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The devil is in the details. Extended travel takes a large amount of planning and preparation. Over the last several months, I have read many books and articles written by budget traveling backpackers looking for tips and advice on how to plan for this trip. My conclusion: everyone plans their trips differently from the girl who planed every day of her trip in advance to the guy who appears to wing most decisions: major or minor. Natalie and I fall somewhere into the middle of these philosophies. The standard American style Vacation (read: recovery) is usually, but not always a highly organized affair.
Alright kids, we are going to Yellow Stone National Park. We need have reservations at the Authentic Log Cabin hotel/motel that require us to check in exactly 41.5 hours from now. The drive from our house to Yellow Stone takes exactly 37.5 hours which means that we can spend 4 hours sleeping, peeing, filling up on petrol, etc. Alright?!? Lets Go!
Okay so not every vacation is like the satirical thoughts above but you get the general idea. We are attempting to find the middle ground between planning everything, which leaves not room for spontaneity (read: fun), and not planning enough, so that we end up spend large quantities of the pirate treasure we plundered making stupid mistakes.
I will let you know how it works out.
If you want to have the most fun traveling just go for it and don’t make much plans. Some places you will want to stay for days and others for just hours. Make the best of your travels and enjoy it. The backpacking lifestyle is about being free leaving timelines and concerns behind.
Weston,
I am sure you are correct. As I understand it, they key to long term travel is to figure out how to plan for the essentials while allowing the journey to take care of itself. I hope that the longer Natalie and I travel the more we will come to understand about this concept.
The devil is in the details — you are right. So take the devil out of the equation and forget about the details. My wife and I were traveling for a year across South America and did some planning when the lack thereof would have meant being stranded in an Island in Bolivia for one extra week. That’s what planning is for in long term travel.
But again — you have to be flexible. Flexibility is one thing you now have.
Sometimes though spontaneity can land you in a bitter sweet situation. Like when we found this beautiful camp site (quite and clean) near Macchu Picchu to then in the morning being awaken by a guard telling that that we had just slept on top of Pacha Mama (mother earth).
I am really trying to ditch those details Antonio, but it is more difficult that I expected. I suspect that it will be a accomplished a bit at a time! Thanks for encouraging us in the right direction.
Okay, this reminds me of “National Lampoon’s Vacation” with Clark Griswald planning out his family’s trip. lol.
It seems like you’ve definitely done your homework, so I bet it’s gonna be a killer trip.