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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I’d do it! I have always wanted to see Croatia from the water and I’ll either do a Sea Dream or Viking or Wind Star cruise to see it. A small private yacht would be lovely!
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I’d do it too!
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I have done that. Typically, the boats are 36 or 38 passenger yachts leased out for the tourist season that go between Split and Dubrovnik on the Dalmatian coast, stopping at different ports each evening. Mine was a musical cruise led by a friend of friend musician with Croatian family. It was fantastic, great tour director on board, individual guides and a tour in each town, sometimes dinner on board, sometimes in the town at our own expense. Plenty of free time to explore as well as a lot of cultural understanding. We’d dock every afternoon and swim in some cove or other from the boat. This was September and the water was perfect (I am a desert rat at heart and don’t like super cold water). Our cruise was filled with friends and neighbors as well as the musicians friends and neighbors. The Croatian people are wonderful, multilingual and kind. There is a lot to see in other parts of Croatia as well as Slovenia and Montenegro. I only went to Slovenia, by bus after the cruise.
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Sounds very fun and inviting! How does one learn about yachts for rent (with crews)? That would be an awesome possibility for our extended family—we would fill the entire yacht!
If you google cruising Croatia companies come up and their websites are set up for people looking to reserve the entire vessel. There are cruises that are deemed, hiking cruises, biking cruises, elegance cruises, wine etc also numerous itineraries. A world I didn’t know existed honestly!
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We found a good deal to Munich from San Diego in December direct on Lufthansa. I want to see a few Christmas markets and we are trying to decide what else we would like to do. We have 7 nights. We are going to take the train to Salzburg and stay there a couple of nights. We like history - museums, churches, castles, etc. I don’t have to visit a lot of the Christmas markets, but would like to see a couple. Any suggestions are appreciated.
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I always recommend doing a food tour when visiting a city. Its a great way to have a guided experience while also getting to try some food you might not have found otherwise.
We’ve had very good luck with Secret Tours, and you can often get free drink package upgrade with their tours when booking. They also usually do the tours in areas you want to explore and the guides are extremely helpful with any other questions you might have about things to do/places to see.
I usually book for the first full day we have in a city and then go on from there.
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Thank you for the food tour suggestion.
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I second the food tour suggestion. We have done them in several cities/ countries.
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We did the holiday markets in Munich last Christmas. Took a train to Salzburg one day and a train to Nuremberg another (giant market).
In Munich you can schedule a tour of the law library in the town hall - only offered once a week and you need to buy in advance. This is separate from going to the top of town hall (which gives you a good view of the city).
We did a food walking tour and enjoyed it very much.
Some of the smaller Christmas markets in Munich are fun, we liked the Medieval Christmas Market (got mulled mead to drink there).
Some great places a little off the beaten path - Lenbachhaus musuem (don’t miss the part in the subway), Cuvilliés Theatre (part of the residence tour), and the little museums at Nymphenburg Palace.
Check when you are there as the churches will have holiday concerts (you might be able to see one or even a rehearsal).
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I have an Airbnb question.
I’m renting an Airbnb next weekend. My daughter, sil are flying in and it’s a milestone birthday for H. So I rented an Airbnb on a lake here.
Today I get a message. Says I can rent the day before at a small discount. They also said that they would ask the renters before us if they wanted to rent the day before. I can see the calendar, there are no renters before or after our stay.
They also said that I can request early check in and late check out. For $25 per.
I send back a message that I don’t want to rent additional days but I’d like both early check in and late check out.
I am told that I will have to request both 24-48 hours before check in. So now I have to request this before we check in and when we check out.
I am confused! Do you think it was Chat GPT or a bot? Because why if there are no renters, I have no idea why housekeeping has a schedule!