Judy26
Pearl Clutcher
MOTFY Bitchy Nursemaid
Posts: 2,971
Location: NW PA
Jun 25, 2014 23:50:38 GMT
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Post by Judy26 on Jul 12, 2014 16:10:42 GMT
I am a planner but understand things don't always go my way. But I will get up in the middle of the night (and have) to avoid traffic. I despise traffic with the evil hatred of hades! If I get stuck in traffic on the way home from vacation the relaxed vacationy mood evaporates completely and I turn into a raving bitch.
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Post by ScrapbookMyLife on Jul 12, 2014 16:20:44 GMT
I am somewhere in the middle.
I like to have a plan of what I want to do, where I want to go, etc... but I don't like every minute or hour scheduled.
I've found, that I do not vacation well with others. Indecisive people, drives me crazy! Two hours deciding what they want to do, where they want to go....aargh!!
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Post by winogirl on Jul 12, 2014 16:33:58 GMT
I have a general plan, but I don't have every hour planned. I do research and reserve where I want to stay way in advance though.
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Post by gmcwife1 on Jul 12, 2014 16:37:56 GMT
I think more of "spontaneity within structure". With that said, I see the point of the people who don't want to "waste" the last day of beach on the road! But, unfortunately, getting back is part of the whole deal! We generally plan in a day between return and work ... but I'm self employed so it is a bit more flexible for me! I like this 'spontaneity within structure'! We are both. For us vacactioning is about many things and part of that is getting away from the daily punching in and out. We have loose guidelines for the most part. We just spent 6 days in the RV at two different RV parks. We stayed two days at one and four days at the other. We are new to camping and dh thought we were paid up to the 2nd but we were paid until the 3rd. So we stayed an extra day But we also pulled out an hour before checkout, so I guess it works for us.
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Post by maryland on Jul 12, 2014 16:51:48 GMT
I am a planner. I like to know in advance what time we are going and what time we are coming home. If our families come to visit (both are out of town) I like to know what time they are getting here and what time they are leaving. We travel to see family (each trip 5 hrs. and one is 19 hrs.) 6 times a year (and 3 separate trips between Thanksgiving and Christmas). that is so stressful around the holidays.
But, our family (just us, no one else) goes to the beach for a month in the summer. My husband, 3 kids and I. We do what we want when we want, no planning while there. And the day we leave, we are up early cleaning and packing. Then we load the car, turn in our keys and hit the beach for the rest of the day! We want to spend every second we can at the beach. But that's why we don't take anyone with us. We want to do what we want.
I think they should have planned to be back on time since that's what they told your daughter. If they wanted to stay all day and come home a day late, they should have told your daughter so she could have taken off work, or not gone on the trip. I am with you on that part.
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Post by PNWMom on Jul 12, 2014 18:30:39 GMT
I *love* planning. Especially travel planning. I don't want to discover after a trip across the planet that I was a block or two away from something amazing and missed out on it. I over plan, but go with the flow while actually on vacation. I have everything detailed out to the specific metro stop I need to get off at in Paris, to the actual (miniaturized) train schedules for rural Germany. Then we see how it plays out and how we are feeling in the moment and are totally open to changes in plans. I make a custom travel journal using shrunk down copies of tickets, maps, etc, and when I get home I add in pictures I took on the trip, so I have a cool little travel memoir to browse through.
Here are some 'before' pictures of our 2010 Europe trip.
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Post by bluepoprocks on Jul 12, 2014 18:47:35 GMT
I'm a planner for sure. I wouldn't be able to function if I didn't have a list and a plan.
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luvnlifelady
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,428
Jun 26, 2014 2:34:35 GMT
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Post by luvnlifelady on Jul 12, 2014 18:47:52 GMT
I'm a planner for sure. Already starting to stress about a trip we are leaving on in 2 weeks! I'm the one responsible for everything though (for me and the kids as this is a road trip). DH works full-time and has a long commute, so his job is to just show up with his stuff ready to go. As best as I plan though, we are usually late getting on the road. I hope to avoid that this time since we are meeting relatives for a meal later in the day. Often times too now, it's way cheaper to get tickets beforehand for amusement parks online rather than just show up and get them at the gate. 14 yo DS flew up to visit a friend this past week and their plans have changed quite a bit which would make me edgy. He can fly by the seat of his pants though so it's fine for him. ETA: Bluepoprocks-great minds think alike!
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Post by darkangel090260 on Jul 12, 2014 18:56:39 GMT
Be for kids I would drop and go in a second. (hell we had go bags all you had to do is grab and go)
I still have something like that I keep packed by no clothing or anything.
With kids i am a planner, We are leaving in a few weeks I have already started packing.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Oct 5, 2024 13:21:40 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jul 12, 2014 19:05:41 GMT
I am a planner for sure. Although when I go on vacation I just have a loose version of what I want to do. More like an outline rather than an itinerary!
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tuesdaysgone
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,832
Jun 26, 2014 18:26:03 GMT
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Post by tuesdaysgone on Jul 12, 2014 19:30:29 GMT
I'm a planner. If I am not 15 minutes early, I consider myself late. Me too! I enjoy the planning. I think it's part of my whole vacation experience...looking at different hotels, parks, museums and restaurants. The anticipation! On the other hand, my sister and brother in law will take off for the beach without any thought of reservations or plans. I went to the beach with them once. It was almost midnight before we found a vacancy. They weren't stressed in the least but I was ready to croak.
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janeliz
Drama Llama
I'm the Wiz and nobody beats me.
Posts: 5,641
Jun 26, 2014 14:35:07 GMT
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Post by janeliz on Jul 12, 2014 19:52:28 GMT
I'm a good combination of the two. In a situation like you described, though, I'm a planner. It would drive me crazy to vacation like that.
My SIL and BIL are similar to the family you've described. They'll get a Saturday-Saturday beach house rental, but spend so much time screwing around on that first Saturday that they don't even arrive to the beach house until Sunday. Then they don't want to leave the following Saturday because they'll feel like they didn't get enough beach time. So they'll beg the rental company to find them accommodations for a few more days. They never, ever arrive back from vacation when they're expected to.
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Post by Ryann on Jul 12, 2014 20:06:53 GMT
I am a planner prior to the vacation, but once on vacation, I'm much less of one. So I guess a bit of both?
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Post by papersilly on Jul 12, 2014 20:46:13 GMT
A planner. Always.
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Post by peasful1 on Jul 12, 2014 20:48:39 GMT
I don't think this really qualifies as a planner or not planner. They planned to go to the beach on the last day. We go and leave without much dilly dallying, but while on vacation we do not plan. At all. Any whiff of an itinerary and it completely sucks the fun out of the vacation for me. We fly by the seat of our pants.
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Post by Woobster on Jul 12, 2014 21:12:25 GMT
I am totally a fly by the seat of my pants girl. It works for me!
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Oct 5, 2024 13:21:41 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jul 12, 2014 21:17:03 GMT
It depends on the kind of vacation. J
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Post by mztfied on Jul 12, 2014 22:29:49 GMT
I'm a planner for sure. I have a check off list that I go through. To me that saves me many hours of trying to make sure it is all done. There are always so many little things that you cannot do til the last day. I find that this works best for me.
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Post by Pahina722 on Jul 12, 2014 23:02:27 GMT
Plan the big things but flexible with the small ones. If it takes reservations or tickets, that is planned in advance, but otherwise, we go with the flow. We have friends that do week-long Disney vacations with every. freakin. minute. scheduled. They plan out exactly when they'll arrive at the park, the order of rides, when they eat and where. . . . Drives me nuts. They talked about doing a dual-family trip together once; after hearing their planning schedule, DH and I opted out. I like my vacation to feel leisurely, not so jam-packed that I don't have any down time.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Oct 5, 2024 13:21:41 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jul 13, 2014 1:24:13 GMT
A planner with room for flexibility. Life has taught me that things don't always go as planned and that's okay.
When I think back to my first trip to Disney World with my husband (then fiancé), though, I cringe. He made the mistake of buying me a Birnbaum guidebook and I had every waking moment scheduled from when we opened our eyes in the morning to when we went to bed. He must've really loved me. LOL
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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Post by spitfiregirl on Jul 13, 2014 1:38:09 GMT
I can't plan anything. If i do, I get an upset stomach! It stresses me out. So I never plan. I seriously do not plan. I never know what I'm gonna do until I wake up each day. I have ideas of what I want to do each day, but I really just wing it.
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*~*amanda*~*
Junior Member
Posts: 51
Jul 11, 2014 10:50:16 GMT
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Post by *~*amanda*~* on Jul 13, 2014 3:12:24 GMT
Oh my gosh, we are planners. Flexible if things dont go the way we planned them but when leaving to get to vacation or home from vacation we like to leave at a set time!
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Post by gmcwife1 on Jul 13, 2014 3:27:05 GMT
I am totally a fly by the seat of my pants girl. It works for me! My parents have their RV packed and ready to go with everything except perishables, we are working towards the same. I can't wait to be able to leave for a long weekend at the drop of a hat!
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Oct 5, 2024 13:21:41 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jul 14, 2014 6:20:13 GMT
It depends on the circumstances. Some things I just wing it, other things I like planned ahead.
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cycworker
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,387
Jun 26, 2014 0:42:38 GMT
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Post by cycworker on Jul 14, 2014 6:49:36 GMT
I'd ask you to guess, but I think it's rather obvious. I am a planner, and luckily, I have a friend who I travel with who also likes to plan. What PNWMom describes sounds like my idea of travel heaven. It is really important to us to have everything mapped out so no place we really want to see gets missed. Now, we don't force ourselves to stick to the plan if another idea comes to us that seems like more fun in the end. For example, we were in Toronto and we loved the Royal Ontario Museum, and the whole walk there... it took more of our day than we expected, so we didn't really have the energy to go see Casa Loma. We talked about it and decided that was fine. So we start with a pretty detailed itinerary that is created by each of us writing a list of the main things we'd like to see. My friend, who is brilliant, maps it out and notes any potential difficulties (most often, something I, who am terrible with maps & such, have noted I would like to see, but that happens to be WAAAAAY on the other side of town, so impractical). We take all the sites we both want to see, map them out, then discuss if we think the list is too long and generally take out any place that is isolated/impractical due to the vicinity to where we are (we tend to not rent cars). We also have a thing where we give each other one 'must see' regardless of if it's on the other person's list. There's also our 2 shoe stores equals 1 scrapbook store agreement.
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Post by Spongemom Scrappants on Jul 14, 2014 11:31:35 GMT
I'm definitely a planner. To me that's part of the fun of a trip. I love all the anticipation that planning entails. For the first big trip my husband and I were taking together (before marriage), we both showed up with folders of information we had gathered. We took it as a sign that we were meant for each other!
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Post by FLA SummerBaby on Jul 14, 2014 11:44:02 GMT
Holy Mother of God, I'm a planner. Just reading the description of their "vacation" made me break out in flop sweats. I'd never be able to relax if I didn't know that everything was taken care of in advance. This ^^^^^^ I am such a planner and have managed to create that same sense of planning ahead in my DD as well. We both marvel at the "fly by the seat of your pants" of others who don't share our need for a plan!
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Post by mdoc on Jul 14, 2014 11:44:15 GMT
Maybe that WAS their plan - to check out at the last possible moment and spend the day at the beach - and they just didn't plan on hitting traffic.
We've gone on several camping vacations where we watch many people get up early, pack up and head out in the morning, while we spend a leisurely day and leave in the evening. But that is our plan - to take advantage of the entire time we can be there. However, if we hit traffic we'd likely just keep plugging away, especially if someone had plans for the following day.
To answer the question, I'm a planner. I don't schedule things to the minute, but I have a very good idea of what we're going to do. But there can be some spontaneity, including with respect to our departure time. If we were travelling with a non-family member, I would check on their obligations at home before I made a spontaneous change to our departure.
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peabay
Prolific Pea
Posts: 9,891
Jun 25, 2014 19:50:41 GMT
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Post by peabay on Jul 14, 2014 11:54:55 GMT
Holy Mother of God, I'm a planner. Just reading the description of their "vacation" made me break out in flop sweats. I'd never be able to relax if I didn't know that everything was taken care of in advance. This ^^^^^^ I am such a planner and have managed to create that same sense of planning ahead in my DD as well. We both marvel at the "fly by the seat of your pants" of others who don't share our need for a plan! My friend calls them "Seven o'clockers", meaning the people who show up at 7:00 to a school program (that starts at 7:00) and expect a seat up front and are so surprised that the place is full and they have to stand in the back. And she really doesn't mean it in a derogatory fashion. She and I both would love to relax enough to be "seven o'clockers" but just can't do it. I think there's a balance between making sure you have a hotel, are leaving on time and have a plan of where to be and overscheduling and ruling the vacation with an iron fist. I'm fine with spontaneity in my vacation - but I want to know where I'm staying and have a general plan. With my family, we'd all be sitting around at 11:00 in our pajamas asking: "what do you want to do? I don't know, what do YOU want to do?"
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grinningcat
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,663
Jun 26, 2014 13:06:35 GMT
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Post by grinningcat on Jul 14, 2014 13:28:53 GMT
The only times I tend to stick to on vacations is getting to the airports 2 hours before my flight. I refuse to race through an airport, preferring to walk through security (I seem to luck out and there are never lines) and then spend the rest of my time browsing through the airport shops.
I may plan some itinerary stuff, mostly places I want to go. For example, we're going to the East Coast next month. There needs to be 2 day trips to PEI, a day trip to Hopewell Rocks/Cape Enrage/whatever else on the Bay of Fundy, and evenings are reserved for hanging out at the house. There's no scheduling beyond that. I don't even know what days we'll go where, and that's cool.
I don't know if I would be irritated at the situation in the OP as a planner vs non-planner issue. I'd be more irritated that the arrival time home was not communicated. And really... you expect them to plan for stop and go traffic? How on earth do you plan for that? I think you're more angry that they don't do it the way YOU would do it than the fact that they stopped at a hotel and a day of work will be missed.
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