Closer and Closer
Source: trent_maynard at flickr
As the old TV show says, it’s takes different strokes to rule the world. My mom used to say, “Different strokes for different folks”. All a fancy way of saying we’re all different.
So when planning a vacation of more than just a couple of weeks, there are a couple of different ways to approach the task. You could simply make short term plans, hop on a plane, and take a “see as we go” approach. Or you could sit down and plan each week before you leave. And either way you’re taking a risk.
If you don’t put too much thought into anything beyond week one, you could be forced to take “what’s available” or “what’s convenient” and also end up paying more for not having as much choice available. Through proper research, you could potentially uncover some very nice places to visit and stay, but without that research find yourself sticking largely to the popular tourist spots and miss out.
There are advantages to this approach too, as you may not know what you want to do until you get there and get acquainted with an area. Maybe one week is not enough there and you’d like to spend two? Or maybe after the first week you’re tired of the place and can’t envision staying another week. And you won’t know that til you’re there. It’s nice having some flexibility because after all the point of it is to enjoy yourself and relax.
I guess in the end it comes down to personality types. I once saw an entire family in Santorini who had all their luggage with them, and two small kids, and watched as the father found them a hotel for the night. What if there is nothing available? What if there was truly no hotels with rooms to rent? My brain can not comprend a vacation where you don’t know where you’re sleeping that night until 3 o’clock in the afternoon.
But I don’t want to stick myself to a rigid schedule either. I have two months to travel, and one month of it will likely be in one spot. It’s hard deciding what that one spot should be, and how long is long enough. I might be dying of boredom and restlessness after 3 weeks. How do I play it by ear if that’s the case?
So much to think about. So much planning to do. But we’re defining zeroing in on the details. The dates are set, we have only 3 or 4 places to choose from. It’s likely we can’t go wrong with any of them. We’ll see!
Can’t wait!
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