How do you travel? Do you plan ahead, reserve all your lodging, rest breaks, outings?
Or, do you just go?
Hubby and I do both.
But, we have been most amazed and surprised and enchanted when something we had not planned just popped up in front of us and stopped us cold.
Small towns don't have the budget to advertise in advance, to put ads in glossy brochures. They rely on word of mouth, casual acquaintances dropping in on their way to something else, and because they get this wow feeling, they might put the event on their future calendars.
Go on, get in the car and visit places on the way to something else.
The detour will enrich your days.
(This weekend, Port Orford is sponsoring a Wildlife Film Festival. Yes, a whole day of documentaries and short films dedicated to wildlife. Award winning directors and cinematographers will be available for photo ops and to autograph programs. I shall report on this on my next entry,)
22 comments:
nice...yes we are often surprised by the unplanned as well...even amidst our plans, so we try to keep it flexible...smiles.
I used to think travelling ALWAYS took planning & lots of time... but if you already have the resources (ie. trailer, tents, etc) an impromptu trip is a lot more feasible...
Let's see if this can actually happen with a little 3 year old running around. :)
We only make reservations and advance plans when we are going to be in a place for a few days. Other than that, we play it by ear. We drive and stop when and where the whim strikes us.
Most of the time, I like to just go--go and see. However, whenever we would go to cities, we always made plans and reservations.
I'm also one of those who wander off the beaten path .. love doing it. Been lost a few times in England, Australia and New Zealand not to mention the USA!
We can get lost even with the help of a sat.nav. never mind being mapless.
like you i enjoy both. some trips it's important to do a good deal of planning but as you say some of the best travel experiences come from unplanned detours and encounters. i'm all for that.
I'm a planner. But when we're staying someplace for two weeks, as we are right now in Sedona, each day we can be spontaneous.
It's the spontaneous stuff that always yields the random wonderful things that keeps us traveling.
G'day Rosaria. If we are going somewhere for a short break, we just go and let the rest take care of itself. We have seen some great places by doing that. The Wildlife film festival sounds like a terrific idea. Take care. Liz...
If only I lived just a little closer!
Can't leave the house vacant for that long if I want a house to come vack to. *sigh*
We do both and have really enjoyed the unplanned stops. In our motor home (bus), we can always find a local wal mart for the night if all else fails; if we have a destination we will book our RV spot by calling from the road. Once in awhile things don't work out, like bad rainy weather closing RV sites as it did in IL a couple years back. But if we keep an adventuresome spirit all is well and we do have our house on the road with all we need.
I like unplanned "road trips"..even if it's just down to the next town. Which is what I'm hoping to do tomorrow if the weather allows us to hit the highway! Have a fun weekend!
Several years back I was very sick. Local doctors would each give me a diagnosis as to my illness. Feed up with physicians stab in the dark, I made an appointment to visit the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota.
I was scared I had something I could give to others, or that my body wasn't strong enough to fight off the germs of others. So my husband purchased a travel trailer for me. TWENTY YEARS LATER MY DREAM CAME TRUE! My son's were overjoyed for me. For I had taken them for years to view RV's and travel trailers. I promised them we would have one. And now we do. Any who, you are correct about things working out planned and unplanned on vacations. I just love to travel.
Hi Roaria .. usually I'm going from A - B .. though in South Africa when I was travelling to see the country we went as we go (so to speak).
Port Orford's Wildlife Festival - seems a delightful idea - lots to learn ..
Looks good to me .. cheers Hilary
Hi Rosaria, I have to chuckle, you've hit on one of my favorite activities, traveling without a plan. Ron and I don't travel as much or as far as we used to but still make short sojourns into the world to explore and find the unexpected. No meal is as good as that in a small town cafe recommended by a local farmer who you met at a gas station. I actually love maps and was once the navigator when Ron was driving. He was always willing to turn off onto those smaller roads to "see what's over that hill." I'm now the full time driver so using a map doesn't work, and I don't like a GPS telling me where to go. (I think I'll use a GPS story in my blog today.) We love meeting new people, finding exciting treasures (not gold and diamonds, but local history , sights, (I'm a sucker for interesting characters), becoming enamored with new places, then finding ourselves happy to be back to our warm little home in Birch Bay after a successful treasure hunting trip.
Oh, I do keep an atlas next to my chair at home, and have an outdated globe to track the world's rotation.
Greetings, from Nancy at the Boat House
We do usually plan ahead but not always. The latter is much more fun. We also used to always love navigating with maps but the SatNav has killed that bit of fun. I must say we do always carry maps as well as the SatNav does have occasional hiccups! Diane
We used to hop in the car on a Sunday afternoon and visit some small place regularly! Good fun.
Can't do that now because of ill health.
You asked about allotments.
Brassicas and potatoes can be grown in the wintertime & some other root vegetables.
The little sheds are to keep tools in and most families have one allotment or share one with a friend.
There is a long waiting list to get one. Several years.
Maggie X
Nuts in May
Like you, we do both. If we want to get somewhere in particular, we follow a map. If not, we follow the road, until we see another interesting road.
Like the rest of life, I guess.
The best travel for me, is a combination of good solid planning, and hours of free time for wandering, discovery, surprises, and serendipity. I love the title of your post; it says it all!
One of the wonderful things my brother and I did after our father's death (which was devasting), was to take an "odyssey" trip - we only used maps, no gps, no mapquest, just paper maps, and drove where the roads took us - we had a loose destination and beyond that, we just traveled. I'll always remember it.
The US offer wonders that one just one to get in the car and just go.
Post a Comment