Plans

A trip in the making

Before the trip comes the planning. And sometimes the plan is more fun than the trip.

Planning is a time for making decisions, which isn’t always easy. Settling on an itinerary, selecting lodging, figuring out transportation and choosing activities and sights. Sometimes that means making sacrifices. There’s never as much time as I want to go everywhere I want to go.

It’s also a time for anticipation, for imagining the trip and learning about the places I’ll visit.

When planning a trip, everything goes smoothly. I am never tired, my feet never hurt, I don’t get lost or miss a train or lose anything. Planning is like the perfect dress rehearsal.

Usually, the performance doesn’t end up going quite so perfectly. But that’s part of the adventure!

  • A Tale of Three Itineraries

    As I’m planning my Oregon road trip, I feel like I’m planning three separate vacations. First, I have four nights to spend along the coast. Then I have four nights in Ashland for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Finally, I have six or seven nights to meander back north through central Oregon.

  • Fossil and Fossils

    I’d never actually heard of Fossil, Oregon, before it was recommended to me via my post on the Thorn Tree Forum. And now that I’m definitely going there, I don’t know if I’m happy about it. Maybe it will be the highlight of my trip. Or maybe not. I feel like I should do some homework so I…

  • Next spring? Really?

    With less than two weeks until I leave for my Oregon road trip, I find that I’m already on the verge of putting down a deposit on my next vacation. I was thinking the Balkans in the fall, but now I’m thinking I won’t wait that long. I’m looking at Rick Steves’ first tour next spring,…

  • Itinerary Tweaking

    I love planning my vacation nearly as much as going on it.  (Nothing unusual about that, I think.)  So once I start narrowing down the plan, I am constantly tweaking it until I’ve locked everything down. So here’s my revised itinerary for the Balkans:

  • Road Trips

    The last time I took a serious road trip was my Acadian Road Trip, eight years ago, in July 2005. I flew to Portland, Maine, and I rented a car and drove up along the coast into New Brunswick, then down and around Nova Scotia, and back by ferry to Maine. I saw so many…

  • More Balkan dreaming

    Two days until I leave on my Oregon road trip. I’m planning to blog daily while I’m gone, posting experiences and photos. Meanwhile, I’m continuing to think ahead to next May and my trip to the Balkans. I requested a private tour itinerary from JayWay, and I’m now seriously thinking of doing that instead of the Rick…

  • Second guessing myself

    In preparation for my upcoming trip, I bought the Kindle edition of Rick Steves’ Croatia & Slovenia guide book today. It’s coauthored by Cameron Hewitt, who led the travel session I attended in Edmonds last spring, and I suspect it’s more authored than coauthored by Hewitt.

  • Planning what I can

    One of the things I am missing out on as I get close to my Balkan adventure is the planning. It’s liberating in a way, but I also feel like I’m missing out on part of the experience by leaving the planning in the hands of JayWay Travel. So I’m really digging into the few…

  • Ljubljana

    Ljubljana wasn’t even on my radar before I started seriously planning my trip.  But the more I read about it, the more excited I am to spend some time there.  It seems to be both a great city to see and a great base to explore from.  With three nights, that’s really just two days, so I’m figuring…

  • Bled and Vicinity

    It will probably be late afternoon or early evening before we arrive in Ljubljana on May 4, so I’m figuring just two full days before we move on to the west. Those two days may end up being perfect for seeing the sites in Ljubljana and having some time to relax, or we might find…

  • The Julian Alps

    You go to the mountains for scenery, right?  And I’m guessing the Julian Alps won’t disappoint. One of the reasons for going to Kobarid is the drive there. We’ll had north out of Ljubljana on A2 (with stops around Bled if we haven’t had the chance to get there already). We’ll turn off A2 before…

  • Istria

    We have three nights in Rovinj.  Assuming we arrive late in the day, that still gives us two full days to explore the Istrian peninsula.

  • Plitvice via Opatija

    Imagine Niagara Falls sliced and diced and sprinkled over a vast and heavily forested canyon. It’s a lush and unforgettable valley of 16 terraced lakes, laced together by waterfalls and miles of pleasant plank walks. That’s what Rick Steves says about Plitvice Lakes National Park on his 2010 show, “Croatia: Adriatic Delights.” I can’t wait to…

  • Plitvice to Sarajevo

    At 347 km, the drive from Plitvice to Sarajevo is the longest of my trip, about 5 hours.  That would still allow plenty of time in the morning to visit the national park before the drive (if weather or timing the day before makes that advisable).  But there are two stops that have been recommended,…

  • Sarajevo

    My little history lesson has given me a new sense of context that I think will make visiting Sarajevo very memorable. Of all the places I’m going on this trip, I think it is the one where knowing the history will make the most difference in terms of how I experience it. It’s a cruel…

  • Mostar

    If you do an  image search on Mostar, pretty much every photo is of the same thing. And I’m sure I’ll add my own pictures of this bridge when I see it in person. But this, I guess, is Mostar.

  • Trogir and Split

    After Mostar I return to Croatia, where I spend the last 8 nights of my vacation.  My first stop is Trogir, a town of about 10,000 people just 27 kilometers west of Split.  Most everyone says Split is a must-see destination, but my agent at JayWay Travel urged me to stay in Trogir instead.  I…

  • Hvar and Korčula

    When I went to Italy for two weeks in 2009, I spent most of the time seeing places with rich historical and cultural significance (i.e. sightseeing), but I spent the last few days in the Cinque Terre just enjoying spectacular scenery, wonderful and challenging hikes, and quiet relaxation. My Nordic adventure two years ago had…

  • Dubrovnik

    Regardless of whether you are visiting Dubrovnik for the first time or the hundredth, the sense of awe and beauty when you set eyes on the Stradun never fades. Indeed it’s hard to imagine anyone becoming jaded by the city’s marble streets, baroque buildings and the endless shimmer of the Adriatic, or failing to be…

  • Dubrovnik excursions

    With essentially three full days in Dubrovnik, I will definitely spend one of them on an all-day excursion to the Bay of Kotor in Montenegro. I’ve already written about that. There are a couple of other options for day trips out of Dubrovnik that won’t require a full day. Cavtat Cavtat (pronounced ‘tsav-tat’) is a small town just…

  • Balkan Food

    Just as two years ago I struggled for the right term to describe Denmark, Sweden, Estonia, Finland, and Iceland (I settled on “Nordic,” but that wasn’t really right), there isn’t a good term that describes the places I’m visiting on this trip.  I use “Balkan” reluctantly, and I acknowledge that it’s not technically accurate, but…

  • Balkan Arts

    There’s only one artist from the countries I’ll be visiting that I’ve ever heard of: Ivan Meštrović. But I only just figured out why I’ve heard of him. For a while Meštrović taught at Syracuse University, where I (much later) went to college. And a number of his sculptures are displayed on the SU campus.…

  • Markets

    I love shopping on vacation. It’s not about buying souvenirs.  In fact it’s not necessarily about buying anything (though I often do spend my American dollars abroad).  Shopping on vacation is about seeing how locals shop, and how the things they buy and the way they buy them are similar to or different from how…

  • One Week Out

    Hard to believe, but it’s just one week until I leave on my trip. I started packing last night.  Well, not really. I made a pile on my floor of some stuff that’s coming with me (including some stuff that most likely won’t make the final cut when I actually do start packing).  The pile will…

  • Packed

    i’m ready. There are still two hours before I leave for the airport, but I’m all packed and ready to go. The big pile has been squeezed into my Rick Steves convertible carry-on and my souvenir bag from being a Jeopardy! contestant.  Combined weight is 28 pounds, which is more than I’d like to be carrying,…

  • My Southwest Road Trip

    Southwest road trip?  Say what?!? Yes, after I did those posts about my Next #1 and Next #2 itineraries, I started thinking about a different Next. The Galapagos Islands. Wait, what am I talking about? What do the Galapagos Islands have to do with a southwest road trip?

  • More sleeping

    I have reversed myself and decided to go ahead and book my lodging for the days I was going to play it by ear. There is something kind of thrilling about the spontaneity of not deciding where to stay until I get there, but weighing that against not having anywhere decent to stay, or being forced…

  • A Change of Scenery

    I have no idea why I didn’t consider this up front, but I realized yesterday that I could easily add Bryce Canyon National Park to my itinerary by skipping the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. So I posted a query on Facebook: with a choice between these two alternatives, which should I do. And…

  • A day at the Grand Canyon

    My flight lands in Las Vegas at 10:35 a.m. Assuming an hour to get my luggage and my car and get out of the airport, I hope I can get to Hoover Dam by 12:30. They have guided tours, but depending on the crowds and the timing, I may skip the tour and just stop…

  • Flagstaff and Sedona

    Day One is my arrival day; Day Two is my Grand Canyon day. On Day Three I make my way to Sedona, where I spend two nights. If I decide to take a flightseeing tour of the Grand Canyon, I’ll probably do that on the morning of Day Three. There’s one outfit that has helicopter…

  • It’s Newer than Mexico

    Of the five states I’ll be in on my southwest road trip, New Mexico is the one I’ve spent the least time in. I lived in Colorado for two years, I visited Utah on a long road trip from Illinois in the early 1990s, I went to an ACDA convention in Phoenix back in 1991,…

  • Southwest Colorado

    My plan, until the last few days, was to spend three nights in Durango, using it as a base to explore southwestern Colorado. But plans change. I have decided to stay just two nights in Durango and one in Telluride.

  • Westward

    Leaving Telluride, I have two days of westward travel in southern Utah and northern Arizona, ending up at Bryce, with an overnight in Mexican Hat, Utah. For these two days I plan to meander and enjoy scenery. I have a few options on which routes to take, and there are things I will have to…

  • Bryce and Zion

    I have a full day at Bryce Canyon National Park, and probably two half days at Zion. You’d think from reading about these parks that I don’t have nearly enough time, as they are large parks and there’s lots to see in both of them.

  • Which show to see?

    I’ve got tickets for five Broadway shows during my upcoming visit to New York. I have one evening still to fill, plus a Wednesday matinee. For the matinee, my mom is going to meet me in the city and we are going to do the half-price TKTS thing. So that leaves me one night to fill…

  • Name the Trip

    I don’t know what to call this trip. My last three trips to Europe were easier: Italy, my Nordic Adventure, and the Balkans. But what do I call this trip? I was thinking “Northern Europe,” but that doesn’t feel nearly specific enough. Do I just call it “Belgium, Netherlands, and Norway”? It doesn’t exactly come trippingly…

  • My Beltherway Itinerary

    Yes, Beltherway (for BELgium, neTHERlands, norWAY). Thanks to Troy Aker for the brilliant portmanteau. This past weekend I went up to Rick Steves’ Travel Center in Edmonds for a trip consult with Lisa, and with her help I was able to firm up my itinerary, and I’ve finished booking all my accommodations, mostly through Airbnb.

  • Planapple

    With just a few weeks until my Beltherway trip, I am spending a lot of time trying to get organized. That involves not just making final itinerary plans, but also making a checklist for packing and pre-trip preparations — things like remembering to stop mail delivery, turn down the heat, and notify my credit card…

  • Follow along!

    I leave on my Beltherway adventure in three days! I will be doing my best to blog daily while I’m gone, but full, exhausting days sometimes interfere, and frankly, full, exhausting days are more important than blogging.

  • South America Bound!

    I’m very excited about my next trip, which will take me to a new continent (my third after North America and Europe). I’m going to be spending four weeks visiting Argentina and Chile (with a brief jaunt into Brazil). I decided to try a tour this time, and I have mixed feelings about it. I…

  • A Post-Vacation Vacation

    After my four-week tour in South America this November, staying in fourteen different places and flying twelve separate legs, I decided I will need a post-vacation vacation. Luckily, I work for a company that closes our office for the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day. Last year I went to San Francisco for the…

  • The Challenge of Planning

    Some trips plan themselves. Others require thinking and rethinking, a lot of second guessing, trade-offs, sacrifices in the name of time, and tough decisions for reasons of practicality. Take, for instance, the trip I’m planning for next spring to Germany, the Czech Republic, and Poland.

  • My Costa Rica Itinerary

    When I finally decide to take a trip, I don’t waste time. I’ve now gone from dreaming of a possible trip to Costa Rica to having made (almost) all my plans! I’m taking two weeks at the end of December to experience some of the highlights of this country that’s been near the top of…

  • Next Stop, Yellowstone!

    My Yellowstone road trip is just one week out, and I’ve pretty much figured out all the details. I have been using an cool online tool I discovered to help with the planning. It’s called Furkot. I’ll share more about planning a road trip with Furkot in a separate post.

  • 2020

    2019 We’re into the last two weeks of the year. 2019 included lots of travels for me, including the most significant journey of my life: a move to a new country.

  • Pueblos Mágicos: A road trip

    Mexico has 132 Pueblos Mágicos. I haven’t traveled since February 2020. We’re in the middle of a global pandemic that makes international travel complicated. I love a good road trip. I’m fully vaccinated against Covid-19. May is the hottest month of the year at Lake Chapala. So guess what that means: I’m going to take a…

  • Planning: Like Juggling Live Fish

    Planning my upcoming trip to Turkey, Ethiopia, Israel, and Jordan has become a huge challenge. And considering I’m going on a tour, that’s a pretty remarkable statement. I’ve planned complete two- and three-week adventures all by myself, and it hasn’t been this complicated. I’ve already postponed this trip twice due to Covid, and now it…

  • On my way to Peru

    I’m heading to South America for the second time, and at 11:55 tonight I’ll be on my way to Peru. Right now I’m sitting in the AeroMexico lounge at the airport in Mexico City awaiting my flight.

  • A Wee Bonny Adventure in Scotland

    My next trip is a five-week adventure in Scotland. I’ll be traveling independently, mostly by train, and looking forward to enjoying great scenery, hiking, and relaxation. My trip is scheduled for late April and all of May. This is the hottest time in my corner of Mexico, so I was eager to find somewhere cooler…

  • Heading Down Under

    I wasn’t sure “Down Under” was the right umbrella term for my next trip. I was thinking “Down Under” might refer specifically to Australia. But according to Wikipedia, The term Down Under is a colloquialism differently construed to refer to Australia and New Zealand, or the Pacific island countries collectively. The term originally referred solely to Australia and gradually expanded in scope. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Down_Under In two weeks…

  • Planning for Rome

    Believe it or not, I’ve never been to Rome. I’ve made two trips to Italy, but not to Rome. I’m making up for it by spending ten full days in Rome at the beginning of October. But planning for my Rome visit has been more challenging than any other trip I’ve ever taken. This is the longest…

  • Ten days in Rome: My final plan

    If you didn’t already read about how I went about planning for my trip to Rome, go ahead. I’ll wait. Now, just over a week before I leave, I think I’ve got all the planning settled. I’ve identified a lot of churches, museums, and other sights I hope to see. I’ve pre-booked tour for certain things,…

  • My Secret Itinerary

    Before each trip, I usually post my itinerary so you can follow along. I don’t know who actually reads and follows along with all the details of where I’m going to be staying each day and what activities are on my agenda, but it’s fun to put it all in a post. But this time,…