[Sly Fox]

OK, I am coming clean. I am not one of those folks who can stumble into a family vacation without a care in the world. When I know I have trip on the horizon, I throw myself into research and spend the weeks leading up to the journey going off the deep end according to my wife. That includes watching movies based in targeted areas and meticulously mapping out nearly every mile/kilometer of the trek. My wife & I kids don't put an ounce of effort in advance of trips and just roll their eyes when I bring anything up.

Anybody else have the same quirks as me? And is there therapy that you recommend?

[ATrain]

I mean, we plan out the logistics pretty good, but we leave room for spontaneity as well. We'd have never gone into a Roald Dahl exhibit on the South Bank of the Thames in London if we had planned every hour and kilometer. We research where the airports and train stations are, best ways to navigate the city, and what are some "must dos," and go from there.

[Purple Haize]

OK, I am coming clean. I am not one of those folks who can stumble into a family vacation without a care in the world. When I know I have trip on the horizon, I throw myself into research and spend the weeks leading up to the journey going off the deep end according to my wife. That includes watching movies based in targeted areas and meticulously mapping out nearly every mile/kilometer of the trek. My wife & I kids don't put an ounce of effort in advance of trips and just roll their eyes when I bring anything up.

Anybody else have the same quirks as me? And is there therapy that you recommend?

Same. I planned our Europe trip years In advance. It was tough to balance activities and free time. Certainly don’t want to do too much yet FOMO is legit! I just asked Mrs Purple what she’d like and I try to accommodate. Our last cruise I did the flights cause those were gonna be tricky but told her to plan everything else. I’ve now been placed back in charge of vacation planning. Ha. So our trip to Michigan in July is already planned

[JK37]

I like watching ALLLLLLLL the theme park walk-through videos and Disney World hotel vids. That count?

[Yacht Rock]

I’m the same way and my family has thanked me for it because we’ve had some pretty nice vacations. I do a lot of planning, but also am always open to changing our plan. I think doing the research and planning helps us to know that when we do make a decision to be spontaneous, we know what we might be giving up to do the spontaneous thing.

Thus, we’ve never really had a vacation where we’ve said, “oh, if we only would have done that.” Everyone always seems to be happy with our trips.

[Sly Fox]

Let the record show that I am not suggesting that there is not room for spontaneity. What I often do is have multiple options available on most days so we can pivot and go with the flow depending on weather or other major circumstances.

When we stick around a city for at least a day, I typically leave those decisions up to a family vote. In my current prep mode, I will primarily be traveling with just my wife and meeting up with my daughter for a few days while she is studying abroad. Mrs. Sly gets annoyed if I even bring up anything to her in advance of a trip. And she is definitely not down with my film festivals. But she indulges my semi-psychotic behavorial tendencies.

When I travel for work, I have total control of the itinerary but get only a fraction of the joy out of the experience going solo. I am headed to Malayasia/Indonesia/Singapore in the fall and it is easy for me to plan.

We are also on the verge of becoming empty nesters. That places significant pressure on making sure that these times away are on point.

Haize - I had a seimilar experience letting my wife take the lead on trip-planning one time. We didn't even make it to the trip before she realized that she had zero interest in the endeavor and allowed me to rescue plans at the last moment. It sounds like you soldiered through your experience. Bless you. I was nearly a basket case until my wife finally relented.

[Purple Haize]

Let the record show that I am not suggesting that there is not room for spontaneity. What I often do is have multiple options available on most days so we can pivot and go with the flow depending on weather or other major circumstances.

When we stick around a city for at least a day, I typically leave those decisions up to a family vote. In my current prep mode, I will primarily be traveling with just my wife and meeting up with my daughter a few days while she is studying abroad. Mrs. Sly gets annoyed if I even bring up anything to her in advance of a trip. And she is definitely not down with my film festivals. But she indulges my semi-psychotic behavorial tendencies.

When I travel for work, I have total control of the itinerary but get only a fraction of the joy out of the experience going solo. I am headed to Malayasia/Indonesia/Singapore in the fall and it is easy for me to plan.

We are also on the verge of becoming empty nesters. That places significant pressure on makinf sure that these times away are on point.

Haize - I had a seimilar experience letting my wife take the lead on trip-planning one time. We didn't even make it to the trip before she realized that she had zero interest in the endeavor and allowed me to rescue plans at the last moment. It sounds like you soldiered through your experience. Bless you. I was nearly a basket case until my wife finally relented.

To be fair it was a cruise. So I was perfectly happy swinging on my hammock on our balcony!
She DID convince me to bid on a Seahorse for the Sea Horse race. We won quit a chunk of change when our guy Branson cam from 4 furlongs back to take the victory!

[Sly Fox]

Encouragement to gamble? That's definitely a surprising turn of events. But I am sure Branson always has a strong kick down the stretch.

Cruises are a different beast altogether. You have the options at the designated ports and anything that you can squeeze in before or after the voyage. The amount of investment in excursions directly correlates to how amazing of a deal I was able to swing on the cruise booking. Just before my heart attack, we were able to book a 7-night Southern Caribbean cruise from San Juan to Galveston a re-positioning for around $450/pp. I felt like I had gotten over significantly so I went all in on every stop except for one where my decision-making in Colombia proved very suspect. The simplicity and cost effectiveness of cruises has my wife & I wondering why we don't take them more frequently. I used to frequent the Cruise Critic forums back in the day to find the best options in port. But the explosion of choices these days at every stop makes it too easy.

And then on the backside, the obligatory photo book becomes my postmortem obsession in the weeks that follow trips. Anybody else go over the top on this projects?

[Purple Haize]

We are Virgin Voyages loyalists now (Thus Branson). It cuts out so much of the nickel and dime stuff of other cruises.
Viator is a great place to book excursions etc. Not that Mrs Purple took my advice. She realizes now how much effort planning fun is! And she agrees that it was pretty plug n play for a cruise

[Ill flame]

Speaking of cruises my wife has been wanting to do a Disney cruise for a few years so we booked one for when I get back to the states. We've never done a cruise before and ive never had a strong desire to go on one but after watching some videos on YouTube it looks like a good time.

[Sly Fox]

Cruises are cost effective and take you to a new place everyday without having to unload a suitcase. I have never done a Disney cruise but have been on most of the other majors. All have their unique aspects and features. All have one thing in common. You never go away hungry.

We are planning a river cruise in Europe once we finally get the last of the kids off the payroll.

[Purple Haize]

Cruises are cost effective and take you to a new place everyday without having to unload a suitcase. I have never done a Disney cruise but have been on most of the other majors. All have their unique aspects and features. All have one thing in common. You never go away hungry.

We are planning a river cruise in Europe once we finally get the last of the kids off the payroll.

We had thought about a River Cruise but after Virgin it’s a hard pass. The laid back fun atmosphere is just our vibe. Everyone we talked to about river cruises said the same thing. ‘We really liked it but…..’. Some had rivers that were too shallow. Some said it was to formal. Most hated the ‘shore excursions’. Smell was a surprising one. I guess not all of Europes River are pristine. We DID enjoy our Mediterranean cruises though. Spain was awesome. France was a reminder that there are some seriously rich people in this world and I ain’t one of them

[Sly Fox]

Eastern Med is our all-time favorite cruise. We are getting to an age where the slow pace of river cruises is really attractive. The Danube is what we have targeted since we have friends in Budapest and Romania and family from Bulgaria & Croatia. I have traveled along the Rhein by land. Been there, done that. And yes, rivers can be odorous in some locations.

One of colleagues from the UK put it to me best years ago: Europe has the best cities and America has the best of everything in between. That has matched up with personal experience for the most part.

I always prefer road trips when they are an option because of the freedom in planning. We are spending a week in a new country for me which is a bit unusual based on my heavy international travel for work. So being able to pick and choose exactly what we want to squeeze into a week is exciting for me. Driving on narrow roads with roundabouts every few miles, not so much. I was in the UK back in February and that nearly wore me out.

[ATrain]

We'll do cruises when our legs and backs don't work like they do now lol. And yes, driving on narrow roads is exhausting. The Road to Hana on Maui...

[TH Spangler]

We'll do cruises when our legs and backs don't work like they do now lol. And yes, driving on narrow roads is exhausting. The Road to Hana on Maui...

Road to Hana was great! Glad it was spared from the fire.

My favorite vacations are remote, with lodging close to fishing and little or no time spent driving around in a auto, unless its a 4x4 off the pavement.

[Sly Fox]

I am with you, TH Spangler. I love the mountains in particular. But the older I get, the more my wanderlust grows.

My youngest and I actually regularly sit down and look at our photo books while the rest of my house just shakes their heads and rolls their eyes. Hey, I came clean about my issues in the first post of this thread.

[Purple Haize]

We'll do cruises when our legs and backs don't work like they do now lol. And yes, driving on narrow roads is exhausting. The Road to Hana on Maui...

I still have PTSD from that when we went there as I was a little lad. I’m pretty sure we were mainlining Dramamine! We did check out Lindberghs grave so that was cool. But the rest…..
I did hear there’s a more modern less arduous road to get there now.

[ATrain]

We'll do cruises when our legs and backs don't work like they do now lol. And yes, driving on narrow roads is exhausting. The Road to Hana on Maui...

I still have PTSD from that when we went there as I was a little lad. I’m pretty sure we were mainlining Dramamine! We did check out Lindberghs grave so that was cool. But the rest…..
I did hear there’s a more modern less arduous road to get there now.

Not sure where you heard that. I didn't get motion sickness, it was pretty, but going around the blind curves and seeing another car almost crashing into you head on with a steep drop off on the side...not my idea of fun.

[Sly Fox]

If you have a rental car in Paris this summer, brace yourself for when you get off the freeways. Most of the roads are built for horse & buggy going one way. You may not have as many blind corners are in Maui, but it will be just as white-knuckle if you head toward the Pyrenees or Alps. It always freaks me out how narrow the vehicles have to be in the UK based on the roads. We are nowhere near as grateful for our wide lanes and shoulders here in the US as we should be.

[ATrain]

If you have a rental car in Paris this summer, brace yourself for when you get off the freeways. Most of the roads are built for horse & buggy going one way. You may not have as many blind corners are in Maui, but it will be just as white-knuckle if you head toward the Pyrenees or Alps. It always freaks me out how narrow the vehicles have to be in the UK based on the roads. We are nowhere near as grateful for our wide lanes and shoulders here in the US as we should be.

The only European driving I've ever done is in Iceland. We'll be mostly using trains/metro and Uber, with an AirBnB close to most of the events we're going to.

[Sly Fox]

Live a little. Driving in Germany & Italy is the closest I have ever come to being an F1 driver. And I live an area with 85 mph speed limits.

[ATrain]

Live a little. Driving in Germany & Italy is the closest I have ever come to being an F1 driver. And I live an area with 85 mph speed limits.

Well we won't be in Germany or Italy this time. Spain, France, and Morocco are on the itinerary, with a small layover at Schiphol.

[PAmedic]

Get it out of your system before u have kids lol

Ur goin nowhere but Chuck E. Cheese for the next 5-8 yrs

[Sly Fox]

Medic dropping truth bombs.

[ATrain]

Yes, I'm aware. Except for the fact that the nearest Chuk-E-Cheese is over an hour from me.