when I want. That's fun. Being rushed with the group and follow the herd isn't my idea of traveling.
For me, the advanced planning is part of the fun of a vacation. I'm going to Europe in May, and my planning started months ago. I don't do spontaneous. Too much anxiety for me.
I'd rather pre-plan from the comfort of my sofa and have everything reserved rather than wait in a four hour line.
Unless you want to pay a fortune and get locked out of things, you have to book airfare and lodging way in advance.
We travel to Europe a lot on frequent flyer points. I book those flights pretty much the first day I'm allowed to book them and book AirBnB lodging at the same time. Next May's London-Paris trip was all booked in late-August. I'll be booking a late-September Galicia Spain trip over the next few weeks assuming the BOS-LHR British Airways day flight I want is available using American points.
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