I love to travel. I love to travel for pleasure, that is. Traveling for work: not so much, though is tolerable, if it is infrequent and maybe somewhat enjoyable if there is a little downtime between meetings so I can enjoy the city. But that being said, I prefer to travel on my own schedule, which brings me to my next point.
What kind of traveler are you? Are you the type of traveler that needs to plan everything in advance and have an itinerary, or are you the type of traveler who likes to plan as you go?
I am a hybrid of both. I am quite flexible with a lot of things, places to eat, drink, see, for the most part I am fine with going with the flow. However, there are some things that I do like to plan:
- Lodging (I like to know where I am going to sleep at the end of the day)
- The popular “must see” spots
The reason for point two is due to the fact that I dislike crowds. Also, I don’t like lines. Popular “must see” places have both. When I went to the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona for example, I had an appointment and breezed past the 2-3 hour long line. WIN!
Of course, there are some things that just can’t be planned, like having unforeseen closures due to weather, but then you just have to roll with the punches. I got lucky with Lake Moraine in that it was closed up until the day after we landed in Canada. It was then where I knew luck was on our side.
In all, I think it is important to try to with someone who has similar travel philosophy as you do. Otherwise, your trip can be disaster! Your vacation can be a stressful experience if you are with someone who has the complete opposite take on how traveling should be. Since a vacation should not be stressful, it is important to try to weed out these characteristics BEFORE you go on a trip with someone, because once you are there, the escape route might not be that easy to find and it could ruin not only the trip, but also the relationship.
Have you ever been stuck in a situation like that before?
Mandy On Earth 