Vacation: Planning Activities

I'm a planner. Having a child has made me more relaxed, but in order for me to accomplish anything, I need a plan. The same is true with vacations -- I have to plan most of the details in order for anything to get done! Earlier I wrote about choosing a hotel, and today I have a few thoughts about planning activities while on vacation.

Research
Again, to make the best use of vacation time, preparation is vital. Though it is a sacrifice of time (and for me, sanity too, as I get overwhelmed with all the information I'm reading), it's worth it not to have wasted time while on vacation, trying to figure out what to do next.

The Library
Visit the library and check out their selection of travel guides. I've found recent copies of Frommers or Fodors travel guides for our vacation cities; your library may also have eBooks available.

Tripadvisor.com
No, I'm not receiving any commission from Tripadvisor, but this site has been so helpful in planning all of our vacations. I like being able to read reviews from other travelers to see what their experiences have been. For example, I honed in on a great tip about arriving at Yankee Stadium at least 2 hours before the ticket office opened for their stadium tour; on doing so, we were about the 10th in line, and some disappointed tourists from Colorado who arrived 2 hours after we did were not able to acquire tickets.  

Plan, but Don't Stress
This one is hard for me because I don't like to deviate from plans. But planning is just helpful. Stress and worry takes so much away from planning and, obviously, your vacation. Leave some margins of time in between, but if things just don't work out as planned, enjoy anyways!


Photo Credit: Image: Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net