If I had to narrow down the skills I've honed over the past year, especially my last six months in France, one of them would definitely be trip planning. I have gotten pretty good at it, if I may say so myself. I just got off the phone with my mom after an hour and forty-five minutes long conversation planning more of my parents' and my French roadtrip in May. It's slowly coming together and we're almost done now. It's a weird feeling because I'm used to my parents being the ones who plan things, but I think I've actually done most of the planning for this. Looking on a map and researching distances in order to figure out where to go what days, looking up train times and prices, researching hotels... I've been doing a lot of it. I'm not complaining at all, mind you; I like doing all this. I actually find the planning kinda find in some sick way. It's probably the same part of me who makes packing lists divided into different sections for each different bag and pouch I'm bringing... yupp.
Over the past few years of my first forays into trip planning I've developed a style which heavily centers around detailed schedules of plane and train times along with maps and step-by-step instructions of subway/tube or walking directions so I know exactly where we're going, how to get there, and what time we need to leave and will be arriving. I'm a worrier by nature, so I like to have every totally planned and in order so I can enjoy the vacation and relax.
It makes me think of Hermione's beaded bag in Deathly Hallows. That bag is a thing of my dreams. When I first read its description I just wished that I could have a bag like that to pack everything I might possibly need and be prepared at any time. It also reminded me of my packing list for when Kim, Beth, Heather, and I went to Florida for the opening of the Wizarding World. You can ask them, my packing list was a bit insane and highly detailed. What can I say, that's just the way I like to travel.
Something that has changed a bit during my time in France, however, is that I've gotten more lax with planning out what to do in the place where I'm going. While I'm still very big on scheduling for transportation and getting there, I don't worry so much about the itinerary for the actual vacation. When I went to Bruges with Anna, another assistant here, we only figured out where we'd like to go once we actually got to our hostel. And when Beth and I were in Amsterdam, we did plan out what we'd like to do each day, but it wasn't planned out to the hour or minute or anything like that. It may have been scheduled, but to me it felt pretty relaxed all the same.
Well, I've run out of things to talk about here. So in lieu of a conclusion: this has been a blog about my travel planning quirks.
Cups of tea: 9
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