I get overwhelmed when I try to compile the VERY BEST ITINERARY by sourcing multiple places. I typically check Trip Advisor ratings for activities, ask for recommendations here, and maybe visit the tourist bureau page for that city, and then I leave plenty of time in our schedule for us to explore and discover things once we get there. My H hates totally scheduled vacations, so we do a 50-50 mix of pre-planned activities and general exploring.
I usually read a few travel guides from the library before I go, and I read the NYTimes travel section archives to make sure I hit the "major" attractions and have a few "hidden gems" on the list.
Then I usually post here as well, particularly for restaurant recs if there are local GBCNers (all the MM ladies who gave me San Fran recs were spot on, we had several great meals) and make reservations as needed.
I put it all together and then try to figure out a loose schedule for the trip based on the dinner reservations, frankly. Will we have enough time to see X, Y and Z before our 7 PM reservation, or only X and Y? And that's how I plan the days.
I also prefer to combine sightseeing/relaxing trips - DH and I generally sightsee for the first half of the trip, then relax for the rest of it, so we don't feel totally overwhelmed and tapped out by the end of our "vacation".
Also I will be in Portland from August 9-11 so clearly plan your trip to see me, k?
Ah, that would be fun! I think we're probably going to be there in July, actually I'm still not 100% on dates but the only ones in August that seemed to work with our airline miles run into other plans/school starting. Hopefully things will line up to meet somewhere else at some point though!
Oh be careful when you're here in July! The Oregon Brewers Festival is July 22 - 26. It's really fun, but it's also really big and busy on the waterfront where they hold it. We always have long wait times at restaurants, but I'm assuming the nationally known places might be longer (Salt & Straw, PokPok, Apizza Scholls). Flights also tend to go up in price. We've always lived here so never had reason to book a hotel, but I'd assume you should book sooner rather than later.
Post by RoxMonster on Apr 26, 2015 19:10:56 GMT -5
I haven't read all the replies yet and do not consider myself a seasoned traveler, nor have I ever traveled to Europe or anywhere internationally. But I do a ton of planning for our vacations and feel I have been successful so far.
I usually start on Trip Advisor. I look at the highest rated activities for the areas. I also buy or look at popular guide books for the area or whatever we're into (like off-the-beaten path guide books, etc). I usually then bring up a map of where we are going and start to see what is close to each other, what isn't, plan out how long each activity will take, etc.
For example, when I planned our SF trip, I listed all the activities we wanted to do and places we wanted to eat. I made an Excel spreadsheet with a column for each day. I first put in activities that had to happen at a specific time, like our Alcatraz tour. Then I looked at what would be close to those activities, how much time they would take, etc. I also try to plan in down time or "whatever time" each day of a trip in case something takes longer than planned or we just want to relax at the hotel, etc.
When I have a bigger area to plan around, like when we did Oahu, I did pretty much the same thing but on a bigger scale and was a bit less specific. So I made one day "the north shore" and scheduled out a whole day for it, then just listed everything we wanted to hit on the North Shore and we did them in whichever order made sense on that day. I also like to write in the cost of activities on my spreadsheet and any notes or tips I pick up in my reading.