Planning Travel, Almost as Good as the Real Thing

There is an uncelebrated aspect of traveling that I think we should talk more about: planning. The entire online travel community is built upon this premise, yet we rarely talk about it. The act of planning your trip: reading, researching, crafting itineraries; can be an act of tantalizing anticipation. Otherwise, why would there be so many sites (like this one) dedicated to describing past trips, giving readers travel tips, or flashing their latest pics?

The fact is: most of the people reading this will never quit their job and travel around the world. So why are you reading?

The answer is the same as why I read blogs about travel to China or an insider’s look at being a flight attendant. I don’t have any plans in the short term to travel to China or become a airline employee. But it’s interesting to me, to read about other people’s experiences and it informs my own travel decisions.

Right now, I’m planning the next leg of my journey, this time with a home base in Mexico and traveling around South America over the next six months. I’m filled with the same expectation and thrill as I was last spring when I planned my course around Europe. What will it be like? Where should I go? How can I craft a unique and valuable experience that best fits with my interests and travel style? Right now, it’s a blank slate, and it’s wonderfully delicious.

We should celebrate this aspect of the travel experience, especially when research can be even better than the real thing. When I planned my time in Spain, I read about the Rastro Market. I pictured this wonderful open air market, selling jars of spices, handmade crafts, and hand picked flowers. Several people recommended it highly. When my husband and I spent a Sunday morning touring the several blocks of vendors, we found typical flea market offerings. T-shirts, scarves, belts and shoes sold en masse. A few junk faux antique places. Comics and magazines, aged and wrapped in plastic. An airbrush artist that would paint your kids face on a t-shirt. I was expecting a 19th century spice route bazaar, and instead got a modern tourist trap. Am I disappointed? Hardly. I spent 2 months dreaming about it and now I have a story to tell. The fact that I had great expectations was the only noteworthy part of the experience.

The expectation of travel can be a rewarding pursuit in itself. The side benefit is that well-researched trips not only go off smoother, but seem richer. A course in Art History, makes a trip to a famous museum even more interesting as you consider the artist’s history, how they were shaped by their time and the impact they had future generations. Seeing a painting for the first time verses seeing a painting you’ve read about extensively can be a totally different experience.

So now, I’m back to this wonderful phase of travel: the planning. I’m reading books, researching online, learning about the history and imagining how great it will be to finally be there. It won’t be the same as I imagine, it will be worse and better and just plain different. But it’s one of my favorite parts of travel– I’ve even planned elaborate trips I’ve never gone on (I have a Thailand trip all planned out, if I could just get myself that far east).

Want to stretch your travel dollars? Spend a few months planning before your next trip. You’ll feel like you spent twice as long there and learned five times as much.

So what are you planning?