This is me! You should see my spreadsheet that is so detailed and color coded with restaurant meal reservation times, etc. My kids just laugh at me, my husband is glad I do it - vacations go pretty smooth for him when I handle the front end.
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My husband and I typically do a lot of research ahead of a trip, and he usually creates a google doc which we both edit. Last year for London he did a great job pulling together an analysis of which tickets needed pre-booking (some way before we left, others a day or so prior) vs which tickets were ok for walk-in flexiblity.
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I’m the research and plan person. My husband trusts I’ll be more detailed than he would be. I usually decide on flights, lodging, rental car and route. I’ll usually have some restaurant ideas but I don’t plan that in advance. Lately I’ve booked cooking classes and day tours which we have enjoyed. I find that it’s gotten harder to make decisions with the internet. When it was just guide books you couldn’t find reviews and opinions on everything. Online bookings have sure made a nice difference.
I’d like to do a trip to Prince Edward’s island, if anyone has recommendations.
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For me, doing all the research and pre-booking is part of the travel experience, and it helps me anticipate the trip. I enjoy this and have on occasion done it for groups I’m traveling with.
Having said that, I have traveled a few times with some friends who are even more Type A than I (!!!) and have just gone along with what they planned. (As a planner, I know how awful the second-guessers and critics are.) It has been a lovely gift to just march along on someone else’s well-laid plan.
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I’m similar to you - I have more patients and generally care more about getting reasonable deals than husband does. We usually decide together where we want to go. I’ll find the flights and lodging, then worry about car at some point. I’ll make reservations if we need them way ahead (in Hawaii there is one restaurant where you need reservations months ahead of time), and figure we can cancel if we decide not to go. He figures out driving routes, and is the primary driver. I would like suggest options for tours, etc. Husband will figure out things like what hikes we should do, and other “daily details” once we are someplace.
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I am good at planning for my immediate family, but don’t like being responsible for planning things for people I don’t know that well. I wound up making many of the decisions for a (husband’s) family trip last year, and it was stressful for me. Some parts of the family were very happy with decisions being made for them, but I think one particular person would have rather made more of the decisions for the group herself. I was asked to help, and found us great lodging. I made restaurant reservations (that we could cancel if anyone had a better idea) weeks ahead of time because as a group of 10 it’s not easy to get nice places last minute. But when some people normally eat at 5 and some closer to 8 or later, and some are perpetually on time or early, and others are always late, it can get touchy. Ah you said it perfectly - second guessers!
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I have always said I’ll never go on a cruise - I’m just not interested. The ones that I think are a bit interesting are just way too expensive. Well, a friend of my H’s has put a deposit down for an entire vessel - I think it hold 40 people - for a 7 day cruise in May of Croatia. He asked if we are interested and is sending the details this week. At first I was like no, but now I’m like maybe. Everyone is still paying for the cruise, but it is discounted and apparently top notch. I am an introverted person and I get heart palpitations just thinking about this. But it’s not something I’d ever consider doing if I had to plan it.
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Wow—that sounds interesting—having the entire boat filled with friends,relatives, acquaintances plus crew. Keep us posted.
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That sounds like it could be fun! Sometimes just saying “what the heck”/not overthinking it, and going for it can be great.
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