Travel Quote Tuesday | One Departure To The Next

“Looking back I can see that there have been no breaks from one departure to the next; I start planning again before we’ve even arrived back home.” ~ Barbara Hodgson

I’m definitely a travel planner! I can easily spend several months researching, planning and fine-tuning a trip – everything from reading up on a place’s history and culture; to crafting the perfect itinerary; to shortlisting, choosing and booking our accommodation; to finding out about local attractions and activities and writing up notes from which we can quickly make plans depending on our mood on a given day… I’ll sometimes book a specialist cookery class, excursion or activity in advance too. Sometimes we’ll book a rental car to self-drive, and in some places we use trains, buses and even short internal flights to hop around. The planning and anticipation are as much a part of a trip for me as the trip itself.

Of course, I also appreciate the pleasure of sharing photographs and travel writing once I get back… but it’s rarely very long at all before I’m thinking ahead to the next trip. I always like to have a trip to look forward to, if I possibly can!

But I have friends who are just the opposite – impulse bookings with minimal planning give them far more of a thrill, perhaps more adventure about the unknown, the appeal of fresh discovery?

Which kind of traveller are you? Planner, impulse booker or a mix of the two?

The Rideau Canal in Ottawa, and quote overlay text

Ahead of our stay in Ottawa’s Byward Market Neighbourhood, we received quite a bit of negative feedback, mostly from Canadians we met ahead of our arrival in the capital city, telling us not to bother and that there was little to see. In fact, we loved Ottawa and would happily go back to see more of it, not least the booming craft beer scene and great food. Of course, there’s a lot of history to Ottawa and for me, learning about it in advance made our visit a lot more enjoyable, being able to put what we saw into historical and cultural context.

More Kavey Eats Travel Quotes.

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36 Comments to "Travel Quote Tuesday | One Departure To The Next"

  1. Gingey Bites

    I am always planning trips – those I’m going on and those I want to go on in the future! It’s the opposite with Dave as he quite likes turning up and wandering around so we tend to find a happy medium!

    Reply
  2. Rachelle

    I love constantly planning for trips as well, especially after returning from an epic trip. It really helps cut down on the travel hangover. I’d like to say that I’m the type of traveler that likes to do her homework, although there have been times where I’ve planned a few things out, made a few reservations, and then decided to scrap it all and not plan a thing. It really goes with my mood.

    Reply
    kaveyeats

    Yes, a big part of the appeal is that you feel immersed in each trip so much longer!

    Reply
  3. Vibeke

    Love the quote. I am the same. I spend a long time preparing for the trip, especially research the destination and making an itinerary. I am not so impulsive, but I have also made last-minute changes after listening to tips from locals, which I think it is good to be open to.

    Reply
    kaveyeats

    I plan a lot and always book the whole itinerary in terms of accommodation, and how we’re getting from place to place. For what we do each day, I only book in a few things (like cookery classes and specialist tours), the rest I have a list of what we might enjoy there and we decide on the day what we feel like doing, either from my research before or from other stuff we discover while there, often while wandering around, or from locals…

    Reply
  4. Shaily

    I generally love planning and researching about a place way before my trip. However, I’ve even made last minute travel plans and the trips were equally fun-filled. There have been trips that we planned a couple of hours prior to starting our journey. And then there were others we researched about for months before making plans to go there. So, I would say I’m a mix of both. 🙂

    Reply
    kaveyeats

    I would say we do occasionally make impulse trips, though they are more likely to be local rather than overseas… the exception is places we’ve been many times, in which case we might just book a revisit without planning, for example hopping over to France…

    Reply
  5. Shweta

    I love planning, as much as the actual traveling. For our summer vacation to US west coast, we have already started booking accommodation inside national parks (getting sold off like hot buns).

    Reply
    kaveyeats

    The longest ahead for me was one particular trip to Botswana where the only way for me to get availability at the camps I’d decided on was to book 18 months ahead!!!

    Reply
  6. Hannah

    I’m a planner! I don’t plan every inch of visits, but I love researching hotel locations and hotels, the main places we want to see…. and I LOVE gazumping my own hotel bookings with cheaper deals! I can’t help myself from always thinking ahead to the next place – it’s a wonderful way to keep the travel bug alive when not travelling!

    Reply
    kaveyeats

    Ditto, I don’t plan every inch of a visit, but all the itinerary, accommodation and main transport is pinned down. A few specific activities (like tours/ cooking classes) are sometimes included. The rest is more a case of researching what we could do in each place and then we decide on the fly.

    Reply
  7. sherianne

    I am a huge planner. I want to know what all my options are so I can make decisions about to see and what I can live without. I get heart broken if I come home and someone raves about something I didn’t know existed!

    Reply
    kaveyeats

    Yeah, that’s always a kicker isn’t it, though I console myself with the knowledge that I usually wouldn’t have had time to fit it in… but sometimes it’s a case of waaaaaaaaaaaah!

    Reply
  8. Louise

    I am on Team Planner as well! It actually makes me stressed, not to plan as I really don’t want to miss out on things to see and do! Sometimes I plan too much – and that is where my boyfriend comes in. He is French and a very laid-back kind of type. So we try to learn from each other, but mostly I get my way 😉 I guess times are soon changing, as we will probably bring our little princess along – and I can only imagine that might make scheduling a little bit harder 😉

    Reply
    kaveyeats

    Yeah I find when there’s no planning, I later find out sooo much stuff we’d have loved and didn’t know about!

    Reply
  9. Claudia

    I’m a total travel planner. I often plan and book trips a year out, and I love have solid plans to prepare for, knowing the places we’ll see and that bookings are confirmed. Plus it’s so exciting to look forward to a new adventure! Keeps me going on rainy winter days.,

    Reply
  10. Alli

    I like to think I am a bit of both – planner and impulsive traveler. I find that I will book something impulsively, but then spend lots of time to plan out the trip!

    Reply
    kaveyeats

    Just did that! A friend was asking for tips for Venice and as I replied, I really started longing to go back, it’s been more than 10 years. So I started looking at flights, went to see if my work staff bookings department could get a good discount (I work for a travel company) or whether it was better to book directly, but wasn’t really sure of dates or that we’d definitely go… and their price was so good that I ended up booking it there and then, though it’s held as an option as I didn’t have my credit card with me, so I’ll go in tomorrow and confirm. But we now have a few months to plan, though won’t need much as we’ve been twice before.

    Reply
  11. Anne Slater-Brooks

    Bit of both for me. I often plan as I have such little time off work that I have t make the most of it, but I am also prone to booking a few additional treats with little notice. It is nice to have stuff in the diary though

    Reply
    kaveyeats

    Gosh yes, when I was permie and had limited Leave, I planned sooooooo carefully to maximise travel time! Used every bank holiday etc!

    Reply
  12. Tom

    I barely plan my travels at all, apart from deciding upon hat country I want to visit, and the fist city I want to check out. The idea of having everything planned fills me with dread.

    Part of the fun for me is arriving to a new place and discovering the city without too much of an idea about it beforehand. I wouldn’t like to have everything planned beforehand. It would take the fun out of travelling for me!

    Reply
    kaveyeats

    We are travel opposites!
    Even with all the planning, every place always surprises us plenty and there are many many experiences that are not pre-planned even though the trip overall is!

    Reply
  13. Mellissa Williams

    I’m a travel planner too.I plan everything, but I have found sometimes over planning does stop you being spontaneous, so I’m trying to ‘go with the flow’ more as I get older. I will never be an impulse traveller though.

    Reply
    kaveyeats

    For us the balance is that the overall trip (itinerary, accommodation, main travel / transport) is planned and booked. The day-to-day activities are not, with exception of a specialist tour here and there or a cookery class. Usually, if we’re 3-4 nights in a place, I *might* have one activity booked, but the rest is open, though I’ll have a list of things that interested me as reference, we’ll either pick something from that depending on what mood we’re in of a morning, or just go wherever we feel, that’s not on the list!

    Reply
  14. Paige W

    This quote is 100% the story of my life. I don’t plan out details of a trip, but I’m always planning my next destination. It’s a real struggle!

    Reply
  15. Christine

    This quote is super me! I normally plan my next trip even before my current trip ends. Also, Im a both – a planner and come-what-may type traveller. I normally plan the first few days of my trip and probably even the last few days. But I always make sure to set aside days for something spontaneous. I think it is important not to be stress out by schedule and just follow where your heart leads you. Also excessive planning takes away the excitement sometime. Much as possible, I just take ideas of where I wanna go but I won’t read too much about the place. Lest, it will ruin the “surprise” for me or affect the way I conceive the place. So for me, always leave room for a surprise but at the same time a good plan helps you navigate your trips more efficiently.

    Reply
    kaveyeats

    Usually we have at least one but usually two or three future trips in the diary, but when we got back from Thailand last month, I didn’t have anything at all, which is unusual. I just impulse-booked flights to Venice for April, so now we do!

    Reply
  16. Meagan

    It depends. Generally, I’m a hardcore planner. Like, I’d be planning and booking our October trip now, if it was feasible. But we’ve had plenty of off-the-cuff trips that have turned out absolutely beautifully, too. I’ve begun to think it’s more about the travelers than it is about the trips 🙂

    Reply
    kaveyeats

    Yes, I’m sure that’s a lot of it. It’s true that I can more readily arrange a successful trip for Pete and I at short notice today than I could 20 years ago because I have such a clear idea of our travel preferences and styles, not to mention that I know the booking and search methods that are reliable for me…

    Reply
  17. Shezza T

    When I travel with my friend V, we plan ahead. We’re away to Croatia in May and have already booked flights, hotel and two tours. All booked in October, and the next thing on our list is sorting out some restaurants. However when I travel with my husband, G, he hates planning ahead. For instance, our 2016 trip to Iceland was organised a fortnight in advance.

    We had a great time in Iceland, but we were down to our 3rd and 4th choices for a couple of tours and restaurants, and I found it all so stressful it took the edge off the first day of the trip. I much prefer planning well in advance, unless it’s a destination we know ell.

    Reply
    kaveyeats

    That would never work for me, I’d be so disappointed to miss out if there were specific places or experiences I had looked forward to and which we couldn’t do because they were booked out, so the planning is worthwhile for me. My husband doesn’t enjoy planning but he’s more than happy, delighted even, for me to do it on our joint behalf!!

    Reply

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