Dare We "Wing It"?
England and Scotland Map
Let me start at the beginning. John and I do not like to cruise, go to all inclusive resorts or take guided tour vacations. Just the thought of being on a bus like I see all over here Washington, DC in the spring is more than I can stomach. They're full of strangers with the potential for bad behavior, awful noises and irritating complaints. Guides carry umbrellas aloft so their busload gaggle can trail behind like a troop of untrained soldiers. I remember being in Prague one sunny afternoon having a wine break above a plaza. Three tour groups of 25 to 50 people, each with an umbrella guide, crossed below us, shoving and pushing everyone else aside as they marched toward the gift shops. It was ugly. I don't want to be a part of ugly. But there is never enough money to stay in just the "right places" so an alternative was needed.
Because of our aversion to unknown gaggles of travelers, John and I design our own vacations. I confess that we once designed a trip around a 5-day guided hiking tour across Tuscany, but it was only a group of only 11 people; it was run by the British Adventure Travel Group (ATG); it was only a piece of our trip and the two Australian businessmen in the group were just hilariously astounding. Our design for the trip included driving to Italy's eastern shore to eat at a restaurant John read about in the New York Times, three years before. I can't even begin to tell you about the five ways we ate truffles that night as evening breezes made the creamy sheer curtains across the floor to ceiling windows flutter just enough so we could see the moon light grace the Adriatic sea across the road.
When I was working, designing a vacation was a pressure stoked activity. There was never enough time to research, read and plan. In the pre-internet days, there were two paths - the first was to call a travel agent to design it for us. The path path was to wing it. And, wing it we did!
We'd picked a city to fly in and out of, say Vienna. We'd carve out a travel region; book a hotel for the first couple of days and the last night before we flew home. Then leave the rest until we arrived. Upon arrival and after sleeping off the jet lag, we'd search out to a local travel agent who spoke English to plan the rest of the trip, relying on the travel agent's knowledge so it only took a couple of hours. Sometimes, we skipped the travel agent completely, jumped on a train or into a rental car, came into a town, going immediately to the visitor's center where they booked us a room. With a paper guide book, we'd wander the city or town for a day or two, soaking up what struck our fancy. What a slam dunk success! We did that for two trips around England and Wales, two to Italy, one to Benelux (Belgium, Luxembourg, and Netherlands with a bit of Germany thrown in), and one to Paris as well as an extension of a business trip in Africa. Sometimes we visited people we knew along the way, signed up for a short tour or just explored by ourselves.
Then the internet arrived providing travel and booking websites. We thought we could leverage the technology to take the last-minute guess-work out of the trip without taking out the adventure. So, in 2014 we decided to book all the accommodations ahead of time. After browsing the internet one evening, we selected locations and places to stay, then did the required, or should I say demanded, pay ahead to lock in our reservations. The pictures looked great. It was a trip to northern Italy. John had booked us into a most exquisite boutique hotel on Lake Orta, the Little Sister of the Italian Lakes, that he read about in another New York Times article. Nothing could have been more romantic and scenic, staying in the philosopher Nietzsche's favorite room that overlooked the lake. But after that it was downhill. The places we picked were not as advertised, we stayed too long in several locations, and we missed the opportunity to just leave and explore. It was a frustrating experience in the end.
So, here we are retired now. As many friends turn to cruises, eco-tours and other planned experiences, we really don't want to give up the surprise of adventure. Also I've got lots of time on my hands to design a trip. But, the question is, "Should we return to our "wing it" path or should we be more cautious and do the "book ahead" path now that we're "old people"?
Our May trip will take us to England (been there many times) and Scotland (never been there). We'll be visiting new and old friends so part of the trip is set, but what should we do about the other two weeks? Should we "book ahead" or "wing it"?
On the "book ahead" pro side is the fact that planning travel via the internet is much more flexible and content rich in 2019, with sites such as Trip Advisor and online visiting guides, and travel blogs. We also can now afford not to pre-pay to get reservations. The con side is it that it does puts us on a schedule. If we want to go roaming across the Scottish Highlands from day-to-day, scheduling creates stress we don't need. The "wing it" pros are the ultimate for adventure and travel freedom because you meet knowledgeable locals daily at the visitor centers. It's really all about traveling "local". Also there is a wealth of information for research and planning if you want to take the time, which I have loads of. The con is we may not get good city accommodations (e.g. Bristol, Glasgow, Edinburgh) because of the tourist crowds.
Why not consider B&Bs for the adventure and save some money, you may ask. They're really trendy now. I know friends who run them and friends who use them. My answer is simple -- I love maid service. I love perfect beds and pillows. I love room service. And I love the lounge at the bottom of the elevator, especially if it's cozy taking me back in time for an afternoon tea or a night cap at midnight.
So, I'm sitting here at the computer this morning bagging my head into the screen so to speak, trying to figure out what to do. DUH! I remove my forehead from the computer screen. The answer is to do BOTH. I'll book our key cities (London, Bristol, Glasgow and Edinburgh) and we'll wing the rest with a rental car for the highlands and a train ride back to London. Life is good. This vacation should be perfect. I just hope Scotland's weather in May delivers sun, if not a bit of spring warmth.