Time and Money (aka Reality)–Part 2

Adventure is a State of Mind

A previous post about travel planning (Time and Money Part 1) focused on the financial budget and limitations, but just as important to planning is the time budget. It is important to have a discussion with your travel companions as to how much time you have. You may feel that no trip of less than ten days is worth taking while your friend only has a week of vacation available to them. In the early stages of planning, it is helpful to discuss whether there is any flexibility in the amount of time you have available. If you know that only seven days are available, the plan you create will have to fit into that time. If there is more wiggle room, however, there can be some discussions along the lines of “I really want to see that castle/mountain/museum/beach. Would you consider us adding an additional day to our trip to make that possible?”

Get Creative and Flexible with Your Time

If there is limited time, especially if you or your travel companions are working in a traditional Monday through Friday job, consider how when you plan the trip can sometimes give you extra travel days. This can obviously be accomplished by adding holidays into the travel plan, but also what days of the week you leave and return can make a difference. For example, if you only have five vacation days left and you fly out on a Wednesday, you will need to be back in the office the next Wednesday, giving you a seven day trip; but if instead you fly on a Saturday, you will have the weekend on each side of the five work days, which gives you a nine day trip, not counting any holidays which would potentially add another day. All of this, of course, is assuming that you want to fly home and go to work the next day, but we’ll discuss the difficulties of travel, such as jet lag, at a later time.

Include Travel and Wait Time in the Itinerary

In Part 1 of this post, I mentioned figuring out the places you want to visit and the activities you want to do when deciding how much time and money you need. I think going into a little more detail about this will be helpful.

Start with the amount of time it will take to travel to and from your destination. If you plan on driving, you can use Google Maps or another online map program to get an estimate of how long the drive will be, although keep in mind that you need to add in time for refueling (or charging) your vehicle, bathroom stretch-your-legs breaks, meals (even going through a drive-through will take some time), and any possible sight-seeing stops you might want to make if you’re driving through an interesting area. If you are flying, you need to consider not only the time you are on the plane but the time it takes to get to the airport and the time you are going to spend in the airport checking in and going through security. For an international flight, the rule of thumb these days is to arrive at the airport at least two to three hours before your flight is due to depart. Each airline’s guidelines can differ, so make sure to check their websites for details.

Include Extra Time to Get Lost and Other Unexpected Adventures

The next step is to figure out how many places you want to visit on your adventure. Remember that each change in location will include travel time between locations as well as the time it takes to check into your accommodations. I also plan in extra time for the unexpected, such as getting lost. (Those who know me well will tell you that I should consider getting lost to be the “expected” rather than the “unexpected!”) If you are driving or using public transportation, such as taking a train between two cities, Google Maps can give you an estimate of how much time this will take. Just make sure to indicate what type of transportation you are using and when you want to depart since the type of transportation and/or the time (such as rush hour versus the middle of the night) can make a significant difference for some routes.

Less Can Be More

Once you know the locations you are visiting, make a list of the places you want to visit and the activities you want to do. As a general rule, less is more. (See the post When Less is More.) Having just two or three planned activities in a day along with meals and traveling between all of those activities will fill your waking hours quite quickly.

The true object of all human life is play.

G.K. Chesterton

Sometimes people will try to plan too many activities, and then when they spend precious minutes standing in an extra-long line or forgot to plan for the amount of time it would take to walk between two museums they wanted to visit, they become frustrated or even angry (hopefully at themselves and not at others), which definitely takes away from the happy vacation-adventure vibe. Always assume that whatever you plan to do will take more time than expected — there is always an extra line or delay, or there may be a stranger with whom you strike up an enjoyable conversation. Having every minute of your day accurately planned is an almost impossible goal, even if you’re at home in familiar territory. If you’re someplace new where you are more likely to need extra time to find your way around, trying to plan every minute of the day is guaranteed to fail. And if somehow the stars align, your day goes perfectly, and you find yourself with extra time, it is a perfect opportunity to look around and find something spontaneous to do or to just relax, take a deep breath, and soak it all in.

Adding It All Up

Once you have a rough list of how many places you want to stay, how many activities you want to enjoy in each of those locations (and hence how many days you need in each place), and how much travel time you need at the beginning and end of the trip, you should have a rough idea of how many days you need in total. Now’s the time to have a conversation with your travel companions as to how long the trip will be. If there seem to be too many activities for the length of trip you can take, what can you mutually agree to cut from the itinerary? Alternatively, can you add another day or two to the trip?

I hope you’ve been taking notes, because at this point, you’ve created your rough draft itinerary and you’re well on your way to creating your own unique adventure! How does it feel to have your dreams take shape…at least on paper?