What would I have liked to have known before planning a trip?
That’s the theme of this blog.
I’ve been traveling for a long time, both with others and solo. Either way, the role of planning the trips has usually fallen on me, and I’ve gotten pretty good at it. The prospect of spinning the globe and selecting a new destination is exciting! But that’s just the first step… then comes the part where you have to figure out the details.
Since I work full time, I have a limited amount of time to get away on my trips. However, I want to see it all. In order to accommodate the liberation of the latter within the restriction of the former, I put a lot of effort into planning my trips and packing as much into each journey as I can. Many other people with more free time are able to wander their destinations and figure things out as they go. I must take the time prior to the trip to book the trains, hotels, rental cars required and map the routes, time tables and distances involved to efficiently string together each day’s activities.
With the Internet, many of these details are easily available. But it still takes time to put the pieces together. Other details are not so easy to find, requiring some sleuthing, patience, translating schedules and communications with onsite representatives. My efforts were usually rewarded with amazing experiences when all of the pieces fell into place and I was able to easily step from one activity to the next almost seamlessly.
It seemed a shame, though, to just stuff these hard won details into my travel folders and move on to the next adventure.
I posted several articles to TripAdvisor, but I find many of their restrictions too limiting.
The solution was to write my own blog. The goal is to share the details which I have discovered both through planning the trips and through experiencing them. In essence, what did I discover while planning or enjoying the trip, that I wish I had known beforehand.
To provide easy access to this information, most posts include two sections:
Why go?
This section contains my thoughts on why you should see this attraction. With all of the sights that are vying for your attention, what makes this one worth visiting?
What you need to know!
This section contains the information you should know to plan your visit to this sight, or what you should do when you are there.
