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I was originally planning on writing this blog about the importance of researching a little bit about your destination before for you leave for a trip. It’s a pretty important step, and it has made a huge difference in my enjoyment of the various trips I’ve been on. Spontaneous excursions are great, but it’s a good idea to have some concept of where you might want to visit, especially if you will have limited resources when you get there. Tourist offices can be a great resource when you get there, but it’s a good idea to find out what might be nearby that caters to your particular interests, and how you will get there.

That being said, I was reading through travel blogs for ideas the other day and I happened upon this post at Travel Fish, dealing with the dangers of over planning a trip until “your trip is nothing but a series of missed deadlines and connections.” When I was in Europe, one of my most frustrating travel experiences was the final day of my trip to London, not because we didn’t plan everything, but because we planned too much. WE trekked all over the city trying to hit every place we had left that we wanted to see, and I didn’t feel like I had nearly enough time to really enjoy any of them.  In the end, we weren’t able to make it everywhere we wanted to go, and it left the end of the trip somewhat disappointing, even though I had a great time (I got to go to the Sherlock Holmes museum and buy a giant book!).

If you get too caught up in planning every second of your time, you’ll never have time to relax, and when things go wrong, as they so often do in travel, it will make the experience all the more frustrating.

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