So far three different people have told me that planning a trip is almost as much fun as going on the trip. No. It’s not.
I mean, each to their own, but I’d rather be sitting in a cute bistro by crystal clear water in Croatia than at my computer or on my phone trying to book ferries to Croatia.
I’d rather be sitting on a train winding its way through green fields and rolling hills than booking the tickets and stuffing up the date. All I can say is thank heavens I clicked the button that said add $60 if you want to be able to cancel this ticket.
Not fun. ‘Almost as much fun as the holiday?’ I don’t think so.
It’s probably just me. I have an existential crisis every time I book something. It’s like when you get a great car park and you read the sign six times to make sure you’re allowed to park there and you’re not going to come back to a ticket.
Michael and I went on our first big trip to Europe in 1998. It was a four month honeymoon. Back then there were few online booking options and no Google Maps but we also weren’t pushed for time so if we didn’t catch a train on a particular day that was fine.
We booked accommodation when we arrived in a town, not two months beforehand. We did meet a woman who booked her accommodation by fax and ended up in two quite nasty hotels. She also ended up falling into a canal in Venice. That’s how we met her the first time; drenched and mortified in the lane beside our lovely hotel.
If I had a Time Machine I’d go back to that summer in Europe. Or to the one with our little boy when he was seven.
From the videos and reports from others, Summer in Europe is a bit different now. Especially in an Olympic year. So many people, so many selfies. Can anyone explain to me why so many people take photos of everything in a museum? Do they go back and look at those photos afterwards?
My cousin went to Europe last northern winter and decided almost daily what they would do. So much easier, but it was also freezing so there’s that.
So for our trip, we have built-in lots of free time. We won’t be trying to cram in lots of sightseeing. We are more than happy to wonder about a city, find yummy food to eat, poke through bookshops and people watch.
We’re planning a boat trip on the Amstel to see a windmill that grinds pigment for artists as it has for the past four hundred years. We’re thinking about a day trip to the Eagles Nest from Salzburg or a Sound of Music tour. I’ll try to get to an art gallery or two because that’s what I love, but we’ll also go glow in the dark stand up paddle boarding in Split. We have booked a dinner party in a Bohemian artists home in the Marais through eatwith.com and a classical music concert at La Madeleine Church. A Parisian friend said ‘Those concerts are only for tourists,’ and I replied with ‘We are tourists!) .
We plan to fully embrace our tourist and flâneur selves.
