March 25, 2011
Day 2 ~ March 25 ~ One month before departure
On Paris, there simply are not enough guidebooks, maps, language lessons, recipes, stories or tips for me. (As you can see in this photo, my friends, neighbors, and the bookstore have loaded me up.) {Now in the book, Bonjour 40, is this full original entry, plus a longer piece about travel.}
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6 comments:
I'd like to say I show up and see where the adventure takes me but I don't. My designer tendency's take over and I plan. Having done that for Italy, I can say when I was on the plane heading home I had no regrets on missing anything. We didn't have a schedule planed out time wise but we did have a schedule where we knew what time places opened and closed and if we could buy tickets in advance. Have an amazing time and I can wait to see pictures!
I just show up, for everything really. I plan a general direction and list the things I have to see or accomplish, and then roll with it. I have a detailed itinerary (planned by someone else) for the South Pacific trip coming up. I don't know how I feel about it. I may come up missing as I wander around and see things that interest me. :)
I found myself in Paris for two nights in 1990 simply because the train from Amsterdam to Paris left before the train to Berlin, where I thought I'd go. And I thought, "What the heck..." While there, all transportation went on strike, and we had to hire a car to drive us back to Holland in order to get our plane back home! I was so much younger then:)
Now, what I like to do is read some kind of historical novel set in the city I am going to visit (I read three different ones as I traveled around China a couple of years ago...one for each region). It primes my imagination and makes everything so much more relevant. Doesn't help me ask directions to the bathroom, though...
Great question! We generally plan a few "must-do's" and an overall plan, but leave the details to chance. We've discovered so many interesting places and had so many neat experiences that we wouldn't have gotten without those accidental events and "wow- let's check that out" moments. Very cool location you'll be in, too!
Mark
Two words that will probably come as no surprise......Girl Scout!
Check Lists/Planning? You bet! We have a five page check list for domestic and an equivalent for international. This does not prevent spontaneity, though. It avoids problems. When we arrive at destination, we then revert to " responding spontaneously to the day" motto. Si nous voulons prendre 3 heures pour le déjeuner, nous le ferons.
Carole & Willie
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